BIRTHS

Victor Leonard Wahltuch (1875-27.08.1953), an English Master who played for England in the 4th Chess Olympiad in Prague 1931.
Benjamin Blumenfeld a Soviet Master born in Lithuania who is known for his contribution in the opening chess theory with the Blumenfeld Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5).
Krum Georgiev (1958), a Bulgarian Grandmaster who played for some time for FYROM.
Arno Zude (1964), a German International Master.
Peter Heine Nielsen (1973), a Danish Grandmaster, coach of Anand and Carlsen.
Frank De La Paz Perdomo (1975), a Cuban Grandmaster
Ju,ian Radulski (1972-16.02.2013), a Bulgarian Grandmaster who was Bulgarian Champion in 2011.
Diana Arutyunova (1988), a Ukrainian Woman Grandmaster.
Eric Hansen (1992), a Canadian Grandmaster who twice shared first at the Canadian Championship.

CHESS EVENTS

1968  Candidates Quarterfinal in Porec, B. Larsen DEN beat L. Portisch HUN ended 5½-4½.
2015 In Montevideo, Uruguay, Sandro Mareco (ARG) won the X American Continental Classical Championship 2015

WORLD EVENTS

1813 South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (“The Liberator”).
1832 The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.
1844 Samuel Morse sends the message “What hath God wrought” (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate the first telegraph line.
1883 The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
1915 World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the conflict on the side of the Allies.
1940 Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
1940 Acting on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, NKVD agent Iosif Grigulevich orchestrates an unsuccessful assassination attempt on exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico.
1956 The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.
1961 Cyprus joins the Council of Europe.
1992 The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.
1993 Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
1999  The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
2000 Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
(Source: Wikipedia).

GAME OF THE DAY