It was promoted as the “Match of the Century,” when American chess
grandmaster Bobby Fischer (right) defeated Russian Boris Spassky
(left) during the World Chess Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland.

In the world’s most publicized title match ever played, Fischer, a 29-
year-old Brooklynite, became the first American to win the competition
since its inception in 1866. The victory also marked the first time a non-
Russian had won the event in 24 years.

Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008)

After the 1972 World Chess Championship, Fischer did not play a
competitive game in public for nearly 20 years. In 1977 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he played three games against the MIT Greenblatt
computer program, winning them all. On January 17, 2008, Fischer
died at age 64 from renal failure at National Hospital in Iceland.

LONDON (AP) — A 900-year-old Viking chess piece bought for
a few dollars in the 1960s has sold at auction for $927,000.

The 3 1/2-inch Chess piece sold to an anonymous bidder at
Sotheby’s in London on Tuesday.

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BRIAN THOMAS

In Milwaukee on this day in 1992, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison. He was later sentenced to a 16th term
of life imprisonment for an additional homicide committed in Ohio
in 1978. On November 28 of 1994, he was beaten to death in prison
by Christopher Scarver (below), a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan is 56 years old today.

Former high-flying Chicago Bulls shooting guard is considered by many to
be the greatest basketball player of all-time. He was a 6-time NBA champion,
6-time NBA Finals MVP, and 5-time NBA MVP. He didn’t make the varsity
squad as a sophomore at Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina because he was only 5’11".  MJ is currently the principal owner and chairman of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.

Here’s “Air Jordan” in Portland, Oregon.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

World War II began when Germany invaded Poland on this day in 1939.

Hitler salutes as he oversees troops during the Nazi occupation of Poland.

It was on this day in 2004.

Russian President Vladimir Putin seen during his
televised address to the nation.

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It was on this day in 1983.

President Ronald Reagan condemning the Soviet attack on a Korean airliner.

On this day in 1972, America’s Bobby Fischer (right) beats Russia’s
Boris Spassky (left) to become world chess champion. The chess
match took place in Reykjavik, Iceland.

This undated photo provided by Heritage Auctions shows the chess board used by American Bobby Fischer and Soviet champ Boris
Spassky during their historic 1972 “Match of the Century.”

Gloria Estefan (Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo) is 61 years young
today.

Latin pop singer Gloria Estefan has sold more than one hundred million
records over the course of her career. She has released many #1 hits,
including "Don’t Wanna Lose You." Gloria once worked with the Miami
International Airport Customs Department while in college and was
approached by the CIA because of her prowess with language. She
has won seven Grammy Awards, including one for Best Tropical Latin
Album in 1993 for Mi Tierra.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

It was on this day in 1973.

Garry Kasparov, world chess champion, lost his first ever multi-game match on this day in 1997. He lost to IBM’s chess computer Deep
Blue. It was the first time a computer had beaten a world-champion player.

Irving Berlin (Israel Beilin) (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989)

 Composer and lyricist, Irving Berlin is widely considered one of the
greatest songwriters in American history. His music forms a great
part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russia,
Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five. He published
his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907, receiving 33 cents
for the publishing rights, and had his first major international hit,
"Alexander’s Ragtime Band" in 1911. He also was an owner of the
Music Box Theatre on Broadway.

Robert Nesta Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981)

Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer-songwriter who became an
international musical and cultural icon, blending mostly reggae,
ska, and rocksteady in his compositions. Starting out in 1963
with the group the Wailers, he forged a distinctive songwriting
and vocal style that would later resonate with audiences
worldwide. The Wailers would go on to release some of the
earliest reggae records with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry
and after the group disbanded in 1974, Marley then
pursued a solo career upon his relocation to England.

Bob Marley (center) with the Wailers.

Marley died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University
of Miami Hospital), at age 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs
and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were
"Money can’t buy life”.