Boris Spassky is best remembered for his duel with American Bobby Fischer in a legendary 1972 match that became a proxy for Cold War rivalries.

Let's take a look at the top five male chess players who have spent the longest period as World No. 1. A Soviet Union/Russian player tops this list.

The world champion, dethroned by the American in the middle of the Cold War, died on February 27 in Moscow at the age of 88 after a life worthy of the movies

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.

There was beauty in his brutal cavalier playing style and the Russian just couldn't be hemmed in by the iron-fisted communist rules of playing and living

Boris Spassky, a Soviet-era chess grand master who lost his world champion title in 1972 to American Bobby Fischer in one of the most famous duels in the history of the game as well as a metaphor for the competition for Cold War supremacy,

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,

He defended his World Chess champion title against American Bobby Fischer in the “Match of the Century” in 1972 — which became a cultural proxy battle between the US and Russia during the Cold

Boris Spassky, who has died aged 88 was among the finest chess players of the 20th century, but found his reign at the summit of the game ended by the outstanding American Bobby Fischer, with whom he had an epic encounter for the world championship in the summer of 1972.

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, has died in Moscow.

MOSCOW — 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 Thursday in Moscow.