Bobby Fischer has an enormous knowledge of chess and his familiarity with the chess literature of the USSR is immense.

He was a World Chess Championship candidate on seven occasions (1956 1965 1968 1974 1977 1980 and 1985). Boris Vasilievich Spassky (also Spasskij; Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский; born January 30 1937) is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster.