Boris Spassky in 1956 at the World Champonship Candidates tournament in Amsterdam

Boris Spassky in 1984

Spassky in Dresden, 2008

Boris Spassky (born 30 January 1937 in Leningrad), is a Soviet–French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972.^p381

Spassky won the USSR Chess Championship twice outright (1961, 1973), and twice more lost in playoffs (1956, 1963). He was a World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (1956, 1965, 1968, 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1985).