Your Chess Related Birthday Is …

I like to analyze instructional chess games where a common theme, or idea, is prominent. Many chess games become “famous” because of some brilliant idea played. However, here at “Kevin’s Corner” – we sometimes go beyond games. We investigate “the latest news on interesting chess games, events, or whatever we may find interesting.” Today is a treat from the last one: something interesting for sure. A family member of mine has their birthday coming up and an inspiration just came to me, as if out of the blue. To say that chess is an old game might be an understatement; naturally, many people have been involved with chess over the years. I wonder how many “chess birthdays” I could gather. My primary “chess person” list includes mostly titled chess players, but also chess writers, chess promoters, contributors to opening theory and so on. Many books offer something along the lines of “which celebrity has the same birthday as you” so I was curious if I could create my own list from chess; that is exactly what I did.

I researched a lot of people in the process: for example, every single person in the Wikipedia “List of chess players” I researched! I had no idea this endeavor would be as time consuming as it has been, but I am up typically up for a challenge. (For a laugh, here is that long list that I didn’t believe I would get through, but ended doing anyway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_players) I have never seen any such birthday-specific list for chess, so why shouldn’t this be the first?

The problem isn’t only finding a different one for each date; the problem is also avoiding repetition. A mathematical concept known as “the birthday problem” displays a statistic that sounds counter-intuitive to those hearing it for the first time. It essentially states that in any random group of 30 people, there is a 71% chance that at least 2 people will share the same birthday. There is also at least a 50% chance that 2 people share the same birthday in a random group of 23 people. If the math interests you, a simple explanation can be found here: https://medium.com/i-math/the-birthday-problem-307f31a9ac6f. Obviously, I encountered a lot of birthday repetition for 365 days to find (yes, I attempted to look for February 29 as well) while other days I never even found a single match!

Standard disclaimer to this list: the players I chose to include in the list (without repetition) is by no means a “ranking” or value of the player(s), they are simply one example of someone whose birthday is on that day of the year. The idea behind this list is to serve as a fun way to entertain and perhaps spark inspiration to research more in-depth, regarding the people mentioned. Here is the ordered list with list addendums below:

January
January 1, 1837, Berthold Suhle
January 2, 1899, Holger Norman-Hansen
January 3, 1928, Frank Ross Anderson
January 4, 1983, A R Saleh Salem
January 5, 1994, Alexandr Predke
January 6, 1994, Vladislav Vladimirovich Kovalev
January 7, 1916, Paul Keres
January 8, 1947, Igor Ivanov
January 9, 1957, Anna Akhsharumova
January 10, 1949, Walter Browne
January 11, 1977, Christian Bauer
January 12, 1990, Sergey Karjakin
January 13, 1988, Tatev Abrahamyan
January 14, 1985, Nadezhda Kosintseva
January 15, 1857, Alexander Fritz
January 16, 1884, Fred Dewhirst Yates
January 17, 1968, Steven Levitsky
January 18, 1966, Alexander Khalifman
January 19, 1946, Gennady Pavlovich Kuzmin
January 20, 1967, Ivar Bern
January 21, 1967, Neil McDonald
January 22, 1983, Étienne Bacrot
January 23, 1846, Hermann Clemenz
January 24, 1913, Herbert Avram
January 25, 1970, Rune Djurhuus
January 26, 2000, Alexey Vasilyevich Sarana
January 27, 1790, William Davies Evans
January 28, 1920, Valentina Borisenko
January 29, 1900, Irving Chernev
January 30, 1937, Boris Spassky
January 31, 1991, Ju Wenjun

February
February 2, 1923, Svetozar Gligorić
February 3, 1859, Joseph Henry Blake
February 4, 1989, Valentina Gunina
February 5, 1990, Dmitry Vladimirovich Andreikin
February 6, 1945, Mišo Cebalo
February 7, 1892, Karel Opočenský
February 8, 1922, Yuri Averbakh
February 9, 1910, Eero Böök
February 10, 1864, Max Harmonist
February 11, 1950, Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov
February 12, 1794, Alexander Petrov
February 13, 1960, Artur Yusupov
February 14, 1845, Cecil De Vere
February 15, 1913, Erich Eliskases
February 16, 1995, Vladimir Fedoseev
February 17, 1976, Almira Skripchenko
February 18, 1977, Helgi Grétarsson
February 19, 1924, David Bronstein
February 20, 1946, Algimantas Butnorius
February 21, 1914, Arnold S. Denker
February 22, 1887, Savielly Tartakower
February 23, 1906, Iosif Benediktovich Pogrebyssky
February 24, 1885, Jacob Bernstein
February 25, 1958, David Simon Charles Goodman
February 26, 1910, Daniël Noteboom
February 27, 1865, Jacques Mieses
February 28, 1990, Anna Muzychuk

