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Boris Spassky on Bobby Fischer
September 24, 2015
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the 1945 USA-USSR Radio Match
Excerpt from the report in chess24.com
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/bor...-bobby-fischer
Boris Spassky: “I’ve kept good memories of Fischer. I don’t have any grudges against him. I always forgave him the fact that he behaved like a child. Bobby was very pure and friendly. He liked children, animals. He was an avid cat lover! I also preferred cats to dogs, like Bobby. Did he have any cats? I don’t think so, although I never went to his house. I wanted to visit him in Pasadena, but didn’t get the chance. His house was robbed there and almost his whole archive was lost… I also want to save my archive, which remained in Paris. I’m planning to appeal to Ilyumzhinov and FIDE for help. I’ve got a small archive in Moscow, but that’s only a little part…
I like to remember Bobby. He belonged to that category of tragic people. I felt that, observing him back in 1958 when he came to Moscow with his sister. Yes, I was in the Central Chess Club then and I saw him playing blitz, and Bronstein also watched. I remember Petrosian was there too… For Bobby that was a sad experience, since he saw nothing at all of Moscow. He sat for days on end in the CCC and just played. And then he was asked to leave Moscow… Yes, it was a sad experience for him. And there was one thing he never grasped: that he had a huge number of fans in Russia! During the match in Reykjavik as well I know that many rooted for him…
He considered all the Soviet grandmasters KGB officers. I jokingly asked: “Bobby, am I also an officer? ” He said nothing… “OK, the moment I receive the rank of colonel I’ll invite you to a restaurant! ” I promised him.
He didn’t respect Karpov, or Kasparov, or Korchnoi or Campomanes… You know what he called them? Karpy, Kaspy, Korchy, Campy…
September 24, 2015
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the 1945 USA-USSR Radio Match
Excerpt from the report in chess24.com
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/bor...-bobby-fischer
Boris Spassky: “I’ve kept good memories of Fischer. I don’t have any grudges against him. I always forgave him the fact that he behaved like a child. Bobby was very pure and friendly. He liked children, animals. He was an avid cat lover! I also preferred cats to dogs, like Bobby. Did he have any cats? I don’t think so, although I never went to his house. I wanted to visit him in Pasadena, but didn’t get the chance. His house was robbed there and almost his whole archive was lost… I also want to save my archive, which remained in Paris. I’m planning to appeal to Ilyumzhinov and FIDE for help. I’ve got a small archive in Moscow, but that’s only a little part…
I like to remember Bobby. He belonged to that category of tragic people. I felt that, observing him back in 1958 when he came to Moscow with his sister. Yes, I was in the Central Chess Club then and I saw him playing blitz, and Bronstein also watched. I remember Petrosian was there too… For Bobby that was a sad experience, since he saw nothing at all of Moscow. He sat for days on end in the CCC and just played. And then he was asked to leave Moscow… Yes, it was a sad experience for him. And there was one thing he never grasped: that he had a huge number of fans in Russia! During the match in Reykjavik as well I know that many rooted for him…
He considered all the Soviet grandmasters KGB officers. I jokingly asked: “Bobby, am I also an officer? ” He said nothing… “OK, the moment I receive the rank of colonel I’ll invite you to a restaurant! ” I promised him.
He didn’t respect Karpov, or Kasparov, or Korchnoi or Campomanes… You know what he called them? Karpy, Kaspy, Korchy, Campy…
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