Fischer vs Spassky: It was 40 years ago today

Thanks to the invaluable Open Culture for reminding us that the first game of the chess's 'match of the century' was played on 11 July 1972. The Russian Spassky won that game but went on to lose the match and his world title to the American Bobby Fischer.

Though Spassky was far from a model Soviet citizen, the match symbolised the Cold War as nothing else could and captured the imagination of the world.

The video above is an excerpt from the 2006 GSN documentary Anything to Win: The Mad Genius of Bobby Fischer.

I can also recommend last year's documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World.