Science & Tech Quote by Boris Spassky

Spassky is quietly puncturing the fantasy that chess is a perfectly symmetrical sport where defense and attack are equally available to anyone who learns the rules. On paper, a position can be “defended,” and engines prove it with cold, tireless accuracy. In real games, especially under today’s faster clocks, defense becomes an endurance test: you have to find a long sequence of only-moves, absorb threats without relief, and maintain emotional control while your opponent gets to play the fun part - setting traps, forcing choices, creating fear.

The line “computer defends well” isn’t praise so much as a backhanded reminder of what humans aren’t. Machines don’t get impatient, don’t drift, don’t feel the psychological weight of being worse. Spassky’s subtext is that modern chess has tilted toward initiative because time pressure amplifies human weakness. Attack is often easier not because it’s objectively stronger, but because it simplifies decision-making: you pose problems. Defense is the opposite: you must solve them, repeatedly, with no guarantee the solution is even findable in the moment.

Context matters: Spassky came of age in an era of adjournments and slower, more “classical” rhythms where stubborn defense could be a craft. Modern time controls, paired with engine-shaped opening preparation, reward practical pressure and speed. His point lands as both lament and instruction: if you want to win against humans, don’t chase perfect lines like a computer - make them defend.