George H. D. Gossip (1841–1907) was a minor American-English chess
master and writer. He competed against most of the world's leading
players in chess tournaments between 1870 and 1895, but with only
modest success. The writer G. H. Diggle calls him "the King of Wooden
Spoonists" because he usually finished last in strong tournaments.
Gossip was also a noted writer. His 1874 treatise The Chess-Player's
Manual—A Complete Guide to Chess was harshly received by the critics,
largely because he had included a number of informal skittles games
that he had (atypically) won against stronger players. He developed a
lifelong enmity toward chess critics, attacking them ferociously in his
books. However, his 1879 book Theory of the Chess Openings was well
received, becoming one of the standard opening works of the time. He
made his living primarily as a journalist, author, and translator,
writing for publications in England, France, Australia, and the U.S. At
various times he lived in each of those countries, Germany, and Canada.
In 1898 and 1899, two publishers issued his only non-chess book, The
Jew of Chamant. Published under the pseudonym "Ivan Trepoff", it was
virulently anti-Semitic. Chess writers have often mocked Gossip's play.
However, a modern assessment system, Chessmetrics, concludes that at
his peak he was close to grandmaster strength.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._D._Gossip>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1534:
Over 200 Spanish settlers led by conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar
founded what is now Quito, Ecuador.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quito>
1768:
The first weekly installment of the first edition of the Encyclopædia
Britannica was released in Edinburgh, Scotland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica>
1865:
Slavery in the United States was officially abolished when the
Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution>
1917:
A ship in Halifax Harbour carrying trinitrotoluene (TNT) and picric
acid caught fire after a collision with another ship and exploded,
devastating Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion>
1921:
The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed and then came into force exactly one
year to the day later, establishing the Irish Free State, the first
independent Irish state to be recognised by the British government.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_Treaty>
1989:
Claiming that he was "fighting feminism", 25-year-old Marc Lépine
embarked on a massacre, killing fourteen women, and wounding ten other
women and four men, before committing suicide at École Polytechnique in
Montreal.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
maudlin (adj):
1. Extravagantly or excessively sentimental; self-pitying.
2. Affectionate or sentimental in an effusive, tearful, or foolish
manner, such as from drunkenness
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maudlin>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Science of Language has taught us that there is order and wisdom in
all languages, and even the most degraded jargons contain the ruins of
former greatness and beauty. The Science of Religion, I hope, will
produce a similar change in our views of barbarous forms of faith and
worship.
--Max Müller
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_M%C3%BCller>
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