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Remembering Joseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)

September 1, 2026 John Upham 11 Comments

BCN remembers Joseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)

The following (excerpts of) information were obtained via ancestry.co.uk / findmypast.co.uk:

Joseph Henry Blackburne was born on Friday, December 10th, 1841 in Chorlton, Manchester. His father was Joseph Blackburn (aged 23, a temperance reformer) and his mother was Ann Pritchard (aged 24).

His brother Frederick Pritchard Blackburn died on 11 October 1847 in Lancashire, Lancashire, when Joseph Henry was 5 years old.

His sister Clara was born on 4 November 1847 in Street, Lancashire, when Joseph Henry was 5 years old.

His mother Ann passed away on 26 November 1857 in Manchester, Lancashire, at the age of 40.

His half-brother William Thomas was born on 17 June 1865 when Joseph Henry was 23 years old.

Joseph Henry Blackburne married Eleanor Driscoll on 10 December 1865 when he was 24 years old.

Joseph Henry Blackburne married Beatrice Lapham on 3 October 1876 when he was 34 years old.

His wife Beatrice passed away in January 1880 in St Olave Southwark, London, at the age of 26. They had been married 3 years.

Joseph Henry Blackburne married Mary Jane Fox in St Olave Southwark, London, on 16 December 1880 when he was 39 years old.

Joseph Henry Blackburne lived in Everton, Lancashire, in 1891.

According to Edward Winter in Chess Notes JHB lived at the following addresses :

16 Lucey Road, London SE, England (The Chess Amateur, October 1924, page 32 (address in 1879) and the 1881 British census (C.N. 4756)*).
116 Barkworth Road, Camberwell, London, England (1891 British census (C.N. 4756)*).
7 Whitbread Road, Lewisham, London, England (1901 British census (C.N. 4756)*).
45 Sandrock Road, Lewisham, London SE, England (Ranneforths Schach-Kalender, 1915, page 56, and Hastings Chess Club address list, 1922*).

[pgn]
[Event “British CA Challenge Cup-02”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “1868.11.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Blackburne, Joseph Henry”]
[Black “De Vere, Cecil Valentine”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C60”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “23”]
[EventDate “1868.11.23”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2001.11.25”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2001.11.25”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,23,19,38,25,7,30,29,47,-25,25,25,35,66,51,72,71,56,113,76,75,140,95,
85,229,235]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 {The Cozio Defence} 4. c3 ({
Relevant:} 4. Nc3 Ng6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Bb4 7. O-O a6 8. Bxc6 dxc6 9. Nce2 Bg4
10. f3 Bd7 11. c3 Bc5 12. Kh1 Qe7 13. Ng3 O-O-O 14. Qc2 h5 15. Be3 Bxd4 16.
cxd4 f5 17. Ne2 Rde8 18. Nc3 h4 19. Qd2 Qf7 20. Na4 f4 21. Bf2 b6 22. h3 Rh5
23. Bg1 Rg5 24. Bh2 Rd8 25. Nc3 Be6 26. Rfd1 Kb7 27. Ne2 Rf8 28. b4 Bc4 29. a4
a5 30. bxa5 Rxa5 31. Nc3 Ne7 32. Rdb1 g5 33. Nd1 Rfa8 {Fraser,G-Neumann,G
Dundee 1867 0-1}) 4… Ng6 {[#]} 5. d4 $146 ({Predecessor:} 5. O-O Bc5 6. d4
Bb6 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. dxe5 Qe7 9. Bg5 Qe6 10. Qb3 Qg4 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. h3 Qh5 13.
Kh2 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Qxg5 15. f4 Qh6 16. Rf3 d6 17. Nxc6 Bg4 18. Ne7+ Kh8 19. Nf5
Bxf5 20. exf5 Rae8 21. Qc4 Re3 22. Raf1 Qf6 23. Qd5 Rfe8 24. Rxe3 Bxe3 25. Ne4
Qe7 26. Ng5 Bxf4+ 27. Rxf4 Qxg5 28. Re4 Qd8 29. Ra4 Qg5 30. Qxf7 Rc8 31. Rg4
Qf6 32. Qxf6 gxf6 33. Kg3 Re8 34. Ra4 Ra8 {Owen,J-Francis Manchester 1857 1-0})
5… exd4 6. cxd4 Be7 $6 (6… Bb4+ $142 7. Nc3 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Bg5 $16) 7.
Nc3 O-O 8. h4 $1 Re8 9. Bc4 (9. h5 Nh4 10. Nxh4 Bxh4 11. h6 g6 12. d5 $16) 9…
Bb4 $2 10. Kf1 (10. O-O) 10… Bxc3 11. bxc3 d6 $2 12. Ng5 $18 {Transactions
of the British Chess Association 1868/69, p. 17} 1-0
[/pgn]

According to chessgames.com :

“Joseph Henry Blackburne was born in Chorlton, Manchester. He came to be known as “The Black Death”. He enjoyed a great deal of success giving blindfold and simultaneous exhibitions. Tournament highlights include first place with Wilhelm Steinitz at Vienna 1873, first at London 1876, and first at Berlin 1881 ahead of Johannes Zukertort. In matchplay he lost twice to Steinitz and once to Emanuel Lasker. He fared a little better with Zukertort (Blackburne – Zukertort (1881)) and Isidor Gunsberg, by splitting a pair of matches, and defeating Francis Joseph Lee, ( Blackburne – Lee (1890) ). One of the last successes of his career was at the age of 72, when he tied for first place with Fred Dewhirst Yates at the 1914 British Championship.

Joseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)

In his later years, a subscription by British chess players provided an annuity of £100 (approximately £4,000 in 2015 value), and a gift of £250 on his 80th birthday.”

In 1923 he suffered a stroke, and the next year he died of a heart attack.”

Joseph Henry Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924)

From The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP, 1984) by Hooper and Whyld :

“For more than 20 years one of the first six players in the world and for even longer the leading English born player. Draughts was the most popular indoor game in his home town, Manchester; he learned this game as a child and became expert in his youth.

He was about 18 when, inspired by Morphy’s exploits, he learned the moves of chess. In July 1861 he lost all live games of a match against the Manchester chess club champion Edward Pindar, but he improved so rapidly that he defeated Pindar three months later (-1-5=2—1), and in 1862 he became champion of the club ahead of Pindar and Horwitz.

Instructed by Horwitz, Blackburne became one of the leading endgame players of his time; and wishing to emulate the feats of L. Paulsen, who visited the club in November 1861, he developed exceptional skill at blindfold chess. He spent most of the 1860s developing his chess and toying with various occupations.

After winning the British championship, 1868-9, ahead of de vere, he became a full-time professional player.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEauueQOT4o[/embedyt]

Blackburne achieved excellent results in many tournaments: Baden-Baden 1870, third equal with Neumann after Anderssen and Steinitz; London 1872, second (+5-2) after Steinitz ahead of Zukertort; Vienna 1873, second to Steinitz after a play-off; Paris 1878, third after Winawer and Zukertort: Wiesbaden 1880, first equal with Englisch and Schwarz; Berlin 1881, first (+13=2 — 1), three points ahead of Zukertort, the second prize winner (Blackburne’s greatest achievement); London 1883, third after Zukertort and Steinitz; Hamburg 1885, second equal with Englisch, Mason, Tarrasch, and Weiss half a point after Gunsberg; Frankfurt 1887, second equal with Weiss after Mackenzie; Manchester 1890, second after Tarrasch; Belfast 1892, first equal with Mason; London 1892, second ( + 6-2) after Lasker; London 1893, first ( + 2=3).

He was in the British team in 11 of the Anglo-American cable matches, meeting Pillsbury on first board six times (+2-3 — 1), and he continued to play internationally until he was 72, long enough to meet the pioneer of the hypermodern movement Nimzowitsch, whom he defeated at St Petersburg 1914.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TCBa-en-fw[/embedyt]

Blackburne had remarkable combinative powers and is remembered for his swingeing king’s side attacks, often well prepared but occasionally consisting of an ingenious swindle that would deceive even the greatest all his contemporaries. The tournament book of Vienna 1873 refers to him as ‘der schrwarze Tod [Black death] der Schachspieler’, a nickname that became popular.

