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.

CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: In the late 1970s, Central Asia could seem like just another stagnating Soviet backwater. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: (Non-English language ...