Boris Spassky, a Soviet-era world chess champion who lost his title to American Bobby Fischer in a legendary 1972 match that became a proxy for Cold War rivalries, died on Thursday in Moscow. He was 88.

STORY: Russian chess grandmaster Boris Spassky has died at the age of 88, according to the International Chess Federation on Thursday.Spassky was the oldest living world chess champion and the 10th to hold the title,

When Mr. Spassky, a Russian, played Bobby Fischer, an American, in Iceland at the height of the Cold War, the media attention reduced them to pawns in a wider drama.