[pgn]
[Event “London International”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “1899.06.03”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Lasker, Emanuel”]
[Black “Blackburne, Joseph Henry”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C62”]
[Annotator “Tartakower/du Mont”]
[PlyCount “92”]
[EventDate “1899.05.30”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “30”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2018”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2017.10.13”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2017.10.13”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 9,92,66,58,63,69,20,16,-2,20,16,24,-15,-12,-18,65,65,65,56,44,46,36,37,
72,68,125,89,112,113,112,108,113,79,112,75,104,97,174,169,155,36,32,0,0,0,85,
-117,-95,-265,-138,-143,-129,-253,-302,-572,-569,-576,-551,-549,-552,-571,-515,
-571,-562,-660,-670,-694,-702,-695,-671,-708,-750,-733,-691,-803,-800,-850,
-839,-913,-908,-905,-905,-1020,-994,-1537,-1482] C62: Ruy Lopez: Steinitz
Defence Sources: Tartakower & du Mont, 500 Master Games of Chess, pp. 66-67;
Evans, The World’s Greatest Chess Games, pp43-44. All comments are
Tartakower’s unless otherwise noted. In the following game the preliminary
sparring (moves 8-21) is characterised by desperate pawn skirmishes. The real
battle begins with a double pawn sacrifice (22….g5), which gives Black the
mastery over the g and h files, on which he stages an impressive regrouping of
forces (28….Rh8). His powerful strategy culminates in the sacrifice of a
Rook (31….Rh1+), the sequel to which is the loss by White of his queen.} 1.
e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 {The Steinitz Defence, which gives Black a cramped
but playable game.} 4. d4 {Creating tension in the centre.} ({The play would
be simplified by} 4. Bxc6+ bxc6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Bd7 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nc3 Be7 {
etc., but then neither} 9. f4 ({nor} 9. Bg5 c5) 9… O-O {etc., hold any
terrors for Black.}) 4… Bd7 ({If, impulsively} 4… exd4 5. Qxd4 Bd7 6. Bxc6
Bxc6 7. Bg5 f6 8. Bh4 {etc., would give White a lasting positional advantage,
chiefly owing to his queen’s centralised position.}) 5. d5 {Blocking the
centre is not to be recommended.} ({He should continue his development with} 5.
Nc3 {reserving the option of castling on either side.}) 5… Nb8 {[#]} 6. Bd3
$146 ({Relevant:} 6. Bxd7+ Nxd7 7. c4 Ngf6 8. Nc3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. h3 Ne8 11.
Qc2 g6 12. Bh6 Ng7 13. g4 Qe8 14. Kh2 f6 15. h4 Rf7 16. Rg1 Nb6 17. Rac1 Qd7
18. Nd2 Raf8 19. Rg2 Bd8 20. Qd3 Nc8 21. Nd1 Ne7 22. Ne3 Kh8 23. Rh1 Ng8 24.
Bxg7+ Rxg7 25. Qb3 b6 26. Qd1 Nh6 27. b4 f5 28. g5 Ng8 29. b5 Rgf7 30. exf5
gxf5 31. Kg1 f4 32. Nc2 f3 33. Rg3 Rf4 34. Ne3 Qf7 35. Rhh3 e4 {Baird,D-Hodges,
A New York 1893 1-0 (67)}) 6… Be7 7. Nc3 ({As the advanced infantryman will
soon need strong support, the continuation} 7. c4 {followed by Nc3 would be
more logical.}) 7… Nf6 8. Ne2 c6 {A routine player would have castled here
and submitted to White’s positional superiority. Being an imaginative player,
Black prefers to put the whole battlefield on fire.} 9. c4 Na6 10. Ng3 ({
Here again} 10. Nc3 {would be better adapted to keep watch on the important
points e4, d5 and b5.}) 10… Nc5 11. Bc2 b5 {Evans: Positionally poor, but he
stakes everything on the attack.} 12. b4 ({White is not satisfied with the
defensive} 12. b3 {but himself “starts something” on the queen side.}) 12…
Nb7 13. dxc6 Bxc6 14. cxb5 Bxb5 15. a4 Bd7 {[#] Evans: Certainly not a
position in which anyone planing Black would expect to beat a Lasker.} 16. O-O
g6 17. h3 ({If} 17. Bh6 Ng4 {but now Black resolutely prevents any inroad into
his own territory.}) ({As, however, the text move weakens the king’s field, it
would have been better, for instance, to continue with} 17. h4 {(threatening
18.h6)} a6 18. Bg5 {with various threats.}) 17… h5 {The beginning of an
attack, conducted by Black with extraordinary virtuosity.} 18. Be3 a5 {Keeping
both wings in mind. By the text move he contests the square c5.} 19. b5 Rc8 20.
Rc1 Nc5 {With renewed pressure against the adverse e pawn.} 21. Nd2 h4 22. Ne2
{[#]} g5 {A line clearance sacrifice. Evans: The attack begins!} 23. Bxg5 ({
Accepting the sacrifice in preference to the timorous continuations} 23. Kh1 g4
{etc.}) ({or} 23. f3 Nh5 {followed by ….Nf4 and Black still succeeds in
opening the g-file.}) 23… Rg8 24. Bxh4 Bxh3 $1 $14 25. Bg3 {Closing up one
of the open files (g), and not suspecting the possibility of danger on the
other. 25….} Be6 {Evans: Black has strong Knights — and open files} 26. Re1
({If} 26. f3 Nh5) 26… Ng4 27. Nf1 Bg5 28. Rb1 Rh8 {Black’s intentions are
taking shape.} 29. Nc3 {Evans: So that if ….Qf6 30. f3.} Bf4 30. Nd5 Qg5 {
Threatening 31….Qh6.} 31. f3 {Too late, for now Black is in a position to
win the adverse queen by a brilliant sacrifice. 31….} Rh1+ 32. Kxh1 Bxg3 33.
Nxg3 ({If} 33. fxg4 Qh4+ 34. Kg1 Bf2#) 33… Nf2+ 34. Kg1 Nxd1 35. Nf5 Bxf5 36.
exf5 Qd2 {The final link in Black’s combination, without which White might
have obtained almost an equivalent (rook, bishop, pawn) for his queen.} 37.
Rexd1 Qxc2 38. Rbc1 Qxf5 39. Nb6 Rd8 40. Nc4 Nb7 41. Ne3 Qf4 42. Kf2 Qxa4 43.
Rc7 Nc5 44. Rh1 Rd7 45. Rc8+ Ke7 46. Rhh8 Qd4 {White resigns.} 0-1
[/pgn]

His unflappable temperament also earned him the soubriquet “the man with the iron nerves’. Even so, neither his temperament nor his style was suited to set matches, in which he was rarely successful against world-class players. He had other chess talents: a problem composer, he was also a fast solver, allegedly capable of outpacing the great Sam Loyd. Blackburne earned his livelihood by means of simultaneous displays, for this purpose touring Britain twice-yearly, with a few breaks, for more than 50 years.

Chess, circa 1896, JH Blackburne, well known chess player, who had toured both on the Continent and America,able to make between 40 to 60 moves when blindfolded by sheer memory (Photo by Bob Thomas/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images) — Chess, circa 1896, JH Blackburne, well known chess player, who had toured both on the Continent and America, able to make between 40 to 60 moves when blindfolded by sheer memory (Photo by Bob Thomas/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Before this time such displays were solemn affairs; Lowenthal, who would appear in formal dress and play for several hours in silence, was shocked when Blackburne turned up in ordinary clothes, chatting and making jokes as he played, and refreshing him self with whisky, (Blackburne confessed, however, that when fully absorbed in a game he never noticed whether he was drinking water instead,) Once, walking round the boards, he drained his opponent’s glass, saying when rebuked He left it en prise and I took it en passant‘

The illustrator Julius Hess depicted Blackburne in a New Yorker Staats Zeitung evening edition as sitting at a chesstable and beckoning: “Waitah! A whiskey and limejuice!”

He played his blindfold displays quickly, and with little sign of the stress that besets most blindfold players. Probably the leading blindfold expert of his time, he challenged Zukertort, a close rival in this field, to a match of ten games, played simultaneously, both players blindfold; but Zukertort declined. Many who knew and liked Blackburne subscribed to a fund which sustained him in his last years.

Image Supplied by a reader of the book 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players' to Tim Harding — Image Supplied by a reader of the book ‘Eminent Victorian Chess Players’ to Tim Harding

P. A. Graham, Mr Blackburne’s Games at Chess (1899) contains 407 games annotated by Blackburne and 28 three-movers composed by him.

Mr Blackburne's Games at Chess by PA Graham — Mr Blackburne’s Games at Chess by PA Graham

A reprint, styled Blackburne*s Chess Games (1979), has a new introduction and two more games.

