On the 3rd of July 2013 FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who was in Beijing for the opening ceremony of the fifth stage of Grand Prix, made known two important dates for the chess world.
FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov: “There are two important dates today. I’m glad to announce that the fifth stage of Grand Prix is already 25th Grand Prix event organized by FIDE since the first Grand Prix in Baku in 2008. I also want to congratulate famous Belorussian Grand Master Viktor Kupreichik on his birthday. He reached 64 today, it is a real chess anniversary!”
Gashimov, Wang Yue & Carlsen are winners of Baku Grand Prix 2008
Viktor Davidovich Kupreichik (born 3 July 1949) is a Belarusian Grandmaster
At the beginning of his career, he won individual gold medal at Ybbs 1968 (the 15th World Student Team Chess Championship). He was twice the winner of the Belarusian Chess Championship in 1972 and 2003. He also placed first at Wijk aan Zee (Masters’ tournament) 1977, Kirovakan 1978 (jointly), Reykjavik 1980, Plovdiv 1980, Medina del Campo 1980, and Hastings International Chess Congress in 1981/82.
A player of real fighting chess, he would often lead tournaments in the early stages and then run out of stamina and lose heavily in the last few rounds; for example, at each of the Soviet Championships of 1979 and 1980, he won 5 consecutive games, but only finished 6th on both occasions. In 2010, he won the European Seniors’ Rapid Championship. In 1980, he was awarded the Grandmaster title to become the first chess player Grandmaster in Belarus.
Who is he?
Jay Leno