Joseph Henry Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne was born in Manchester in December of 1841. He was nicknamed "Black Death" and dominated the British chess world during the latter part of the 19th century. He learnt the game at the relatively late age of 18 but quickly went on to develop a chess career that spanned over 50 years. At one point he was number two in the world with a string of tournament victories behind him but he really enjoyed popularising chess by giving simultaneous and blindfold displays around the country.
He decided to begin playing chess after learning about Paul Morphy's exploits around Europe. He joined the Manchester Chess Club around 1860 and learned a lot about endgame theory from Bernhard Horwitz, who had been appointed the resident chess professional in 1857. In the 1860s he decided to turn chess professional. By the 1868-69 season he had won the 2nd British championship after beating the current holder, Cecil de Vere, and he was duly regarded as England's best player.
For the next 20 years Blackburne toured the globe playing the greats of world chess. He was regularly in the top 5 of the world rankings and performed well in many international tournaments. He was 1st= with Wilhelm Steinitz in Vienna, 1873, although he lost the playoff (-2); 1st in London, 1876; 1st= with Berthold Englisch and Adolf Schwarz in Wiesbaden, 1880; 1st in Berlin, 1881, where he finished 3 points ahead of his great rival Johannes Zukertort; 1st= with James Mason in Belfast, 1892 and 1st at the London tournament of 1893.
Blackburne made most of his money from touring the country giving simultaneous exhibitions and blindfold displays. Indeed he even visited the North-east of England in 1889 to help promote the newly formed Teesside Chess Association. Blackburne visited the area for two simultaneous displays and a blindfold event. He charged 1/- for a simultaneous game or 2/6d to play him blindfold and he proved to be virtually unbeatable, winning 29, drawing 2 and losing only one of the simultaneous games. In the blindfold he won 7 and drew 1 with 0 losses.
By the 1890s Blackburne was reputedly playing over 2,000 games a year in simuls and he had even travelled abroad to countries like the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand to give exhibitions. However he still had time to marry twice and with his second wife, Mary Fox, he had a son. In addition he played top board for the British team in 11 of the Anglo-American cable matches which commenced in 1896 and in the first six matches he recorded a score of 3-2 against the top American, Harry Pillsbury.
In 1914 he tied for the British Championship with F.D. Yates but at the age of 72 his best days were behind him and ill health prevented him from contesting the play-off for the title. Earlier in the same year he had competed in his last major international tournament in St Petersburg, where he beat the up-and-coming Aaron Nimzowitsch, but by now he was concentrating on writing his chess column for The Field, a position he held up until his death in 1924 at the age of 82.
Download 117 chess games by Joseph Blackburne
Back to Famous Chess Players