One of Blackburne’s contributions was the suggestion of using chess clocks rather than the archaic hourglasses.

Here follows a reproduction of an article from British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXX1 (1961), Number 12 (December), page 340-342 written by RN Coles entitled “Early Days of a Great Master” :

“The only record of how J. H. Blackburne first, entered the chess world is the one provided by P. Anderson Graham in the introduction to his collection of Blackburne’s games. This has all the ingredients of a romanticized version of the truth-the first casual games in a temperance hotel, then entry to the important Manchester Club and a series of victories over ever stronger opponents until at last Pindar, Champion of the Provinces, comes along, plays the unknown youth and is defeated.

Reference to C. H. Stanley’s column in the Weekly Guardian and Express helps to supply a more accurate version. Young Blackburne’s earliest interest was in problems and he submitted one to the Guardian and Express which appeared in January, 1861, only to be found by several solvers to be cooked, Then silence till May 11th, when the column carries a note:

J. H. B. Problems received with much pleasure…Shall be glad to see you at the Club.”

Here are a couple of published problems. For a complete listing see below.

Manchester Express, 1861

[fen] 8/1p6/1B3R2/1P2p3/2Pp4/4k3/2K3B1/8 w – – 0 1 [/fen]

#4. 6+4

The Field, 1893

[fen] 8/3b2q1/Q2Rpb2/2k3N1/2N1P3/2p5/7B/7K w – – 0 1 [/fen]

#3, 7+6

Not yet a member, clearly. Nevertheless, he contrived somehow to meet Pindar outside the club and played some games-with him (two scores appear in the Guardian and Express, July 20th), and a set-match of five up was then arranged, still played in private (Guardian and Express, August 3lst), which “was terminated by Mr. Pindar winning a clear victory, the score being Pindar 5, Blackburne 0” (one game was quoted in the July “B.C.M.” and another score can be found in the Guardian and Express, July 27th.

“A second match was agreed upon, level games to entitle either player to the victor’s palm. The result … is calculated positively, to startle the chess world. The first game was scored by Mr. Pindar; of the next seven, Blackburne won five and the two remaining were drawn. ‘At this point Mr. Pindar resigned the match.” (Guardian and Express, September 7th, with the score of a Blackburne win from this match quoted February 1st, 1962.)

Only now does Blackburne appear to have joined the Manchester Club, meeting such players as Stanley himself for the first time (Guardian and Express gives the score of a casual game, November 9th), though Stanley later claimed personally to have discovered the young prodigy.

In November, 1861, Paulsen visited the club and the score survives of a casual game in which he beat Blackburne, who played a Winawer Variation of the French Defence long before Winawer ever came on the-scene (Guardian and Express, December,1861); Paulsen concluded his visit with one of his celebrated ten-board blindfold displays and not unnaturally the young Blackburne eagerly took a board; his defeat is No.25O in his games collection. This so stimulated him that he himself tried blindfold play and by January 20th, 1862, was able to give his first display against four boards, winning them all (Guardian and Express, January 25th, with one of the scores). This he followed with seven games on February 8th,
winning five and losing two. (Guardian and Express, February 8th) and finally ten games on February 8th, winning five, losing two, and drawing three (Guardian and Express,February 15th, which quotes the score of one game in addition to No. 254 in his games).

Inter-club matches were something of a rarity in those days and were regarded as of considerable importance when they occurred; one such was the annual Manchester-Liverpool match and in 1862 Blackburne took part for the first time, being matched against Wellington, another young player of promise who seems to have got no further; as many games were played between opponents as time allowed and these two young men played three, all won by Blackburne. (Guardian and Express, February 22nd, which quotes the score of one game in addition to No. 138 in the collection).

During this spring the rivalry with Pindar was renewed in a third match for the first five wins and after eleven games the score stood at 4 each, with three drawn (Guardian and Express, March 15th, quoting the score of the eleventh game), but I cannot find who won the last game. Since Blackburne was hailed as club champion this season, one must suppose he was the victor.

Such was his first club season. ln June, 1862, he played in the London lnternational Tournament and from then on his chess career was public property.

To conclude, here is the score of the eleventh game of his third match with Pindar, a critical struggle in which his budding mastery appears at the-end. From an inferior opening he struggles into an equal ending but by a rash exchange of Rooks on the 36th move gives Pindar a clear advantage, which could have been held by 41. P-R4. Blackburne seizes on this omission like a real master to switch into a most accurately calculated queen ending.

[pgn]
[Event “Blackburne – Pindar m(3)”]
[Site “Manchester ENG”]
[Date “1862.03.08”]
[Round “11”]
[White “Pindar, Edward”]
[Black “Blackburne, Joseph Henry”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C77”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “100”]
[EventDate “1862.??.??”]
[SourceTitle “Chessgames.com”]

{[%evp 0,100,19,38,25,7,30,29,18,-1,-1,-78,-24,-21,-2,-2,17,0,68,4,71,92,98,98,
98,122,139,125,201,229,301,105,170,8,-10,-7,-7,-14,29,29,68,7,9,2,5,-30,11,5,0,
14,15,20,35,11,-11,-7,-7,-47,-50,-42,-7,-2,-6,-4,-1,0,2,12,21,14,26,39,50,24,
54,112,119,119,170,279,196,311,319,-26,-8,-15,-12,-5,0,-1014,-1077,-1194,-1177,
-1924,-28430,-28431,-29972,-29977,-29978,-29989,-29990,-29991,-29992]} {
Game #12946 sourced from British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXX1 (1961), Number
12 (December), page 340-342 by RN Coles. Edward Pindar was a lesser known but
strong player, active in the mid 19th century. He resided in Britain but was
born in Russia, grew up in what is now Estonia and returned there in later
life. From 1856, Pindar was a rising force in the Manchester Chess Club. In
1859, Morphy deigned to give him knight odds and was promptly crushed. He won
the club’s championship in 1861, defeating Bernhard Horwitz 3½-1½ in the
final. His star, however, was soon eclipsed by the emerging Joseph Henry
Blackburne. Pindar was also a language teacher and in this connection he
achieved notoriety when, in 1877, he attacked and seriously wounded a female
student who rebuffed his offer of marriage. He was sentenced to five years,
and upon release drifted into obscurity.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4
Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. O-O {[#]} Bc5 $146 ({Relevant:} 6… Be7 7. e5 Ne4 8. c3 dxc3
9. Nxc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 O-O 11. Qd3 d5 12. Bc2 g6 13. Qe3 Re8 14. Nd4 Bc5 15.
Nxc6 Bxe3 16. Nxd8 Bxc1 17. Raxc1 Rxd8 18. f4 b5 19. h3 c5 20. g4 a5 21. a3 c4
22. Rfd1 b4 23. cxb4 axb4 24. axb4 Ra3 25. Be4 Rxh3 26. Kg2 Bxg4 27. Rxd5 Ra8
28. Rxc4 Raa3 29. Rd2 h5 30. Rf2 h4 31. b5 Ra1 32. Rf1 Rg3+ 33. Kf2 Ra2+ 34.
Rc2 Ra4 35. Re1 Rb4 36. Rc5 {Lelie-Anderssen,A Amsterdam 1861 0-1}) 7. e5 Nd5
8. Bb3 Nce7 9. Bg5 Nb6 10. Nbd2 d5 11. exd6 Bxd6 12. Ne4 c5 13. Re1 Be6 14.
Bxe6 fxe6 15. Qe2 O-O 16. Nxd6 Qxd6 17. Qxe6+ Qxe6 18. Rxe6 Ned5 19. Rae1 Na4
20. b3 Nac3 21. a3 a5 22. Bd2 Nb5 23. R1e5 Rfd8 24. Bg5 Nbc7 25. Bxd8 Nxe6 26.
Be7 Nxe7 27. Rxe6 Nc6 28. Ne5 Nxe5 29. Rxe5 Rc8 30. Kf1 Kf7 31. Ke2 Rc6 32. Kd3
b6 33. Kc4 Rd6 34. f4 Rh6 35. h3 Rg6 36. Re2 Re6 $2 37. Rxe6 Kxe6 $18 {[#]} 38.
g4 (38. a4 $1 $18 {and white it totally winning.}) 38… h5 39. Kb5 (39. a4 $18
) 39… hxg4 40. hxg4 Kd6 41. Kxb6 $2 {White converts a totalling winning
position into a lost one.} (41. a4 $18) 41… a4 $1 42. bxa4 c4 43. a5 d3 44.
cxd3 cxd3 45. a6 d2 46. a7 d1=Q 47. a8=Q Qb3+ 48. Ka6 Qa4+ 49. Kb7 Qb5+ 50. Ka7
Kc7 0-1
[/pgn]

and here is the original article:

