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Today's featured article

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. (more...)

Recently featured: Tawny Owl – Blade Runner – William Speirs Bruce

Today's featured picture

The Frauenkirche in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, the cathedral of the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, as viewed from the tower of the nearby St. Peter's Church. Construction of the church began in 1468 and was completed in 20 years, although towers' domes were not finished until 1525. Photo credit: David Iliff Recently featured: Chapultepec Castle, 1830s – Layla and Majnun – Laughing Kookaburra Archive – More featured pictures...

Current events

• A fire at a nightclub kills at least 109 people and injures 160 others in Perm, Russia.
• A suicide attack kills at least 37 people and injures more than 80 others during Friday prayers at a mosque in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
• Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (pictured) is re-elected President of Equatorial Guinea.
• A suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia kills 22 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.
• Rwanda becomes the first country to be declared landmine-free under the Ottawa Treaty.
• In the process to revalue the North Korean wŏn, current banknotes cease to be legal tender, and businesses throughout the country shut down until new notes are released.

Selected anniversaries

December 6: Independence Day in Finland (1917); Constitution Day in Spain

• 1534 – Over 200 Spanish settlers led by conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar (pictured) founded what is now Quito, Ecuador.
• 1768 – The first weekly installment of the first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was released in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• 1865 – Slavery in the United States was officially abolished when the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

More anniversaries: December 5 – December 6 – December 7

Did you know...

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