Quotes by Boris Spassky

• When you play Bobby, it is not a question if you win or lose. It is a question if you survive.
• On the other hand, chess is a mass sport now and for chess organisers shorter time control is obviously more attractive. But I think that this control does not suit World Championship matches.
• Recently I saw Kasparov and he looked to me as still young and potent champion.
• The place of chess in the society is closely related to the attitude of young people towards our game.
• The Soviet Union was an exception, but even there chess players were not rich. Only Fischer changed that.
• Time control directly influences the quality of play.
• We can compare classical chess and rapid chess with theatre and cinema - some actors don't like the latter and prefer to work in the theatre.
• We were like bishops of opposite color.
• When I am in form, my style is a little bit stubborn, almost brutal. Sometimes I feel a great spirit of fight which drives me on.
• When I played Bobby Fischer, my opponent fought against organizations - the television producers and the match organizers. But he never fought against me personally. I lost to Bobby before the match because he was already stronger than I. He won normally.
• Nowadays young people have great choice of occupations, hobbies, etc, so chess is experiencing difficulties because of the high competition. Now it's hard to make living in chess, so our profession does attract young people.
• Nowadays it would be reasonable to have an annual world championship.
• Bobby Fischer has an enormous knowledge of chess and his familiarity with the chess literature of the USSR is immense.
• Nowadays the dynamic element is more important in chess - players more often sacrifice material to obtain dynamic compensation.
• In my country, at that time, being a champion of chess was like being a King. At that time I was a King - and when you are King you feel a lot of responsibility, but there is nobody there to help you.
• I try to help developing junior chess. When I lived in USSR, I got a lot of free help from very good coaches - now I am trying to repay that debt.
• I think that the World Champion should try to defend the quality of play more than anyone else.
• I don't want ever to be champion again.
• I don't play in tournaments, but I follow some.
• I also follow chess on the Internet, where Kasparov's site is very interesting.
• For example, computer defends well, but for humans its is harder to defend than attack, particularly with the modern time control.
• Nowadays there is more dynamism in chess, modern players like to take the initiative. Usually they are poor defenders though.