September 1, 1972 (Friday)
- In the 21st game of chess for the World Chess Championship 1972, Bobby Fischer of the United States won the title, as defending champ Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union resigned. Under a system of one point for a win and ½ for a draw, the first to get 12½ points would win the matches played at Reykjavík, Iceland. Fischer's prize money was $154,677.50.
- The United States formally dropped all claims to the Swan Islands and recognized the sovereignty of Honduras over the disputed territory.
- Raul Sendic, leader of the Uruguayan guerilla group the Tupamaros, was captured after a shootout.
- A fire at the Blue Bird Cafe in Montreal killed 36 people. The blaze was set by three men who had been kicked out of the club earlier in the evening.
Read more about this topic: September 1972
Famous quotes containing the word september:
“Any one who knows what the worth of family affection is among the lower classes, and who has seen the array of little portraits stuck over a labourer’s fireplace ... will perhaps feel with me that in counteracting the tendencies, social and industrial, which every day are sapping the healthier family affections, the sixpenny photograph is doing more for the poor than all the philanthropists in the world.”
—Macmillan’s Magazine (London, September 1871)