Boris Spassky, the Soviet chess grandmaster best known for his historic 1972 match against American Bobby Fischer, has passed away at 88 in Moscow. His legendary encounter with Fischer was a defining moment of Cold War-era chess,

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.

Boris Spassky, the World Chess Champion who faced Bobby Fischer in the legendary "Match of the Century," died Thursday at age 88. Spassky was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), where he became a grandmaster at 18.