BIRTHS

Edwin Kengis (1959), Latvian Grandmaster who is an eight-time Latvian Champion.
Nenad Fercec (1961), a Croatian Grandmaster.
Joel Lautier (1973), a French Grandmaster, World U20 Champion in 1988 who is retired from chess and living in Moscow.
Mariya Sergeyeva (1983), a Kazakh Woman Grandmaster.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (1985 ), an Azeri Grandmaster who was the 2013 World Rapid Champion and Mamedyarov and a two-time World Junior Champion.
Kamil Miton (1984), a Polish Grandmaster.
Farhad  Tahirov (1987), An Azeri Grandmaster, he is not active since 2008.
Ioannis K Papadopoulos (1988), a Greek Grandmaster who was Greek Champion in 2007.

DEATHS

Grau Roberto (18.03.1900-1944), an Argentine Master who played for Argentina in six Chess Olympiads.
Robert Byrne (20.04.1928-2013), an American Grandmaster and author who won the U.S. Championship in 1972.

CHESS EVENT

1958  The first International Braille Chess Association Congress took place in Rheinbreitbach, Germany

WORLD EVENTS

467 Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
1606 The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.
1877 The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
1931 Spanish voters reject the monarchy.
1945 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry Truman, become President upon Roosevelt’s death.
1946 Syria gains independence from France.
1955 The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
1961 The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, Vostok 1.
1980 US Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of the Moscow Olympic games
1981 The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.
(Source: Wikipedia and on this day)

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