Anatoly Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He is considered one of the greatest players in chess history, especially in tournament play: he is the most successful tournament player in history, with over 140 first-places to his credit. His overall record is 1,118 wins, 287 losses, and 1,480 draws in 3,163 games, and his peak Elo rating is 2780. Karpov's "boa constrictor" playing style is solidly positional, taking no risks but reacting mercilessly to any tiny errors made by his opponents. As a result, he is often compared to his idol, the famous Jose Raul Capablanca, the third World Champion.

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1683 - Several European armies joined forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna)

1933 - Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le%F3_Szil%E1rd)

1942 - The Laconia incident: RMS Laconia, carrying some 80 civilians and 268 British soldiers, and about 1800 Italian POWs with 160 Polish soldiers on guard, was hit by a torpedo from a U-boat off the coast of West Africa and sank. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_incident)

1974 - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, the Rastafarian 'Messiah', was deposed following a military coup by the Derg. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derg)

1990 - The Two Plus Four Agreement was signed, paving the way for German re-unification. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Final_Settlement_With_Respect_to_...)

Wikiquote of the day:

"Only tragedy allows the release of love and grief never normally seen." ~ Kate Bush (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_Bush)