British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXX1 (1961), Number 12 (December), page 340

British Chess Magazine, Volume LXXX1 (1961), Number 12 (December), page 341

Many juniors and beginners will know the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (or Kostić Gambit) in some circles known (named by Julian Hodgson) as the ‘Oh My God’:

[pgn]
[Event “Kostic sim”]
[Site “Cologne”]
[Date “1912.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Muehlock”]
[Black “Kostic, Boris”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C50”]
[Annotator “ChessBase”]
[PlyCount “14”]
[EventDate “1912.??.??”]
[EventType “simul”]
[EventRounds “1”]
[EventCountry “GER”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2015”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2014.11.20”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2014.11.20”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,14,18,14,39,25,25,15,80,-103,-47,-502,-510,-835,-852,-29999,-30000]}
1. e4 {1)DSB 1912/13, S.144} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. Nxe5 Qg5 5. Nxf7 Qxg2
6. Rf1 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 Nf3# 0-1
[/pgn]

There are variations named after Blackburne as follows :

The Blackburne Attack in the Four Knights is

[fen]r1bq1rk1/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/1BbNp3/3PP3/5N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 b KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

and the Blackburne Variation of the Dutch defence is

[fen]rnbqkb1r/pppp2pp/4pn2/5p2/3P4/6PN/PPP1PPBP/RNBQK2R b KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

and a popular line in the Queen’s Gambit

[fen]rnbqk2r/ppp1bppp/4pn2/3p4/2PP1B2/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R2QKB1R b KQkq – 0 1[/fen]

are attributed to Blackburne in the literature.

[pgn]
[Event “USA-06 Congress Grand Tournament”]
[Site “New York”]
[Date “1889.??.??”]
[Round “11”]
[White “Blackburne, Joseph Henry”]
[Black “Lipschuetz, Salomon”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D55”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “71”]
[EventDate “1889.03.25”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “38”]
[EventCountry “USA”]
[SourceTitle “HCL”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,71,5,56,21,-11,-17,-23,-4,-11,59,53,44,45,43,28,43,66,44,41,29,31,25,
25,25,18,29,5,27,18,26,27,42,14,1,-25,-32,-38,-29,-17,-38,-34,-41,-76,-106,
-121,-125,-78,-84,-89,-46,-63,-58,-57,-59,-66,-62,-99,-105,-145,-28,-25,0,-47,
457,751,448,29984,29987,29988,29989,29990,29993,29994]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3.
Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 Bb7 7. Rc1 Nbd7 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 O-O 10.
O-O Ne4 11. Bf4 c5 12. Qe2 f5 13. Rfd1 c4 14. Bxe4 fxe4 15. Ne5 Nf6 16. g4 Qe8
17. Qf1 Bd6 18. h3 Rd8 19. Qg2 b5 20. Ne2 b4 21. Ng3 Nd7 22. Nxd7 Rxd7 23. Ne2
Bxf4 24. Nxf4 Rdf7 25. g5 Rf5 26. Kh1 a5 27. Rg1 Bc8 28. Qg3 Qa4 29. b3 cxb3
30. axb3 Qxb3 31. Rc7 a4 32. g6 h6 33. Rxg7+ Kxg7 34. Nh5+ Rxh5 35. Qc7+ Kf6
36. Qd6+ 1-0
[/pgn]

According to The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977) by Harry Golombek :

“British grandmaster and highly successful tournament player who was one of the most prominent masters of the nineteenth century. He did not learn to play chess until the age of nineteen, but his natural gifts soon brought him into the front rank of British players, and in 1868 he abandoned his business interests and adopted chess as a profession.

Blackburne’s international tournament career spans an impressive fifty-two years from London 1862 to St. Petersburg 1914 – a total of 53 events in which he played 814 games, scoring over 62%. Although he rarely won international events, he generally finished in the top half of the table and his fierce competitive spirit coupled with his great combinative ability earned the pleasant nickname of ‘the Black Death’.

Joseph Blackburne (10-xii-1841 01-ix-1924). Photograph from The Encyclopedia of Chess by Harry Golombek

His most notable successes were =1st with Steinitz at Vienna 1873 (Blackburne lost the play-off match), 1st at Berlin 1881 ahead of Paulsen, Schallopp, Chigorin, Winawer and Zukertort, and 2nd to Tarrasch at Manchester 1890.

Blackburne won the BCA Championship in 1868 and for many years was ranked as Britain’s foremost player. In 1914 – at the age of 72 – he shared first place at the BCF congress in Chester.

In match play his success was mixed. He defeated Bird in 1888 (+4-1) and Gunsberg in 1881 (+7-4=3) but lost a second match to Gunsberg in 1886 (+2-5=6). He lost to Lasker (+0-6=4) in 1892 and was defeated heavily twice by Steinitz : in 1862/3 (+1-7=2) and in 1876 (+0-7=0), the latter of these matches being for the World Championship.

Blackburne excelled at blindfold play and in simultaneous exhibitions, which provided a major portion of his income. He died in Lewisham, a much respected veteran of eighty-three.”

[pgn]
[Event “DSB Kongress-02 Meisterturnier”]
[Site “Berlin”]
[Date “1881.09.16”]
[Round “16”]
[White “Blackburne, Joseph Henry”]
[Black “Schwarz, Jacques”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C01”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “53”]
[EventDate “1881.08.29”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “17”]
[EventCountry “GER”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2001.11.25”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2001.11.25”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,53,18,14,37,38,28,36,62,16,15,6,37,18,82,45,37,-6,-14,11,7,-51,-43,
-43,-38,-69,-64,-69,-12,-26,0,0,0,-87,-79,-89,-64,-114,-114,-120,-70,-113,-113,
-132,-132,-136,-135,-123,15,-33,-68,-92,-64,1393,29991,29992]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4
d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. exd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bd3 c6 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne2 Bg4 9. Ng3
Qc7 10. Be3 Nbd7 11. Qd2 Rfe8 12. Rae1 Ne4 13. Qc1 Bxf3 14. gxf3 Nxg3 15. hxg3
Bxg3 16. Kg2 Bd6 17. Rh1 Nf8 18. Rh3 g6 19. Reh1 Rad8 20. Bg5 Rd7 21. c4 dxc4
22. Bxc4 h5 23. Rh4 b5 24. Bb3 Ne6 25. Bf6 Nf4+ 26. Qxf4 Bxf4 27. Rxh5 {
Schallopp: Der erste und zweite Kongress des Deutschen Schachbundes, p. 196}
1-0
[/pgn]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DABYM3mdXW0[/embedyt]

Edward Winter discusses the Zukertort-Blackburne game of 1883.

Here is an article on chess.com by Bill Wall

Problems of the Black Death by Batgirl

Meson Database of JHBs problems

Here is his Wikipedia entry

Eminent Victorian Chess Players, Tim Harding, McFarland & Co; 1st edition (20 April 2012), ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786465682

Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography, Tim Harding, McFarland & Co; Annotated edition (30 July 2015), ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786474738

Blackburne : The Black Death in Spades by Bob Long

2021, 4NCL, Biographies, Birthday, British Championships, Player, Players

Happy 80th Birthday WCM Dinah Norman (21-viii-1946)

August 21, 2026 John Upham 3 Comments

BCN wishes Happy Birthday to Dinah Norman on August 21st

Dinah Margaret Dobson was born on Wednesday, August 21st 1946 in Exeter, Devon. Her parents were Leslie and Barbara Dobson (née Hayward).

She was taught to play Chess by her late father at the age of 9. Started playing seriously when she attended Rickmansworth Grammar School and Watford Chess Club. Her first tournament was the London Girls Championship which she won in 1962. Dinah was coached by Leonard Barden and Bob Wade.

