2001 Death Tony Miles, chess player, chess Grandmaster, won matches with World Chess Champions Boris Spassky, Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, achieved peak rating of 2635, January 1, 1996 dies 1980 Event Astros owner John McMullen replaces General Manager Tal Smith with Al Rosen 1971 Death Wasfi Tal, Jordan's PM, assassinated by Black Sept in Cairo 1960 Event Michael Tal beats Botvinnik 12 -8 for world chess championship 1955 Birthday Tony Miles, born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, chess player, chess Grandmaster, won matches with World Chess Champions Boris Spassky, Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, achieved peak rating of 2635, January 1, 1996 1910 Birthday Josef Tal, born in Pinne, Poland, born Joseph Gruenthal, composer, pianist, played hard with Palestine Orchestra, developed notational system for computer-generated compositions at Hebrew University
