QUOTE OF THE DAY

BIRTHS

Alexander Kotov (1913-09.01.1981), Soviet Grandmaster, International Arbiter and author.
William Hartston (1974), English International Master. One of the best British player of the 1970’s ? Journalist, writer and TV commentator.
Praveen M. Thipsay (1959), Indian Grandmaster who won 7 national titles.
Alibek Ibragimov (1968), Kazakh Grandmaster.
Jean-Luc Chabanon (1971), French Grandmaster.
Dimitri Reinderman (1972), Dutch Grandmaster who was the national champion in 2013.
Jose Gonzales Garcia (1973), Mexican Grandmaster who was the national champion in 1996.
Andrei Istratescu (1975), French Grandmaster born in Romania.
PrasannaVishnu V. (1989), Indian Grandmaster.

DEATHS

Wilhelm Steinitz (14.05.1836-1900) Czech Master who died in New York, USA. The first official World Champion of chess. He was recognized as the world’s leading player from 1866 until 1894.
Rudolf Swiderski (27.07.1878-1909), German Master who shared first at Monte Carlo in 1904. He committed suicide shortly after his 31st birthday allegedly because he could not face an operation.

CHESS EVENTS

1937 The FIDE GA proclaimed the Soviet Master Salo Flohr as the official FIDE Candidate for the World Championship Match to be played once the revenge match between Euwe and Alekhine will be concluded.
1981  Finland (Perkonoja and Valtonen) won the 5^th World Chess Solving Championship in Arnhem, Holland.
2014 For the sixth time the FIDE GA re-elected Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (RUS) as President. Ilyumzhinov’s  ticket beat Garry Kasparov’s ticket 110-61.

WORLD EVENTS

1099 First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.
1831 French intervention forces William I of the Netherlands to abandon his attempt to suppress the Belgian Revolution.
1851 Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
1883 The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1898 The Hawaiian flag is lowered from ʻIolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States.
1914 World War I: The United Kingdom declares war on Austria-Hungary; the countries of the British Empire follow suit.
1953 The first testing of real thermonuclear weapon (not test devices): The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of “RDS-6s” (Joe 4), the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb.
1960 Echo 1A, NASA’s first successful communications satellite, is launched.
1964 South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country’s racist policies.
1981 The IBM Personal Computer is released.
1982 Mexico announces that it is unable to pay its enormous external debt, marking the beginning of a debt crisis that spreads to all of Latin America and the Third World.
(Source; Wikipedia)

GAME OF THE DAY