Some of the participants in the Paul Keres display on November 25th, 1962, at St Pancras Town Hall, London WC1. Back row : AJ. Whiteley, D. Floyer, PJ Collins, PJ Adams, RC Vaughan, KB Harman, D. Parr, DNL Levy, Front row : MV Lambshire, AE Hopkins (selector) Paul Keres, Miss D. Dobson, RE Hartley, BC Gillman, WR Hartston and PN Lee. Photograph by AM Reilly. Source : BCM, 1963, page 13

Dinah’s tournament successes were as follows :

1962 London Girls’ Champion
1963 Southern Counties (SCCU) Girls Champion
1963 Southern Counties (SCCU) Ladies’ Champion
1964 Joint British Girls Champion (three way tie with Gillian Moore and Marcia Syme)

Marcia Syme, Dinah Dobson and Gillian Moore : 1964 joint British Girls's Champions — Marcia Syme, Dinah Dobson and Gillian Moore : 1964 joint British Girls’s Champions

Dinah played as 1st reserve for England in the third FIDE Women’s Olympiad in Oberhausen, Germany in 1966 and in 1969 she played board 1 in Lublin, Poland.

1967 and 1969 Joint British Lady Champion shared with Rowena Bruce after a 4 game playoff

1968 British Lady Champion
1970 American Open Ladies Champion
1975 Winner of first ever Female Grand Prix (as Dinah Wright)
1976 Winner of second Female Grand Prix
Dinah became a WCM in 2002.
She was 9th in the World Over 65 Ladies Championship held in Bled in November 2018.
She is current holder of the Gibraltar Cup.

According to chessgames.com : “Dinah Margaret Norman Dobson is a WCM. She was British champion (w) in 1967 (=Rowena Mary Bruce, Oxford), 1968 (Bristol) and 1969 (=Rowena Mary Bruce, Rhyl).”

Dinah Dobson 22-year-old Champion British Chess Player Deep In Thought During Chess Competition In Hastings. Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock

[pgn]
[Event “Major Open”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1997.07.12”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Norman, Dinah M”]
[Black “Thiruchelvam , Thiru Murugan.”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D05”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “43”]
[SourceTitle “Dinah Norman email”]

{[%evp 0,39,22,15,22,22,22,8,22,12,15,2,7,1,-2,-33,-2,-38,5,4,13,16,13,1,1,-15,
20,-14,29,29,88,75,129,109,184,59,215,213,1510,1939,29999,-30000]} 1. d4 d5 2.
Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 {very popular} ({but} 3… c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Bd3 Bg4 {is a
better way to go for Black}) 4. Bd3 Be7 {the bishop is better on d6 to allow
e5 to be played by Black.} (4… c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. O-O Bd6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. dxc5
Bxc5 9. e4 {is a critical modern (2020) main line.}) 5. Nbd2 c5 6. c3 O-O 7.
Ne5 (7. O-O Nc6) 7… Nc6 8. f4 Nd7 (8… cxd4 9. exd4 Bd7) 9. O-O Ndxe5 10.
fxe5 f6 11. exf6 Rxf6 12. Rxf6 $146 (12. Nf3) 12… Bxf6 13. Nf3 c4 $6 {
anti-positional} (13… Bd7 $11) 14. Bc2 $14 Qd6 (14… b5) 15. e4 $16 {
White has a typical Colle initiative} Qc7 $2 (15… e5 $1 {was the standard
response when White threatens e5}) 16. e5 $18 {White is winning.} (16. Ng5)
16… Be7 17. Bg5 (17. Ng5) 17… Bxg5 18. Nxg5 {[#]} h6 $2 {anti-positional
and losing but White was a lot better anyway.} (18… g6 $18) 19. Qh5 $1 Qe7 (
19… hxg5 20. Qe8#) 20. Rf1 Bd7 21. Qg6 $1 {and Black resigned} hxg5 22. Qh7#
1-0[/pgn]

English Chess Champion Dinah Dobson Playing Against Two German Boys During Lunch-break At Chess Competition In Hastings. Box 658 221121512 A.jpg. English Chess Champion Dinah Dobson Playing Against Two German Boys During Lunch-break At Chess Competition In Hastings. Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock — English Chess Champion Dinah Dobson Playing Against Two German Boys During Lunch-break At Chess Competition In Hastings. Box 658 221121512 A.jpg.
English Chess Champion Dinah Dobson Playing Against Two German Boys During Lunch-break At Chess Competition In Hastings. Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANL/Shutterstock

She played in the 1968 Anglo-Dutch match on the Ladies board, which, at that time, did not count in the overall match result.

The Annual International Chess Championship opened today at Hasting. Dinah "Dobson," "23," of Northwood Middlesex. December 1969 — The Annual International Chess Championship opened today at Hasting. Dinah “Dobson,” “23,” of Northwood Middlesex. December 1969

Now (1971) living in Northwood, Middlesex, she married Danny Wright in Westminster and in 1983 she married Ken Norman in Richmond.

Dinah Wright (third from right) playing in the 1971 British Ladies Championship in Palatine School, Blackpool. Courtesy of Lancashire Evening Post.

[pgn]
[Event “Basingstoke”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1992.06.07”]
[Round “5”]
[White “McShane, Luke”]
[Black “Norman, Dinah M”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B01”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “96”]
[EventDate “1992.??.??”]

{[%evp 0,96,34,9,23,42,71,72,58,58,62,60,85,66,78,56,51,55,75,50,44,45,48,37,
48,48,56,28,18,18,18,-2,26,-23,-32,-22,13,15,33,-5,15,-6,-34,-34,-37,-30,-31,
-72,-31,-28,-30,-98,-39,-77,-69,-61,-42,-43,-43,-36,-28,-53,-29,-18,-24,-118,0,
-18,13,13,16,16,0,0,0,0,22,-101,-106,-133,-136,-168,-168,-264,-269,-269,-269,
-289,-220,-295,-307,-347,-339,-416,-325,-350,-331,-366,-357]} 1. e4 d5 2. exd5
Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bc4 c6 6. O-O Bg4 7. a3 ({More main stream and
sensible is} 7. Re1 e6 8. d4 Be7 9. h3 Bh5 10. Qe2 Nbd7 $14) 7… e6 8. h3 Bh5
9. d4 ({Superior is} 9. d3) 9… Nbd7 10. Bf4 (10. Re1) 10… Be7 11. Re1 O-O
12. Bd3 Bg6 (12… Nd5 13. Nxd5 cxd5) 13. b4 Qd8 14. Bxg6 hxg6 15. b5 Nd5 16.
Nxd5 cxd5 17. a4 a6 18. Qd3 Nf6 19. Ne5 Nd7 20. Nxd7 Qxd7 21. b6 Bd6 22. Bd2
Rfc8 23. g3 Rc4 24. a5 Rac8 25. Rec1 (25. c3) 25… Qc6 26. Qe3 Ra4 27. h4 Rxa1
28. Rxa1 Qc4 $15 29. Kg2 Re8 30. Bc3 Bb4 31. Bxb4 Qxb4 32. Rh1 f6 (32… Qxa5
33. h5 Qxb6 34. hxg6 fxg6 35. Qd3 e5) 33. Qf4 Rc8 34. Qg4 Kf7 35. h5 g5 36. h6
g6 37. h7 Rh8 38. Qd1 $6 (38. Qf3) 38… Qxa5 $17 {[#]} 39. Qd3 Kg7 40. Qe3
Qxb6 41. Qc3 Rxh7 42. Rxh7+ Kxh7 43. Qc8 Qxd4 44. Qd7+ Kh6 45. Qf7 f5 46. Qf8+
Qg7 47. Qd6 Qf7 48. Qe5 Kh7 0-1
[/pgn]

Dinah Wright (far left, standing) with her England team mates (see caption) for a Lloyds Bank sponsored match with Wales

Dinah has been a member of Crowthorne Chess Club and has played in the Berkshire League. She has represented 4NCL Iceni and Guildford in other competitions.

According to Megabase 2020 her highest FIDE rating was 2085 in July 1990 at the age of 44. However, it would have been higher than this in the late 1960s and 1970s had ratings been established then.

Dinah Norman at the 2017 Keith Richardson Memorial organised by Camberley Chess Club. Courtesy of John Upham Photographic

With the white pieces she has essayed the Colle-Koltanowki Opening for many years and as the second player she has played the Caro-Kann, Smyslov Variation and the Semi-Slav Defence.

Dinah Norman with Sandra Richardson at the 2017 Keith Richardson Memorial organised by Camberley Chess Club

2021, 4NCL, Biographies, Birthday, British Championships, Player, Players, Writers

Happy Birthday to FM Andrew Smith (15-viii-1959)

August 15, 2026 John Upham Leave a comment

BCN wishes Happy Birthday to FM Andrew Smith (15-viii-1959)

Andrew Philip Smith became a FIDE Master in 1994 and is registered with the Irish Chess Union.

