Chess champion Boris Spassky dies aged 88

Bobby Fischer, right, and Boris Spassky play their last game together in Reykjavik, Iceland, on August 31 1972 (J Walter Green/AP)

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.

The death of the one-time chess prodigy was announced by the International Chess Federation, the game’s governing body. No cause was given.