Chess-Russian grandmaster Spassky dies aged 88

PARIS : Russian chess grandmaster Boris Spassky has died at the age of 88, International chess federation (FIDE) general director Emil Sutovsky told Reuters on Thursday.

Spassky, who took French nationality in 1978, was the 10th World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969-1972, when he lost it to American Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik in a contest later dubbed as the "Match of the Century".

During that match in the midst of the Cold War, which he lost 12.5-8.5 despite winning the first two games, Spassky showed great sportsmanship, applauding Fischer after losing the sixth game.

"A great personality has passed away, generations of chess players have studied and are studying his games and his work. This is a great loss for the country," Russian Chess Federation President Andrei Filatov told the TASS news agency.

Spassky had been the oldest living world chess champion.

"It is, of course, a huge loss for the entire chess world.

Boris Vasilevich lived in Moscow and was in contact with everyone close to him... I knew him in a different way than from books. It was always interesting to speak with him. He was a very interesting story-teller and it's hard for me to talk about him leaving us," Alexander Tkachev, executive director of the Russian Chess Federation, told state news agency RIA.

Spassky represented France in three chess Olympiads in 1984, 1986 and 1988, and was seen playing in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris during the 1990s.

Spassky, whose health deteriorated in the early 2000s, disappeared from Paris in August, 2012 before resurfacing in Moscow in October that year.

"It was my desire to return to Russia, because my time in France had run its course. It was time to start a new stage. I understood it was time to leave," Spassky said at the time.

(Reporting Julien Pretot and Tommy Lund in Gdansk, additional reporting by Ronald Popeski, editing by Ed Osmond)