Boris Spassky, the world chess champion whose career was overshadowed by his loss to Bobby Fischer in the “Match of the Century” in 1972, died on Thursday in Moscow. He was 88.
His death was announced by the International Chess Federation, the game’s governing body, which did not cite a cause. He had been sick for a long time, having suffered a major stroke in 2010 that left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of the federation, which is also known as FIDE, said in a statement: “He was not only one of the greatest players of the Soviet era and the world, but also a true gentleman. His contributions to chess will never be forgotten.”
Mr. Spassky had noteworthy accomplishments as a player, but the politics of the match with Mr. Fischer, at the height of the Cold War, and the media attention focused on it, reduced both of them to mere pawns in a wider drama.
Mr. Spassky was not happy about all the attention. In a 2023 interview for an exhibition at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, his son, Boris Jr., said, “The role that he played in the 1972 match, he always thought of it as a chess player because all the fuss around it, political, geostrategic, he never mentioned it. I am pretty certain that he felt the pressure.”
It was a measure of the match’s resonance that 20 years later, when they staged a rematch, it drew worldwide interest, even though both players were well past their prime.
When they played the first match, in Reykjavik, Iceland, Mr. Fischer, with his brash personality, was something of a folk hero in the West. He was widely portrayed as a lone gunslinger boldly taking on the might of the Soviet chess machine, with Mr. Spassky representing the repressive Soviet empire.
The reality could not have been further from the truth. Mr. Fischer was a spoiled 29-year-old man-child, often irascible and difficult. Mr. Spassky, 35, was urbane, laid-back and good-natured, acceding to Mr. Fischer’s many demands leading up to and during the match.
The match almost did not happen. It was supposed to start on July 2, but Mr. Fischer was still in New York, demanding more money for both players. A British promoter, James Slater, added $125,000 to the prize fund, which doubled it to $250,000 (about $1.9 million today), and Mr. Fischer arrived on July 4.
The match was a best-of-24 series, with each win counting as one point, each draw as a half point, and each loss as a zero. The first player to 12.5 points would be the winner.
In Game 1, played on July 11, Mr. Fischer blundered and lost. Afterward, he refused to play Game 2 unless the television cameras being used to record the match were turned off. When they were not, Mr. Fischer forfeited the game.
The match seemed in doubt, and at the height of the crisis, Henry A. Kissinger, the secretary of state, made a personal appeal to Mr. Fischer to play. A compromise was worked out, and the match was moved to a tiny, closed playing area.
Mr. Fischer won Game 3, his first victory ever against Mr. Spassky, and proceeded to steamroll him, winning the match 12.5 to 8.5.
A complete obituary will follow.
