LaviChess

Spassky vs. Bronstein, Leningrad 1960

Boris Spassky plays the King's Gambit against David Bronstein, lets a black pawn become a queen and wins with an attack on the king. Three years later, the finish was played out at the start of a James Bond film.

  • WhiteBoris Spassky
  • BlackDavid Bronstein
  • WhereLeningrad
  • When1960
  • EventSoviet Championship 1960
  • Result1–0, White won
  • OpeningKing's Gambit Accepted (C36)
  • Length23 moves

The 27th Soviet Championship was played in Leningrad in 1960. Boris Spassky had White against David Bronstein, who nine years earlier had come close to becoming world champion.

Spassky opened with the King's Gambit, 1.e4 e5 2.f4, a sharp and risky opening rarely seen at the top level. Spassky had great success with it.

The players

Boris Spassky (1937–2025) from Leningrad had become a grandmaster in 1955, at 18. Nine years after this game he became world champion. He could both attack and defend, and he chose whatever suited the position.

David Bronstein (1924–2006) was born in Bila Tserkva in Ukraine. In 1951 he played a world championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik and came as close as anyone can: 12–12, and so Botvinnik kept the title. Bronstein is considered one of the strongest players never to become world champion, and his book on the 1953 Candidates Tournament in Zurich is counted among the best chess books ever written.

Read more about Boris Spassky among the great chess players.

The game move by move

Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.

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Boris Spassky has the white pieces, David Bronstein the black.

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Open on the analysis board

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Play like Spassky

Guess the moves Spassky played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.

Play like SpasskyPlay like Bronstein

The moments that decided it

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After 16…exf1=Q+: a new black queen with check. The rook takes it next move.
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After 21…Bxe5: the position the Bond film is based on, but in the film two white center pawns are missing.
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After 23.Qe4+: Bronstein resigns, just like McAdams in the film.

The end

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The final position after 23.Qe4+. Black resigned after 23.Qe4+.

Why the game is famous

Three years later, in 1963, came the James Bond film From Russia with Love. In one of the first scenes, the villain Kronsteen, a grandmaster working for the criminal organization SPECTRE, plays a game in a grandmaster tournament against the Canadian McAdams. The position on the board is this one, only with two white pawns fewer in the center. Kronsteen plays Nxe5+, McAdams answers Kh7, and after Qe4+ he knocks over his king.

The game is also a textbook example of what the King's Gambit is about. White gives away a pawn in the opening and later a whole rook, but gets his pieces in around the black king. When Black gets a new queen on f1, it is gone after one move, and the attack goes on. The film shows only the last few moves.

The whole game with notes, as text

1. e4 e5 2. f4 The King's Gambit. White offers the f-pawn to get quick development and open lines. 2… exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Bd6 5. Nc3 Ne7 6. d4 O-O 7. Bd3 Nd7 8. O-O h6 9. Ne4 Nxd5 10. c4 Ne3 The knight forks the queen on d1 and the rook on f1. White takes it with the bishop. 11. Bxe3 fxe3 Black now has a pawn on e3, deep inside White's position. 12. c5 Be7 13. Bc2 Re8 14. Qd3 e2 The pawn moves to e2 and attacks the rook on f1. 15. Nd6 Spassky ignores the rook and goes for the attack. With what we know today, 15.Qxe2 was stronger, but Spassky's choice pays off. 15… Nf8 Here Black should have taken the rook at once, 15…exf1=Q+ 16.Rxf1, and then taken the knight on d6. The position would then have been equal. Now the knight has time to strike on f7. 16. Nxf7 The knight takes the pawn on f7 and attacks the queen on d8. 16… exf1=Q+ The pawn becomes a queen with check, but the new queen lives for only one move. 17. Rxf1 Black is a rook up for a pawn, but White's pieces are now very close to the black king. 17… Bf5 18. Qxf5 Qd7 19. Qf4 Bf6 20. N3e5 Qe7 21. Bb3 The bishop lines up behind the knight on f7, on the same diagonal as the black king. When the knight moves, it will be discovered check. 21… Bxe5 Black takes one of the knights. This is the position the film is based on. 22. Nxe5+ Discovered check: the knight takes on e5, and the bishop on b3 gives check. 22… Kh7 The position was already lost. ChessBase showed that White also wins after 22…Ne6, for example by bringing the knight to g6 and winning the knight on e6. 23. Qe4+ Bronstein resigned. After 23…Kh8 comes 24.Rxf8+ Qxf8 25.Ng6+ Kh7 26.Nxf8+ Kh8 27.Qh7#, and after 23…g6, 24.Rf7+ wins the queen.

PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Soviet Championship 1960"]
[Site "Leningrad"]
[Date "1960.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Boris Spassky"]
[Black "David Bronstein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C36"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Bd6 5. Nc3 Ne7 6. d4 O-O 7. Bd3 Nd7 8. O-O h6 9. Ne4 Nxd5 10. c4 Ne3 11. Bxe3 fxe3 12. c5 Be7 13. Bc2 Re8 14. Qd3 e2 15. Nd6 Nf8 16. Nxf7 exf1=Q+ 17. Rxf1 Bf5 18. Qxf5 Qd7 19. Qf4 Bf6 20. N3e5 Qe7 21. Bb3 Bxe5 22. Nxe5+ Kh7 23. Qe4+ 1-0

Download .pgn

Sources

  • PGN Mentor, Spassky.pgn and Bronstein.pgn
  • ChessBase: The name is Spassky – Boris Spassky (September 2, 2004, archived)
  • Wikipedia: Boris Spassky
  • Wikipedia: From Russia with Love (film)
  • Wikipedia: David Bronstein

The moves compared in three sources: PGN Mentor (both Spassky's and Bronstein's file) and ChessBase, which gives the moves up to 21…Bxe5 and the rest in the text. They are identical, 45 half-moves. Bronstein resigned after 23.Qe4+. We have not found the exact day of the game. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.

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Updated November 14, 2026