Talk:Boris Spassky

message: I think we need a better photo of Spassky.  The one in the article now is from a long distance and doesn't show his face well.  Also, I think it would be better to have one from about 1960 to 1975.  Bubba73 (talk), 02:48, 11 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Need better image

message: # The manual of style says to spell out small numbers and their ordinals.  Thus "he tied for 1st-2nd" should be spelled out.
# I know what "URS-ch27" is, but many readers will not.  That needs to be clarified.   Bubba73 (talk), 01:12, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: This is starting to happen; I agree that the usage is clumsy and should be cleared up a bit. Give it some time, I'm working on it now. Hushpuckena (talk) 03:37, 2 June 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  Good - I've cleaned up a large number of them in articles, but I think I got only a small percentage of them.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 03:41, 2 June 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  I've found some clear errors in this as I've gone along, such as Spassky's score in his World Junior win being 14/16, which in toto was correct, but he qualified from a preliminary section, then won the final, so the original way in which it was displayed was misleading. By the way, Bubba, if you should read this, we'll probably never get all the awkward usage for those events out, but I'm willing to purge them root and branch as I go! Hushpuckena (talk) 06:00, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

text: The section on Reykjavik is heavily POV and laden with peacock language; there's no doubt in my mind that the thrust of the section as written is essentially true-that the match would probably not have come off without Spassky accomodating Fischer-but it's hardly presented in an encyclopaedic manner, and I'm not sure what to do for reliable sources. No wonder this article was listed as needing much improvement! Hushpuckena (talk) 06:21, 17 June 2012 (UTC)

text: One thing about the use of fractions in text vis-a-vis numerals is that they're practically illegible; this may not be a big deal when it comes to fractions such as halves typically used in articles on chess, but in other contexts it could very easy indeed to misread the equivalent of eg 2.125. Hushpuckena (talk) 00:21, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  The use of 2½ looks OK to me.  But there is another possibility: 2-1/2.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 01:03, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

text:  And also , but on my screen it takes up about a half line above and a half line below. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 01:04, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

text: I assume it is okay then to change all the .5s to ½s, to eliminate the inconsistency (50–50 split) in the article. Please say if not okay. Ihardlythinkso (talk) 04:56, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Here were the options for visual compare: 12-1/2–10-1/2 12.5–10.5 12½–10½ – Ihardlythinkso (talk) 05:11, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  I agree with making the change.  Number 1 was a bad idea (mine), with the dash between the scores it is a real mess!  #4 doesn't look good.  #3 is my preference, but #2 is the only other one that seems acceptable.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 05:14, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Prefer ½ also, as mentioned elsewhere so did Fletch79 and Krakatoa at ProjChess Talk. I assume we can ignore for now MoS's char accessability issue. Ok, Ihardlythinkso (talk) 05:36, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  As to the four options, #2 is (obviously) my favoured method; if fractions are to be used, I prefer #3 over #4. Hushpuckena (talk) 17:03, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

text:  As far as the character accessibility issue in browsers, that was probably quite a few years ago.  Probably any browser these days can display Unicode characters.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 18:39, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:   Out of curiosity I checked some other articles: Bobby Fischer: (48) ½s, (1) .5s Emanuel Lasker: (16) ½s, (0) .5s Alexander Alekhine: (98) ½s, (1) .5s Capablanca: (82) ½s, (0) .5s Paul Morphy: (9) ½s, (1) .5s Mikhail Botvinnik: (60) ½s, (0) .5s Garry Kasparov: (37) ½s, (0) .5s Wilhelm Steinitz: (49) ½s, (0) .5s  Anatoly Karpov: (9) ½s, (0) .5s Viswanathan Anand: (15) ½s, (4) .5sSo, I'll also change the stragglers in the Fischer, Alekhine, Morphy, and Anand articles. Ihardlythinkso (talk) 22:39, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  You have to be a little careful doing that with AWB or find & replace. Sometimes x.5 is not in a score.  Also, 0.5 can get changed to 0½.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 00:45, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

text:  Also x.0 scores need to be changed to x.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 01:31, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

