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We need to recall that the Saturday issue of Komsomolskaya Pravda published a sensational interview with the tenth World Champion Boris Spassky, who had "fled" from Paris to Moscow. He claimed that after a stroke he had been isolated in a Paris apartment, under "house arrest". Yesterday Soviet Sport received a letter from his sister in St. Petersburg, which turns the mysterious story around by 180 degrees ...
Letter to the editor by Iraida Spasskaya
My brother has made a journey that is incredible in his condition, exposing himself to danger every minute. To my bitter regret I still have no information as to where he is, although his family and I are trying to get in contact with him. Yes, there is a woman involved – the initiator of the kidnapping and... well, with respect to the scrupulousness of my brother, I must be silent on this. I can only say one thing: on August 13 I flew back from Paris, where I had spent five days. I had seen the happy faces of my family and good friends, and a doctor, physiotherapist and three nurses, who were caring for her brother. Three days later he was gone...
The editors placed a phone call to Iraida Spasskaya, seen above at the International Youth tournament "Cup of Spassky 2007"[photo BS-Chess], and conducted the following interview:
A few days ago I was at his home in France. It felt like heaven. I found Borenka in better condition than I had anticipated.
How close are you to him?
I am eight years younger than him – he replaced my father. It was Borja who insisted that I got the name Iraida. That was the name of our godmother, who gave Borenka some bread in the hungry post-war period. He did not forget this good deed. Our parents listened to the eight-year-old lad, even though they wanted to call me Tatiana.
How did Boris look when you last saw him?
He spoke very well, and I watched how he climbed nine steps on the stairs, with the help of his physiotherapists, and then came down all by himself. I wanted to help, but doctors told him he had to do it all by himself.
But in the interview he said that he had been treated very badly...
My brother could not have said that, they are somebody else's words, which have been imposed on him! There could not be a better place for recovery: a beautiful house with a garden in Meudon (a suburb of Paris), a wonderful atmosphere, doctors, trainers, three permanent nurses. Everybody made sure Boris was comfortable and cosy. My brother was in high spirits, and he said that he really like it there.
Are you [acquainted] with his wife Marina Shcherbacheva?
Acquainted with her? I have known her for more than thirty years, almost from the first day of her meeting with Borenka. Marina is a decent woman, and she is above all the slander [that] has been spread about her. She did her best to help Boris recover.
Boris got along with his wife?
He always held her up as an example for me!
The World Champion claims that he fled from Paris of his own free will.
My brother has always been a very independent person, prone to taking unpredictable decisions. But in this case it is his serious illness that led to this act of folly.
What are you going to do?
The most important thing now is to continue with the special care that he had in France, care that was given to him by his family. I'm trying to find out where Boris Vasilievich is being held. "Held" is the right word! He may claim that he made the decision himself, but I know that he was "helped". Someone else has an interest in this.
Do you want Spassky to read this interview?
Yes. I really want to hear the voice of [my] brother, and to see him again as soon as possible. I hope he will read it and call me.
Close friends of Boris Spassky, who asked not to be named, told Soviet Sport that on August 17, at a time when the wife of the GM was not at home, "friends" of the chess player, having bribed a maid, entered the house and took Spassky to the Russian embassy. There he obtained the necessary travel papers and was taken to Moscow. The former World Champion's location is currently unknown.
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Boris Spassky, fearing death, 'flees' to Russia 18.08.2012 – Since Thursday we had been searching for the 75-year-old former World Champion who, his wife told us, had disappeared from their house in Meudon near Paris. Now he has turned up in Moscow, with a harrowing story, which he revealed to the Russian newspapers Komsomolskaya Pravda. After a stroke in 2010 he was rehabilitating in France, where he apparently felt trapped. Interview. |