His highest FIDE rating was 2310 in July 1994 at the age of 35.

He plays for Bourne End Chess Club in the Buckinghamshire League and in the Berkshire League.

Andrew also plays for 4NCL Barnet Knights (he has played for Atticus), Buckinghamshire CCA in the Chiltern League and Hon Members LCCL.

Andrew started his chess aged 6 when his Mother taught him and he joined Lewisham Chess Club aged 13 and then Slough Chess Club (Thames Valley League and 4NCL) in 1988.

He has won the Berks & Bucks Congress in 2018 and 2016 (joint) and he became Berkshire Individual Champion as a direct consequence winning the Cadogan Cup.

With the white pieces Andrew is (almost) exclusively a 1.e4 player favouring the Centre Game

and as the second player Andrew plays the Philidor Defence and the Benoni.

He is known to favour “enterprising” variations such as the Mason Variation of the Philidor, the Haldane Attack versus the French and other such exotica.

British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXXII (132), Number 7 (July) front cover features FM Andrew Smith from the final 4NCL weekend of the 2011-2012 season, courtesy of John Upham Photography

[pgn]
[Event “BCF-chT2b 1112 (4NCL)”]
[Site “England”]
[Date “2012.02.12”]
[Round “6.3”]
[White “Smith, Andrew Philip”]
[Black “Girdlestone, Paul C”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C22”]
[WhiteElo “2204”]
[BlackElo “2191”]
[Annotator “Andrew P Smith”]
[PlyCount “75”]
[EventDate “2011.11.12”]
[EventType “team-match”]
[EventRounds “7”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2013”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2012.11.22”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2012.11.22”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “Spirit of Atticus”]
[BlackTeam “Brown Jack”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]
[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”]

{[%evp 0,75,19,31,34,25,5,-1,-3,-12,-20,-36,-38,-31,-26,-30,-41,-8,1,-59,13,-2,
-2,-222,-254,-322,-193,-225,-133,-160,-85,-149,-83,-101,-80,-80,-69,-43,-41,
-84,21,48,60,-100,-71,-82,65,177,182,136,220,173,273,89,89,57,57,-140,-137,
-128,15,36,333,767,29985,434,394,127,141,105,125,134,245,256,273,237,29999,
-30000]} {My notes are based on my thoughts during the game and have not been
checked by a computer. Going into this game, I felt under pressure both from
team and personal perspectives. I joined Atticus at the beginning of this
(2011) season and my first three appearences had seen me accumulate a very
round zero ! We already suspected that our team would be in the second
division ‘demotion pool’ so we desperately needed points to avert relegation.
This was my fourth game for the team so I was keen to address my shortcomings
and put some sort of score on the board. No easy matter as my opponent was
rated higher than myself and had beaten me the previous year at the Berks &
Bucks Congress.} 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 $1 {I have been playing this
“Offbeat” line for over 25 years so I have a great deal of experience with it.
Often scoffed at, but as with many Offbeat lines it is not so easy for Black
to deal with !} Nc6 4. Qe3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 O-O 7. O-O-O Re8 8. Bc4 $5 ({
In previous games I have also speculated with Morozevich’s tricky innovation}
8. Qg3 {which he played against Mark Hebden} d6 9. f3 Ne5 10. h4 c6 11. h5 d5
12. Nge2 Nc4 13. h6 {was Morozevich-Hebden, Lloyds Bank, 1994, 1-0, 27.}) (8.
f3) 8… d6 $5 (8… Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Nxe4 (9… Rxe4 $2 {loses} {to} 10. Bxf6 Rxe3
11. Bxd8 $18) 10. Qf4 $1 Qe7 $4 ({Instead of 10…Qe7 he could have played}
10… Nf6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 (11… gxf6 $16 {just looks too horrible to
contemplate.}) 12. Qxc7 Qxf2 (12… Qg5+ 13. Kb1 Qxg2 14. Qf4 Ne5 15. Bd5 {
again with great attacking chances for the pawn.}) 13. Nf3 $14 {with
tremendous compensation for the pawn}) (10… Nxc3 11. Bxf7+ Kh8 12. Bxe8 Qxe8
13. bxc3 d6 $16 {and I prefer White.}) 11. Re1 $1 $18 {winning as Black will
lose material after 12.f3}) 9. Nf3 $5 Bf5 $5 10. Qf4 Bg6 ({If} 10… Bxe4 {
White has} 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. Ng5+) (10… Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Bxe4 12. Ng5 Bg6 13.
h4 {gives play.}) 11. Ng5 h6 12. h4 Ne5 ({If} 12… hxg5 13. hxg5 Nh7 14. Qh2 {
looks interesting, threatening f4 and f5} {and if} Bxc3 15. bxc3 Bxe4 (15…
Qd7 $1 $19) 16. Bd3 $18 {seemed good.}) 13. Bb3 Nh5 (13… hxg5 14. hxg5 Nh7
15. Qh4 $40 {with f4 and f5 to follow.}) 14. Qe3 Qd7 {I wasn’t sure what Black
would played here.} ({I analysed} 14… hxg5 15. hxg5 {and felt I had good
chances because Black’s knight on h5 is exposed to a White pawn surge.}) 15. f4
Ng4 16. Qf3 {The crisis point of the game is here. White threatens the
crushing 17.f5} hxg5 {Black saw now nothing better. The knight is finaly
captured after being en prise for five moves. I remember looking at the clock
situations and being amazed that we had only played 16 moves !} 17. f5 $1 ({If
} 17. hxg5 $6 {then} Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Bxe4 19. Qh3 Bg6 {and maybe Black is OK?})
17… Ne5 18. Qe3 Bxf5 ({Or} 18… Bc5 19. Qxg5 {is strong} Bxf5) 19. exf5 Nf4
{In a mutual time scramble this is a tricky little move.} 20. Kb1 ({Not
falling for} 20. hxg5 $4 Ned3+ {winning my queen.}) 20… Nc4 21. Qg3 Nxd2+ 22.
Rxd2 Qxf5 23. hxg5 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Re4 $18 {I could feel my opponents sudden
optimism after he played this move. If Black could continue with Rae8 then he
would be OK.} 25. Rf2 $1 {Repositioning my only ineffectual piece. On d2 , this
rook was not doing anything. – now it pins the knight against the queen and
all White’s pieces contribute a threat to Black’s king.} Qe5 ({I’m sure he
would have liked to have played} 25… Rae8 {but} 26. g6 {is still a difficult
reply to meet as} Qxg6 27. Qxg6 Nxg6 28. Bxf7+ Kf8 29. Bxg6+ {wins}) 26. g6 $1
{Fortunately for me Black’s capture on c3 has freed up a flight square on b2
for my king so I don’t have to worry about checks on my back rank.} d5 {
Blocking the diagonal of my strong bishop on b3. His king is about to be
exposed!} 27. gxf7+ Kxf7 {With both of use having a few minutes left and time
control a long way ff at move 40, the tension is palpable as this result is
crucial to the outcome of the match.} 28. Rh4 {To save the knight Black is
forced to expose his king still further.} g5 29. Rh7+ Ke6 30. Qg4+ Kf6 31. Qd7
{Probably winning for White} Qe6 $2 {A blunder – albiet in a lost position. –
but in mutual time trouble I let him get away with it.} 32. Qg7+ ({Now} 32.
Rh6+ {wins the queen and it would have been quite a nice game if it had
finished this way. But, I mistakenly thought he could intercept with the knight
forgettimg it was pinned.}) 32… Kf5 33. Rh6 Qe7 {Now with both flags hanging
and both players blitzing to reach the time control, I decided to bail-out and
win a piece.} 34. Qxe7 Rxe7 35. g3 Kg4 36. gxf4 gxf4 37. Bxd5 Kg3 $4 {three
seconds left !} 38. Rg2# {with about 15 seconds left ! It was big relief to
come away with the full point as the match score, after some heroic defence by
Sheila Jackson in her game with Mike Truran was 4.5 – 3.5 to us (Atticus).} 1-0
[/pgn]

FM Andrew Smith at the 2019 Keith Richardson Memorial, courtesy of John Upham Photography

In 2021 Andrew self-published “Off the Board Chess, The Best Games and Chess Experiences of Andrew Smith (FM)” which has received popular acclaim.