March
March 1, 1911, Harry Golombek
March 2, 1874, Carl Schlechter
March 3, 1870, Géza Maróczy
March 4, 1935, Bent Larsen
March 5, 1862, Siegbert Tarrasch
March 6, 1966, Maurice Ashley
March 7, 1780, Alexandre Deschapelles
March 8, 1925, Efim Geller
March 9, 1943, Bobby (Robert James) Fischer
March 10, 1987, Csaba Balogh
March 11, 1842 [Brittish O.S. Calendar] Friedrich Amelung
March 12, 1987, Teimour Radjabov
March 13, 1991, Le Quang Liem
March 14, 1886, Alexey Troitsky
March 15, 1975, Veselin Topalov
March 16, 1994, Maxime Lagarde
March 17, 1918, Miroslav Katětov
March 18, 1969, Vassily Ivanchuk
March 19, 1917, Laszlo Szabo
March 20, 1963, Andrei Sokolov
March 21, 1868, Alexander Halprin
March 22, 1932, Larry Evans
March 23, 1931, Viktor Korchnoi
March 24, 1921, Vasily Smyslov
March 25, 1984, Constantin Lupulescu
March 26, 1970, Alberto David
March 27, 1985, David Navara
March 29, 1897, Olof Kinnmark
March 28, 1931, Anatoly Yakovlevich Lein
March 30, 1966, Efstratios Grivas
March 31, 1987, Wang Yue

April
April 1, 1854, Martin Bier
April 2, 1881, Clarence Howell
April 3, 1966, Alexei Barsov
April 4, 1960, Murray Chandler
April 5, 1985, Jan Smeets
April 6, 1985, Zhao Xue
April 7, 1961, Igors Rausis
April 8, 1890, Siegmund Beutum
April 9, 2003, Awonder Liang
April 10, 1904, Erik Andersen
April 11, 1845, Johann Berger
April 12, 1959, Edvīns Ķeņģis
April 13, 1963, Garry Kasparov
April 14, 1889, Efim Bogoljubov
April 15, 1910, Miguel Najdorf
April 16, 1945, Goran Antunac
April 17, 1980, Pawel Blehm
April 18, 1996, Daniil Dubov
April 19, 1969, Susan Polgar
April 20, 1965, Lars Schandorff
April 21, 1989, Li Chao
April 22, 1879, Bernhard Gregory
April 23, 1984, Alexandria Kosteniuk
April 24, 1980, Karen Asrian
April 25, 1955, John Nunn
April 26, 1998, Jan-Krzysztof Duda
April 27, 1894, František Schubert
April 28, 1901, Weaver Adams
April 29, 1881, Albert Fox
April 30, 1893, Gyula Breyer

May
May 1, 1988, Bela Khotenashvili
May 2, 1982, Lázaro Bruzón
May 3, 1941, Nona Gaprindasvili
May 4, 1970, Boris Alterman
May 5, 1944, Roman Dzindzichashvili
May 6, 1998, Kayden Troff
May 7, 1960, Eric Lobron
May 8, 1968, Alexander Fishbein
May 9, 1904, Gösta Stoltz
May 10, 1983, Pavel Eljanov
May 11, 1973, Aleksej Aleksandrov
May 12, 1956, Zenón Franco
May 13, 1931, Andrija Fuderer
May 14, 1995, Nijat Azad [oglu] Abasov
May 15, 1974, Matthew Sadler
May 16, 1875, Dirk Bleijkmans
May 17, 1836, Wilhelm Steinitz
May 18, 1897, Edgard Colle
May 19, 1883, Walter Henneberger
May 20, 1901, Max Euwe
May 21, 1986, Gadir Guseinov
May 22, 1984, Yuri Drozdovskij
May 23, 1951, Anatoly Karpov
May 24, 1974, Christof Sielecki
May 25, 1868, Dawid Janowski
May 26, 1905, Paulino Frydman
May 27, 1936, Raimundo García
May 28, 1889, Richard Retí
May 29, 1911, Wolfgang Heidenfeld
May 30, 1887, Alexander Archipenko
May 31, 1983, Ni Hua

