In this book, the Belgian chess historian Henri Serruys traces back how Spassky became the first Soviet World Junior Chess Champion in Antwerp 1955. Endowed with recently discovered original material from the tournament organizer, the Belgian youth chess leader Hendrik Baelen, he paints a very colorful picture of this sparkling event. How to finance the event from private donors? Where to accommodate the players (and their seconds, mostly from Eastern European countries)? Would the favorites come through the preliminary rounds? Moreover, Serruys digs into contemporary sources and contacted all the participants, in so far as they are still alive. By combining these three main sources (papers from Baelen, contemporary journals and testimony of participants), Henri creates an authentic account of this milestone for both FIDE and the development of international youth chess. Moreover, he presents the key games of the tournament and unearthed a couple of hitherto unknown games of Spassky. Finally, he pays a well-deserved tribute to Hendrik Baelen and thus puts him on the map of chess history! The original research conducted for this book contributes greatly to the history of FIDE and Belgian chess alike. Let us lift the Curtain for Spassky at the age of 18 years !