Off the Board Chess, The Best Games and Chess Experiences of Andrew Smith (FM), FM Andrew Smith, Self published, 2021, ISBN 978-1-5272-8572-9

2021, 4NCL, Biographies, Birthday, British Championships, Organiser, Players, Writers

Happy Birthday IM Malcolm Pein (14-viii-1960)

August 14, 2026 John Upham 2 Comments

BCN sends IM Malcolm Pein best wishes on his 61st birthday.

IM Malcolm Pein at the King's Place Rapidplay 2013, photograph courtesy of John Upham — IM Malcolm Pein at the King’s Place Rapidplay 2013, photograph courtesy of John Upham

Malcolm Bernard Pein was born in Liverpool (South). South Lancashire and his mother’s maiden name is Max. (Gaige, Felice and chessgames.com all incorrectly have Malcolm L. Pein).

This was written about Malcolm aged 19 just prior to the 1979 Spassky vs the BCF Junior Squad simultaneous display :

” London University and Liverpool, Rating 199. British under-18 co-champion, 1977. Currently No.1 player for London University.”

Malcolm studied Chemical Engineering at University College, London entering in September 1978. He won The University of London championship in February 1979. The runner-up was John Upham also from UCL.

He became an International Master in 1986 and is a FIDE Delegate (for England) and an International Director.

Malcolm’s peak rating was 2450 in January 1992 at the age of 32.

Malcolm Pein (third from right) and a victorious Wood Green team. Trophy presented by Magnus Magnusson

With the white pieces Malcolm prefers the Queen’s Gambit almost exclusively with 1.e4 rarely seeing the light of day scoring 62%

As the second player, Malcolm champions the Pirc, Modern and Grunfeld defences scoring 49% which MegaBase 2020 claims is “above average”.

Malcolm plays for 4NCL Wood Green and Liverpool.

[pgn]
[Event “Manila op”]
[Site “Manila”]
[Date “1992.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Pein, Malcolm”]
[Black “Valdes, P.”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E25”]
[WhiteElo “2445”]
[Annotator “Pein,Malcolm”]
[PlyCount “53”]
[EventDate “1992.??.??”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “PHI”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 030”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1992.10.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1992.10.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,53,16,28,27,-16,-9,4,4,-78,-50,-91,-47,-47,-29,-14,41,9,10,8,23,12,34,
27,55,5,-11,12,10,9,9,20,20,32,32,38,147,186,22,66,85,82,123,47,3,-17,-18,-12,
29987,29988,29989,29990,29991,29992,29993,29994]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4
4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 (6… O-O 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. e4 Nxc3 9. Qb3 Qxd4
10. Bb2 Qe3+ 11. Be2 Nd5 12. Qxe3 Nxe3 13. Kf2 Nd5 14. exd5 exd5 15. Rc1 $16)
7. cxd5 Nxd5 {[#]} 8. Qd2 {According to ECO this move has not been played for
20 years! In comparison with Qd3 the queen is not exposed on a6 f1 diagonal
but the Bc1 is restricted} f5 (8… Qa5 9. e4 $1 Nxc3 (9… Qxc3 10. Rb1 Qxd2+
11. Bxd2 Nc7 12. dxc5 Nd7 13. Bb5 {White is slightly better}) 10. Bb2 cxd4 11.
Ne2 {White regains one pawn and gets an attack} e5 12. Nxc3 dxc3 13. Bxc3 Qc7
14. Bb4 Nc6 15. Bd6 Qd8 (15… Qa5 16. Qxa5 Nxa5 17. Bxe5) 16. Bb5) 9. e3 O-O
10. Nh3 $146 {This is a theoretical novelty the old move was 10.Bd3 intending
Ne2 but after Black plays Nc6 and e5 he stands well.} b6 11. Bb2 cxd4 (11…
Ba6 12. c4 (12. Bxa6 Nxa6 13. O-O Nac7 14. e4 {Is also good}) 12… Nf6 13. Nf4
{With advantage to White so Black switches plans}) 12. cxd4 Nc6 {Now 13..Na5
is going to be annoying so White gets going} 13. e4 $1 (13. Bd3 Na5 14. Rd1 Bd7
{With lots of play on the white squares}) 13… fxe4 14. fxe4 Nf6 (14… Qh4+
15. Nf2 Rxf2 (15… Nf4 16. g3 {Wins}) (15… Nf6 16. g3) 16. Qxf2 Qxe4+ 17.
Qe2 {Black has insufficient compensation}) 15. Nf2 Na5 16. Qe3 Bb7 17. Bd3 Rc8
18. Qh3 $1 {Black finds the only defence} Qe8 19. O-O {Now both e5 and d5 are
threatened} (19. e5 Nh5) 19… Nh5 {It was very tempting to play 20.Ng4 but it
does not quite work} 20. e5 {Threat g4} (20. Ng4 Nf4 21. Rxf4 Rxf4 22. e5 Be4
23. Nh6+ Kh8) 20… Nc4 21. Bc1 h6 {[#]} (21… g6 22. Bh6 Nf4 23. Bxf4 Rxf4
24. Bxc4 Rxc4 25. Ng4 {Nf6+ will win material}) 22. Bxh6 $1 {Winning} gxh6 (
22… Rxf2 23. Rxf2 gxh6 24. Raf1 {Winning}) (22… Qc6 23. Be4) 23. Ng4 {
Threatening 24.Rxf8+} Qc6 (23… Nf4 24. Qxh6 Nxd3 25. Rxf8+ Qxf8 26. Nf6+) (
23… Rc7 24. Nxh6+ Kg7 25. Qg4+ Kxh6 26. Rxf8) (23… Ng7 24. Nxh6+) 24. Nxh6+
Kh8 25. Nf7+ $1 Kg8 26. Bh7+ Kg7 (26… Kxh7 27. Qxh5+ Kg7 28. Qh6+ Kg8 29.
Qh8#) 27. Qg4+ 1-0
[/pgn]

IM Malcolm Pein at the Bristol heat of the British Blitz Qualification event in 2019

In addition to his newspaper column and magazine editorial, Malcolm has written a number of chess books and booklets, including :

Grunfeld Defence (Batsford, 1981) – ISBN 978-0713435948

Blumenfeld Defence [with Jan Przewoznik] (Everyman, 1991) – ISBN 978-0080371337

Bobby Fischer: The $5,000,000 Comeback, Nigel Davies, Malcolm Pein & Jonathan Levitt, Cadogan Chess, 1992, ISBN 10: 1857440420

Daily Telegraph Guide to Chess (Batsford, 1995) – ISBN 978-0713478143

The Exchange Grunfeld [with Adrian Mikhalchishin] (Everyman, 1996) – ISBN 978-1857440560]

Nigel Short's Chess Skills (1989) (was ghost written by Malcolm) — Nigel Short’s Chess Skills (1989)(was ghost written by Malcolm)

Malcolm won the ECF President’s Award in 2017:

“Malcolm Pein’s contribution to English Chess is well known. He is CEO of Chess in Schools and Communities, has been largely involved in the organisation of the London Chess Classic and is currently the ECF’s Delegate to FIDE and International Director. On top of all that he is also an IM, writes the ‘Daily Telegraph’ Chess Column, and edits CHESS Magazine.”

IM Malcolm Pein at the London Chess Classic 2013, photograph courtesy of John Upham

Malcolm is also owner (and a director) of the London Chess Centre (a company incorporated on May 1st 1997) which has relocated to 44, Baker Street, former home of the British Chess Magazine retail premises. This was purchased from Stephen Lowe and Shaun Taulbut in 2010 when the leasehold on the Euston Road premises expired. Another director is Henry Gerald Mutkin who is the main organiser of the annual Varsity match.

Here is his Wikipedia entry

Malcolm has a son, Jonathan who is a strong player and he resides in London, NW7.

In 2021 Malcolm stood as an alternative to Mike Truran in the contested election for CEO. On October 9th 2021 following “detailed and amicable discussions” with Mike a away forward was agreed and Malcolm agreed to remain as International Director of the ECF and Mike remained as CEO.

Here is his Developing Chess web site.

Jonathan and Malcolm Pein at the 2016 Michael Uriely Memorial Tournament

2021, 2026, Biographies, Composer, Composition, History, Problems, Remembering, Writers

Remembering IMCC Barry Barnes (01-viii-1937 14-i-2025)

August 7, 2026 John Upham 3 Comments

BCN remembers IMCC Barry Barnes who passed away on Tuesday, January 14th 2025 aged 87.Barry Peter Barnes was born in Brighton and his mother’s maiden name was Simpole. (Barry is a cousin of Julian Ivan Peter Simpole, who was a Brighton school teacher and who taught Edward Gerard Winter to play chess).

