1/31/2024 – Today is the 100th anniversary of the death of Curt von Bardeleben. A wealthy privateer, he was one of the best German chess players in the 1880s and 1890s. He lost his fortune during the First World War and fell seriously ill. On 31 January 1924 he fell to his death from a window.

3/31/2020 – In the 1980s the Hungarian Grandmaster Andras Adorjan was one of the world's best players. He was a renowned opening expert and worked as an author and trainer, assisting Garry Kasparov, Peter Leko and others. However, Adorjan's most famous legacy is the slogan "Black is OK"! Today the Hungarian celebrates his 70th birthday. | Photo: Dutch National Archive

1/10/2020 – Quick trivia: Who was the strongest female player ever born in the USA? If you said Alisa Maric, you're right! She and Mirjana Maric are twins and they are both Women Grandmasters — a unique case in the history of chess. In 1990, Alisa almost played for the Women's World title and after the end of her chess career she had a successful career as an academic. From 2012 to 2013 she served as Serbia's minister for youth and sports. Today, January 10, 2020, Alisa and her 20 minutes younger sister Mirjana celebrate their 50th birthday. | Photo: Rochade Kuppenheim

1/7/2020 – 25 years ago, on January 7, 1995, Harry Golombek died. He was a prolific and popular author, and from the 1930s to the 1950s also one of England's best players. Golombek also worked as an arbiter and directed tournaments and world championship matches. During World War II he belonged to the famous group of English "Codebreakers" who helped the Allies to win the war.

5/12/2019 – The Kan Variation, also known as Paulsen Variation, is a popular line of the Sicilian. It is named after Ilya Kan, a Russian player who was born 110 years ago last week, on May 4, 1909. He lived most of his life in Moscow where he worked as a lawyer. Kan played in ten Soviet Championships and helped Botvinnik to prepare for his World Championship matches against Smyslov but outside of Russia he is still rather unknown.

10/5/2018 – Vladimir Petrovs had a tragic life. He was born in 1907 and became one of the strongest players in Latvia. His biggest success was the international tournament in Kemeri 1937 where he finished joint first with Reshevsky and Flohr, ahead of Alekhine and Keres. When Germany occupied Latvia in WW II he fled to Moscow but after critical remarks about the commuist regime he was arrested and in August 1943 he died in a Soviet labour camp. | Photo: Vladimir Petrovs with his wife Galina (Russkije.lv)

11/24/2015 – He was one of the best-loved leaders of the German government, the hero of the devastating 1962 floods and the 1977 rescue of 86 passengers from a hijacked plane in Mogadishu. Two weeks ago Helmut Schmidt passed, at the age of 96. The countless newspaper tributes to this great leader did not neglect to mention one of his great passions: Helmut Schmidt loved chess.