June
June 1, 1965, Nigel Short
June 2, 1974, Gata Kamsky
June 3, 1993, Nils Grandelius
June 4, 1904[-5?], Henri Grob
June 5, 1908, Sammi Fajarowicz
June 6, 1905, Antoni Wojciechowski
June 7, 1940, Liudmila Belavenets
June 8, 1994, Yu Yangyi
June 9, 1919, Izaak Boleslavski
June 10, 1925, Gerardo Budowski
June 11, 1917, Romanas Arlauskas
June 12, 1930, Donald Byrne
June 13, 1968, Ivan Sokolov
June 14, 1881, (Sir) George Alan Thomas (7th Baronet)
June 15, 1986, Alexander Areshchenko
June 16, 1917, Rudolf Keller
June 17, 1929, Tigran Petrosian
June 18, 1907, Ernő Gereben
June 19, 1763, Johann Baptist Allgaier
June 20, 1978, LaVar RaShad Arrington*
June 21, 1988, Alejandro Ramírez
June 22, 1837, Paul Morphy
June 23, 1995, David Anton Guijarro
June 24, 1968, Boris Gelfand
June 25, 1975, Vladimir Kramnik
June 26, 1878, Wilhelm Hilse
June 27, 1951, Ulf Andersson
June 28, 1994, Anish Giri
June 29, 1983, Dmitry Jakovenko
June 30, 1957, Daniel Cámpora

July
July 1, 1987, Evgeny Tomashevsky
July 2, 1835, Samuel Gold
July 3, 1985, Zahar Efimenko
July 4, 1972, Alexei Shirov
July 5, 1862, Horatio Caro
July 6, 1818, Adolf Anderssen
July 7, 1983, Goh Wei Ming
July 8, 1950, Dan Heisman
July 9, 1851, Berthold Englisch
July 11, 1965, Vladimir Epishin
July 12, 1573, Pietro Carrera
July 13, 2004, Nihal Sarin
July 14, 1829, Henry Bird
July 15, 1856, Semyon Alapin
July 16, 1993, Alexander Ipatov
July 17, 1884, Stefan K. Izbinsky
July 18, 1977, Alexander Morozevich
July 19, 1936, Dieter René Keller
July 20, 1920, Lev Aronin
July 21, 1957, Vladimir Malaniuk
July 22, 1872, Richard Griffith
July 23, 1976, Judit Polgár
July 24, 1986, Vugar Gashimov
July 25, 1928, Pal Benko
July 26, 1957, Nick de Firmian
July 27, 1904, Lyudmila Rudenko
July 28, 1912, Gavrill Veresov
July 29, 1889, Lajos Asztalos
July 30, 1992, Fabiano Caruana
July 31, 1973, Jacob Aagaard

August
August 1, 1976, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
August 2, 1842, Ansel Polak Daniels
August 3, 1876, Maurice (Mortiz) Billecard
August 4, 1989, Wang Hao
August 5, 1908, Milton Hanauer
August 6, 1983, Viktorija Cmilyte
August 7, 1932, Max Lange
August 8, 1985, Ferenc Berkes
August 9, 1943, Lubomir (Lubosh) Kavalek
August 10, 1877, Frank Marshall
August 11, 2000, Parham Maghsoodloo
August 12, 1931, Béla Berger
August 13, 1900, Nils Valentin Bergkvist
August 14, 1879, Theodor Germann
August 15, 1992, Baskaran Adhiban
August 16, 1936, Vladimir Bagirov
August 17, 1911, Mikhail Botvinnik
August 18, 1886, István Abonyi
August 19, 1914, Baldur Möller
August 20, 1916, Paul Felix Schmidt
August 21, 1982, Francisco Vallejo Pons
August 22, 1883, Andreas Duhm
August 23, 1913, Rodrigo Flores Álvarez
August 24, 1946, Božidar Ivanović
August 25, 1903, Arpad Elo
August 26, 1959, Michael Rohde
August 27, 1904, Vladimir Andreevich Makogonov
August 28, 1954, Jeremy Silman
August 29, 1976, Zoltán Almási

