Spassky out of chess

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33532, 13 May 1974, Page 22

Spassky out of chess

(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright? MOSCOW. . The former world chess champion, B. Spassky, went into seclusion yesterday, his last hope of regaining his title from the American, R. J. Fischer, shattered by a 22-year-old Leningrad student, Associated Press reported. Spassky lost 1-4 to A. Karpov in their semi-final match in the challengers tournament at Leningrad, Spassky resigning on the thirty-fifth move in their eleventh game. Karpov will meet a fellow Russian, V. Korchnoi, soon

to determine who will challenge Fischer for the world championship in June, 1975. Spassky, who was generally rated by Soviet chess experts as his country’s best hope against Fischer, grimly told reporters there would be “no interviews” after his stunning loss to Karpov. Spassky, aged 37, a child prodigy who began tournament play when he was 10, held the world title until his defeat by Fischer in Iceland in 1972.

After that defeat, he was criticised by . the Soviet press for not having made adequate preparations against Fischer. Spassky, a quiet, amiable man, with an aggressive style of play, went into virtual seclusion and began preparing for his come-back. He won the Soviet cham-

pionship in October, 1973, and last February he defeated R. Byrne (United States) easily in a quarter-final challengers match in Puerto Rico. Some of the same Soviet experts who criticized him after his defeat by Fischer said he was back at the peak of his form. Karpov is a heavy favourite to defeat Korchnoi. An economic student at Leningrad University, Karpov won the 1969 world junior championship in Stockholm and the title of international grandmaster the next year. A rational, even player on both offence and defence, Karpov has said that he feels he needs more experience before he can hope to take the world title. He predicted in an interview a year ago that Fischer w'ould 'retain his title for five years.