Aivars Gipslis (February 8, 1937 – April 13, 2000) was a Latvian chess player. February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... April 13 is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chess is not a game of chance; it is based solely on tactics and strategy. ...

He was champion of Latvia in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966, and also played in several Soviet Championships, his best result in them coming in 1966, when he was equal third with 12/20. Perhaps his best tournament was at the Alekhine Memorial 1967 in Moscow, where he finished on 10/17, a point behind the winner Leonid Stein, tied for second with Milko Bobotsov and two World Champions, Vassily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal, and ahead of two others, Boris Spassky and Tigran Petrosian, among a host of other strong players. His other good tournament results are equal first at Bad Liebenstein 1963 with Lev Polugaevsky and equal second at Budapest 1977 behind David Bronstein. According to the Oxford Companion to Chess, drink affected his performance in later years, but he continued to play right up to the year of his death. Leonid Stein (1934 - 1973), Soviet chess player from Ukraine. ... Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov (Васи́лий Смысло́в) (born March 24, 1921) is a chess player. ... Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal (Михаил Нехемьевич Таль) (November 9, 1936 - June 28, 1992), born in Riga, Latvia, was the eighth World Chess Champion. ... Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky (also Spasski) (Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский) (born January 30, 1937) is a French (formerly Russian or Soviet) chess player and former world champion. ... Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (June 17, 1929 - August 13, 1984) is a former world chess champion. ... David Ionovich Bronstein (born February 19, 1924) is renowned as a leading chess grandmaster and writer. ...

Gipslis was made an International Grandmaster in 1967. He edited the Latvian chess periodical Sahs from 1963. The title International Grandmaster is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. ...

Gipslis usually opened his games with white with 1.e4 (see algebraic notation). His repertoire with black was more varied. He is the eponym of the Gipslis Variation of the Sicilian Defence which he played the black side of several times in the 1960s: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.O-O d6 7.c4 g6. Algebraic chess notation is the method used today by all competition chess organizations and most books, magazines, and newspapers to record and describe the play of chess games. ... The Sicilian defence is a chess opening which begins with: 1. ...

References

• Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1996). The Oxford Companion To Chess. Oxford University. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.