Boris Spassky's Best Games 1: The Rising Star (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781784832001)

Boris Spassky is the most underappreciated World Champion in chess history, remembered as the Soviet who lost to Bobby Fischer in 1972. In this two-volume work, biographer extraordinaire Tibor Karolyi puts the focus on Spassky's brilliant career and life story.

Born in 1937, Spassky barely escaped with his life when evacuating from the Siege of Leningrad as a young boy. This book tells the story of how that boy subsequently learned to play chess and rose through the Soviet ranks to become the strongest player in the world in the late 1960s.

"It feels a little bit like overdoing things to give 5 stars to a set of three books [about Tal], but if any Best Games collection has ever deserved it, then this one has! Don't waste any time: get down to the bookshop and enjoy!"

GM Matthew Sadler, New in Chess

"Karolyi spent several years studying his protagonist. He delivers a fascinating account of Karpov's skills."

GM Lubomir Kavalek