text:  Ok I checked, and there weren't any ".0" scores in the above articles. Ihardlythinkso (talk) 03:00, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  One more thing in re the proposed changes: how does one key in the fractions? Hushpuckena (talk) 02:07, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  On the edit screen, below the Save button is a combo box - Symbols.  From there you can select Insert, Wiki markup, Symbols, etc.  Select Symbols and the common fractions are there.  You can click on it and it will be inserted to the cursor location or you can highlight it and copy & paste.  You can also store it somewhere and copy & paste.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 02:25, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah (I like to highlight/copy it from the symbol list or from an article where it already occurs, then it's avail to paste at any time). Ihardlythinkso (talk) 03:03, 3 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Some issues with the article

message: This article lacks some basics: I believe his father was Russian Orthodox Christian, mother Jewish. What religion was he raised as, and what religion is he now? His wife is mentioned very briefly, yet there is no mention of when he married her, nor is their any mention of their children. When did he move to France? Does he possess Russian and French citizenship? If he holds French citizenship, when did he acquire it? Nietzsche 2 (talk) 09:19, 8 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Family and personal life

message: The article is unclear on the legality of that particular issue, and I understand it may not be that important.  For another article, we were putting together a list of defectors, and it is unclear in this article whether Spassky defected and just kept the asylum process quiet so he wouldn't upset the Soviets, or whether he had quietly worked out a deal for a permitted emigration.
Any insight would be appreciated.Mosedschurte (talk) 20:34, 23 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: according to this Spassky did not defect - he was allowed to emigrate.  Bubba73 (talk), 22:58, 23 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks.Mosedschurte (talk) 23:04, 23 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: There's an illuminating, contemporary account given here. Brittle heaven (talk) 00:17, 24 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: The ole Marital Gambit opening.  A time honored classic.  Thanks.Mosedschurte (talk) 00:34, 24 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Did Spassky defect or was he given permission to leave?

message: Some  years ago I read a web page with a very interesting biography on Spassky (and on some others players also) by Larry Parr. This page disappeared (what a pity!), but it can be read at the internet archive:[ http://web.archive.org/web/20040603211723/www.worldchessnetwork.com/English/chessHistory/salute/kings/spassky.php].. Can it be used? Is it quotable? Dumu Eduba (talk) 13:32, 24 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Interesting but atypical source 

message: From the beginning of the article:
"Boris Vasilievich Spassky (also Spasskij; Russian: Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский; born January 30, 1937) is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972. he was known one of the greatest and oldest chess player."
The last sentence is awkward and missing at least one word. I think it should read:
"He is known as one of the greatest and oldest living chess players."
I have changed the article, substituting my sentence for the original.
jbarntt 03:43, 18 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm removing "and oldest" because, at 75 or so, Spassky cannot be reasonably said to be "one of the oldest living chess players". Perhaps something else was meant? --Haruo (talk) 05:32, 2 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Some of the English usage appears awkward 

message: I've been hearing tales online about a beluga whale named Minsky beating a chess master (one site specifically names Boris Spasky [sic]). This is often used as an example of the high IQ of beluga whales. Has anyone seen a credible source on this, or is this just another 'net tale?
The hidden ones (talk) 15:23, 21 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Boris & the Beluga 

message: As far as I know, Spassky lost his right to play abroad for a time after he lost a critical game to William Lombardy in this event. Does anyone know of a source which might substantiate this? I've found vague allusions, but nothing I'd go with as a reliable source. Hushpuckena (talk) 04:50, 9 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  World U26 Team 1960 and aftermath 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I feel like the departure from Paris/return to Moscow section ought to be elaborated on, however I can see how there may be some questions of libel/liability. The claims that Spassky has made, however, seem worth noting here, and are at this point very well documented in a number of different reliable sources and interviews. It would be good to get a clear editorial consensus however on how to proceed on this point here. MarcelB612 (talk) 23:57, 3 March 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Under disputed circumstances" Paris -> Moscow 

message: The above is barely covered, when it needs a subsection of its own instead of appearing under 'Challenger' Billsmith60 (talk) 00:44, 18 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  1969 World  Championships Match v Petrosian