Entertainment

Spassky speaks

Boris Spassky turned 75 this week and, having recovered from a stroke two years ago, he reflected on his stormy life on — and off — the chessboard.

Spassky recalled how he nearly died from hunger in World War II. He survived, discovered chess and, by 19 “It was evident that I would become world champion,” he told Sovietsky Sport.

But as his trainer correctly predicted, the handsome Spassky was destined for girl trouble. He fought constantly with his first wife — “I realized immediately that my wife and I were bishops of opposite color” — and “ended up in a hospital because of nerves.”

He recovered and began his rise to the world championship by spotting his rivals’ weaknesses. Yefim Geller “was relatively weak in defense” and “I didn’t allow [Mikhail] Tal to hold the initiative.” He won the title from Tigran Petrosian by becoming “a bear that was always putting the tiger under pressure.”

But three years later he lost the championship to Bobby Fischer. That was “a relief,” he said. “Those were the very toughest years of my life, when responsibility pressed on me and I didn’t get any outside help.”

For more than 30 years he’s lived as a self-exile in France. “It’s a good stepmother,” he said. “Russia is a sick mother.”