Echesspedia

Born

-         Lionel Adalbert Felix Kizeritsky (1806-1853) – one of the strongest Estonian chess players of his time. While his real immortality was provided by his loss in the “immortal” game to Anderssen in London 1851.

-         Klaus Junge (1924-1945) – born Chile, the most talented German chessplayer since Lasker. Came first equal with Alekhine at Prague 1942. Unfortunately, he perished during WWII…

-         Victor Khenkin (1923) – Soviet master, theorist, journalist and author. Executive secretary of a legendary “Chess Moscow” –Shakhmatnaya Moskva (1957-71). The author of some books.

-         Roman Slobodjan (1975) German grandmaster, World Junior champion in 1995.

-         Alexander Finkel (1975) Israeli grandmaster

-         Luc Winants (1963) Belgian champion and grandmaster

-         Alexey Vyzmanavin (1960-2000) Russian grandmaster who played twice for the national team 1992 and 1995.

[View with PicLens]

-         1881. 1st issue of the British Chess Magazine, the oldest magazine without a break.  Watkinson is the editor.

-         1893. Dutch Federation monthly magazine Schakend Nederland founded.

-         1990. A FIDE ban on smoking came into effect. Smoking was not longer allowed in the playing hall for the duration during play.

-         2010. At the age of 19 Magnus Carlsen became the youngest chess player in history to be ranked world number one, breaking the record previously held by Vladimir Kramnik.


World Events

-         0045BC: The Julian Calendar has been introduced by Julius Caesar

-         1515: Death of Louis XII, King of France

-         1531: Rio de Janerio, Brazil, discovered

-         1863: The Emancipation Proclamation, declared the previous September by Abraham Lincoln, took effect. It declared freedom for slaves in all areas of the Confederacy that were still in rebellion against the Union.

-         1901: The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed

-         1956: Sudan gains it’s independence

-         1958: Treaties establishing the European Economic Community went into effect.

-         1959: Fidel Castro led Cuban revolutionaries to victory over Fulgencio Batista.

-         1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue a declaration, signed by representatives of 26 countries, called the “United Nations.”

-         1986: Soviet television aired a five-minute greeting from President Reagan and Americans got the same from Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the first such exchange between the superpowers.

-         1987: More than 2,000 Chinese students, defying a government ban, held a pro-democracy rally in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

- 1992: the Soviet Union (USSR) offically ceased to exist.

-         1997: Kofi Annan assumed the title of United Nations secretary-general.

-         1999: The euro, the new single currency of eleven European countries, officially came into existence with the start of the New Year.

-        2002: Twelve European nations adopted the euro in the most ambitious currency changeover in history.

Game of the day