September
September 1, 1963, An Yangfeng
September 2, 1929, Mario Bertok
September 3, 1975, Alexander Onischuk
September 4, 1953, Michael Stean
September 5, 1986, John Bartholomew
September 6, 1969, Ben Finegold
September 7, 1842, Johannes Zukertort
September 8, 1979, Peter Leko
September 9, 1988, Bassem Amin
September 10, 1941, Rosendo Balinas Jr.
September 11, 1974, Tea Lanchava
September 12, 1800, Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant
September 13, 1754, Moses Hirschel
September 14, 1848, Adolf Albin
September 15, 1964, Berge Østenstad
September 16, 1896, Andre Cheron
September 17, 1903, George Koltanowski
September 18, 1964, Curt Hansen
September 19, 1873, Rudolf Charousek
September 20, 1896, Friedrich Sämisch
September 21, 1992, Mariya Muzychuk
September 22, 1883, Samuel Factor
September 23, 1983, Leinier Domínguez
September 24, 1940, Renato Naranja
September 25, 1895, André Chéron
September 26, 1982, Eldar Gasanov
September 27, 1996, Illya Nyzhnyk
September 28, 1962, Stellan Brynell
September 29, 1949, Evgenij Ermenkov
September 30, 1937, Yoel Aloni

October
October 1, 1991, Sam Shakland
October 2, 1849, Robert Henry Barnes
October 3, 1968, David Robert Norwood
October 4, 1840, Viktor Karlovich Knorre
October 5, 1852, Ernst Flechsig
October 6, 1982, Levon Aronian
October 7, 1980, Andrei Deviatkin
October 8, 1929, Arthur Bisguier
October 9, 1993, Wesley So
October 10, 1985, Daniel Rensch
October 11, 1914, Reuben Fine
October 12, 1906, Folke Ekström
October 13, 1949, Nana Alexandria
October 14, 1962, Jaan Ehlvest
October 15, 1951, Rafael Vaganian
October 16, 1862, Hermann von Gottschall
October 17, 1937, Svein Johannessen
October 18, 1996, Olexandr Bortnyk
October 19, 1892, Alexander A. Aljechin
October 20, 1960, Konstantin Aseev
October 21, 1978, Joanna Dworakowska
October 22, 1998, Cécile Haussernot
October 23, 1962, Deen Hergott
October 24, 1992, Ding Liren
October 25, 1990, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
October 26, 1876, Grace Alekhine
October 27, 1908, James Macrae Aitken
October 28, 1970, Tiger Hillarp Persson
October 29, 1925, Nathan Divinsky
October 30, 2000, Jeffery Xiong
October 31, 1892, Alexander Alekhine

November
November 1, 1854, Isidor Gunsberg
November 2, 1958, Semen Dvoirys
November 3, 1886, Reinhold Max Blümich
November 4, 1951, Eugenio Torre
November 5, 1969, Ildikó Mádl
November 6, 1996, Nataliya Buksa
November 7, 1886, Aron Nimzowitsch
November 8, 1935, Dimitrije Bjelica
November 9, 1936, Mikhail Tal
November 10, 1845, Miksa (Max) Fleissig
November 11, 1943, Jan Adamski
November 12, 1850, Mikhail Chigorin
November 13, 1877, Paul Saladin Leonhardt
November 14, 1990, David Wei Liang Howell
November 15, 1907, Israel Albert Horowitz
November 16, 1926, Alexey (Aleksei) Stepanovich Suetin
November 17, 1971, Michael Adams
November 18, 1954, Adrian Bohdanovych Mikhalchishin
November 19, 1888, José Raúl Capablanca
November 20, 1968, Andrei Vasilyevich Kharlov
November 21, 1893, Ernst Franz Grünfeld
November 22, 1951, Lidia K Semenova
November 23, 1962, Slim Belkhodja
November 24, 1821, Henry Thomas Buckle
November 25, 1981, Stewart Haslinger
November 26, 1911, Samuel Reshevsky
November 27, 1980, Vladimir Malakhov
November 28, 1985, Evgeny Alekseev
November 29, 1863, Georg Marco
November 30, 1990, Magnus Carlsen

