Peter Svidler clearly needs to be more ambitious and take more risk. 12 draws out of 14 games, I mean, come on, that’s not a Champion’s attitude there!- Anish Giri
BIRTH
Almira Skripchenko (1976), a French International Master and Woman Grandmaster born in Moldova who won the Women’s European Individual Championship in 2001.
Dov Zifroni (1976), an Israeli Grandmaster.
Andrei Murariu (1986), a Romanian Grandmaster.
Thao Nguyen (1987), a Vietnamese International Master and Woman Grandmaster who became national Champion in 2010.
Vita Kryvoruchko (1988), a Ukrainian Woman Grandmaster and coach.
DEATHS
Siegbert Tarrasch (05.03.1862-1934), a German Master, a medical doctor by profession who also may have been the best player in the world in the early 1890s.
Anatoly Machulsky, (24.09.1956-2017), a Russian Grandmaster and coach.
CHESS EVENTS 1989 The longest tournament chess game (in terms of moves) ever to be played was Nikolić–Arsović, Belgrade 1989, which lasted for 269 moves and took 20 hours and 15 minutes to complete a drawn game. 1996 World chess champion Garry Kasparov beat IBM supercomputer “Deep Blue,” winning a six-game match in Philadelphia. Kasparov had lost the first game, won the second, fifth and sixth games and earned draws in the third and fourth.
WORLD EVENTS
1598 Feb 17, Boris Godunov, the boyar of Tatar origin, was elected czar in succession to his brother-in-law Fydor. 1673 Moliere, [Jean Baptiste Poquelin], French author (Tartuffe, Le Malade Imaginaire), died. 1801 An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr, Vice President by the United States House of Representatives. 1838 Weenen massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulus. 1854 The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Orange Free State. 1863 A group of citizens of Geneva founded an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross. 1871 The victorious Prussian Army parades through Paris, France, after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. 1880 Tsar Alexander II of Russia survived an assassination attempt. 1909 Apache chief Geronimo died of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity at Fort Sill, Okla. 1933 Newsweek magazine is first published. 1919 Germany signed an armistice giving up territory in Poland. 1947 The Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union. 1955 Britain announced its ability to make hydrogen bombs. 1964 Gabonese president Léon M’ba is toppled by a coup and his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place. 1967 Beatles released “Penny Lane” & “Strawberry Fields.” 1994 Bosnian Serbs began large-scale withdrawal of its heavy guns from the hills around Sarajevo under pressure from Russia.
