Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky, who was famously defeated at the height of the cold war, has died at 88, the Russian Chess Federation has announced.

• Spassky is best remembered for his duel with US player Bobby Fischer in 1972, which was emblematic of the confrontation between east and west, and was later referred to as “the match of the century”.
• The iconic Cold War duel has been the subject of numerous books, documentaries and films.
• Most notably it inspired the Walter Tevis novel “The Queen’s Gambit,” which was adapted into the acclaimed Netflix series in 2020.
• Spassky became world champion in 1969 and held the title until he played the match that would define his career, facing the eccentric American prodigy.