December
December 1, 1880, Akiba Rubinstein
December 2, 1953, Carlos Garcia Palermo
December 3, 1919, Fenny Heemskerk
December 4, 1937, William James Joseph Lombardy
December 5, 1872, Henry Nelson Pillsbury
December 6, 1986, Anton Filippov
December 7, 1971, Vladimir Akopian
December 8, 1935, Tatiana Zatulovskaya
December 9, 1987, Hikaru Nakamura
December 10, 1841, Joseph Henry Blackburne
December 11, 1969, Viswanathan Anand
December 12, 1879, Friedrich Köhnlein (Koehnlein)
December 13, 1949, Nana Alexandria
December 14, 1951, Jan Timman
December 15, 1850, Johannes Metger
December 16, 1908, Susanna (Sonja) Graf
December 17, 1953, Alexander Beliavsky
December 18, 1982, Pontus Carlsson
December 19, 1991, Robert L. Hess
December 20, 1935, Arthur Feuerstein
December 21, 1957, Roberto Cifuentes Parada
December 22, 1986, Arianne Caoili
December 23, 1981, Igor Zugic
December 24, 1868, Emanuel Lasker
December 25, 1937, Rodolfo Tan Cardoso
December 26, 2000, Samuel Sevian
December 27, 1989, Kateryna Lagno
December 28, 1981, Emanuel Berg
December 29, 1881, Giovanni Cenni
December 30, 1978, Attila Turzo
December 31, 1869, Joel Fridlizius

List addendums including “celebrities/famous people” not necessarily involved with chess, but included to fill the entire list. Those with the “-“ symbol before the name indicates “not necessarily connected to chess on a fame level” and those with a “+” before the name indicates the same except that a “chess person” may very well share that birthday, but my notes do not show up for this to be the case with 100% certainty:

-February 1, 1901, Clark Gable (Movie Actor)
-February 29, 1792, Gioachino Rossini (Composer)
-July 10, 1856, Nikola Tesla (Inventor)
+August 30, 1930, Warren Buffet (Entrepreneur)
+August 31, 1983, Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr. (American Football Player)
-November 5, 1976, Sal Vulcano (Comedian)

*Also, “June 20, 1978, LaVar RaShad Arrington” is typically viewed more in the realm of a “celebrity” but is included in the list of people connected to chess, because Wikipedia.org includes his name under the section, “[of] people famous in other areas of activity, but are known to have played chess, or have declared an interest in the game, or created works of art and literature in which the game is prominently featured.”

Does your birthday relate to a famous “chess person?” Perhaps sharing the same birthday as a renowned chess player may spark your fervor to play and study chess more. Next time someone asks you which chess player you relate with, yet draw a blank: you can fall back on the one who shares the same birthday as you!

Works Cited
.. “Chess Player Birthday List (Chronological).” Chess Player Birthday List (Chronological), 1 Jan. 1970, alchessmist-chess-history.blogspot.com/2009/08/chess-player-birthday-list.html.
“Chess Players: Famous Birthdays.” FamousBirthdays.com, www.famousbirthdays.com/profession/chessplayer.html.
“List of Chess Players.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_players.
“Play Chess Online - Free Games.” Chess.com, www.chess.com/.
Berry, Brett. “The Birthday Problem🎈.” Medium, Math Hacks, 8 Oct. 2019, medium.com/i-math/the-birthday-problem-307f31a9ac6f.

chesshere.com formatting changed the MLA format of the "works cited" portion, so here is an attempt to make it more clear (although still not in the original MLA formatting).

Works Cited

.. “Chess Player Birthday List (Chronological).” Chess Player Birthday List (Chronological), 1 Jan. 1970, alchessmist-chess-history.blogspot.com/2009/08/chess-player-birthday-list.html.

“Chess Players: Famous Birthdays.” FamousBirthdays.com, www.famousbirthdays.com/profession/chessplayer.html.

“List of Chess Players.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_players.

“Play Chess Online - Free Games.” Chess.com, www.chess.com/.

Berry, Brett. “The Birthday Problem🎈.” Medium, Math Hacks, 8 Oct. 2019, medium.com/i-math/the-birthday-problem-307f31a9ac6f.

I'm a day later, but Happy Birthday to you, Ray Duque III, and Hermann von Gottschall (Oct. 16). :)