Barry most recently lived in Halling, Rochester, Kent with his wife Jean.

From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks :

“International Master of FIDE for Chess Compositions (1967) and International Judge of FIDE for Chess Compositions (1967).

Born on 1st August 1937, Barnes works in transport advertising. He has composed about 250 two-move problems. With Lipton and Rice, he has contributed to the advance of the modern two-mover. Problem Editor of Two-Move and Twin sections of The Problemist. Co-author with M.Lipton and JM Rice of The Two-Move Chess Problem : Tradition and Development (Faber and Faber 1966).

BP Barnes
2nd Prize Problem T.T. 1964

[fen]6q1/5p2/1Q6/8/3rPN2/5P1P/2PP1NPp/R1B1K1kr w – – 0 1[/fen]

White to play and mate in two moves

(a) Diagram
(b) With black pawn at KN2 (g7)

(a) Solution
1. B-R3!

(b) Solution 1. K-K2!

From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) by GS Botterill, DNL Levy, JM Rice and MJ Richardson :

Barry wrote about himself as follows :

“A promising career as a county chess player came to an end when I was given Brian Harley’s classic book Mate in Two Moves in the belief that it would help my chess, but it had quite the opposite effect. My interest in competitive chess waned, and I was on the road to an an International Master title for problems!

Early influences in my problem career were the weekly chess problem solving competition in The Observer (my first problem published there was in 1955), a teenage friendship with J. M. Rice and M. Lipton (both now lnternational Masters), Herbert Grasemann’s book Problem Schach / with its near revolutionary post-war German problem ideas, and the expert British problemist, A. R. Gooderson who had I but known it only a few years earlier was the officiating master when my Hove Grammar School played Steyning Grammar at chess.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the genuinely original problems I was making in cooperation and in competition with Rice and Lipton were being published mostly abroad in such specialist problem magazines as Die Schwatbe (with its inspired two-move editor, Hermann Albrecht) where I gained the epithet the English prize-snatcher’! It was also written that the work of the avant-garde composers, Rice, Lipton and Barnes, was like a fresh two-move wind blowing from our island. It was sad but true at that time that the specialist magazine of the British Chess problem Society (founded 1918), The problemist, was unreceptive to change and our often bizarre ideas.

A milestone of sorts was reached when I won lst prize for problem I in 1958, a prize for the best new problem by a member of the British Commonwealth aged under 21. In 1966, I was invited by problemist Grandmaster Comins Mansfield, who was President of the FIDE Problem Commission, to act as Secretary at the Barcelona meeting. With Mr. Mansfield’s retirement, I became the British Member to the Commission, and at the Wiesbaden meeting, 1974, I was elected 2nd Vice-President. (1st Vice-President from 1982)

The FIDE Problem Commission meets annually to discuss matters relating to all branches of problem chess, to organize the World Chess Composing Tournament (WCCT), the World Chess Solving Competition (WCSC), and to publish FIDE Album anthologies of the best problems. It was on the strength of my success in these FIDE Albums that the Commission granted me the titles in 1967 of ‘lnternational Master of the FIDE for Chess Composition’ and ‘lnternational Judge of the FIDE for Chess Composition’. Since 1974, I have been Chairman of the Titles Sub-Committee of the Commission.

Since 1965, I have been the two-move editor of The Problemist and have served almost without break on the BCPS Committee. I have contributed to The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks (Robert Hale, 1970), I am co-author, with J. M. Rice and M. Lipton, of The Two-Move Chess Problem: Tradition & Development‘ (Faber A Faber, 1966), and I am the sole author of Comins Mansfield MBE: Chess Problems of a Grandmaster: (British Chess Problem Society, 1976) and Pick of the Best Chess Problems (Elliot Right Way Books, 1976)

To date I have made just over 300 two-movers and some helpmates.”

From The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977), Harry Golombek OBE, John Rice writes:

“British problem composer, output about 400, nearly all modern style two-movers. Two-move sub-editor of The Problemist. Secretary of the FIDE Problem Commission during C. Mansfield’s Presidency. Co-author of The Two-Move Chess Problem: Tradition and Development (1966).”

The Two Move Chess Problem : Tradition and Development

Author of Pick of the Best Chess Problems (1976)

Comins Mansfield MBE : Chess Problems of a Grandmaster (1976).

Comins Mansfield MBE: Chess Problems of a Grandmaster, BP Barnes, 1976

International Judge (1967); international master (1967).

Source: The Problemist, May 1996. Photo taken March 1996 at the Mansfield Centenary Meeting at Paisley, when Barry Barnes delivered a lecture on Comins Mansfield. Left to right: Geoffrey Mansfield (son of Comins), Robert Gray and Barry Barnes, International Master of Chess Composition.

2021, Biographies, Correspondence, History, Remembering, Writers

Remembering IMC Frank Boyd (16-ix-1935 ?-ix-2023)

September 1, 2023 John Upham Leave a comment

He was British Correspondence Champion in 1972 and awarded the IMC title in 1981.

According to Kings Indian I Attacking Systems:

“British Correspondence Champions 1971/72. Placed second in an ICCF master tourney 1973/76. A member of the British team in the 9th Olympiad 1977/80. Gained the IMC title in the European Team Championship 1978/81.”

According to Chessbase Correspondence Database 2020 Frank achieved his highest (ICCF) rating in January 1991 of 2410.

Incomplete crosstable from the European Championship, 1973.

As White Frank would play the Queen’s Gambit via a 1.Nf3 move order. He did not play 1.e4

As the second player he would defend the closed Ruy Lopez and the Nimzo-Indian Defence.

[pgn]
[Event “9th corr Olympiad 1977-80”]
[Site “ICCF corr”]
[Date “1977.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Boyd, Frank”]
[Black “Karker, Norbert”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A38”]
[Annotator “Hugh Myers”]
[PlyCount “101”]
[EventDate “1977.??.??”]
[EventType “team (corr)”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[SourceTitle “Hugh Myers”]
[Source “Myers”]
[SourceDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2012.11.12”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%mdl 36912][%evp 0,101,29,23,29,0,30,18,86,82,69,6,26,17,14,29,32,3,-3,40,25,
10,-5,0,19,21,-1,0,4,4,7,8,11,11,4,10,15,15,25,18,31,17,24,29,65,31,48,54,66,
66,72,89,88,84,88,89,94,91,93,89,82,64,71,78,78,80,80,91,81,78,76,73,76,79,79,
76,102,98,106,229,225,286,286,252,257,321,321,315,375,435,460,533,540,545,712,
997,1058,1101,1203,1209,1201,1270,1299,1491]} 1. Nf3 {Myers} Nf6 2. c4 c5 3.
Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nxd5 Qxd5 9. d3 Nc6 10.
Be3 Bxb2 11. Rb1 Bf6 12. Qa4 Qd6 (12… Nb4 13. Nd2 (13. a3 Na2 14. Ng5 Nc3 15.
Bxd5 Nxa4 16. Ne4 Bd4 17. Bxb7 Bxb7 18. Rxb7 f5 19. Bxd4 fxe4 20. Be5 exd3 21.
exd3 Rf7 22. Rc1 e6 23. Rxf7 Kxf7 24. Rc4 Nb6 25. Rxc5 Nd7 26. Rc7 Ke7 27. d4
a5 28. a4 Ra6 29. Rc8 Nb6 30. Rc6 Kd7 31. Rd6+ Kc7 32. Rxe6+ Kb7 33. Re7+ Kc6
34. Rc7+ Kd5 35. Rc5+ Ke6 36. Rc6+ Kd5 37. Rf6 Kc4 38. Bc7 {1-0 Jansa,V-Pribyl,
J/Luhacovice 1973/}) (13. Rfc1 Bd7 14. Qd1 Qxa2 15. Bxc5 Nd5 16. d4 b6 17. Ra1
Qb2 18. Ba3 Qb5 19. e4 Nb4 20. Bf1 Qa5 21. Qb3 Nc6 22. Bxe7 Bxe7 23. Rxa5 Nxa5
24. Qe3 Rfc8 25. Ba6 Rd8 26. Ne5 Be8 27. d5 Bc5 28. Rxc5 bxc5 29. Qc3 Rab8 30.
Qxa5 Rb1+ 31. Kg2 Rd6 32. Qc7 Rbb6 33. Nc4 {1-0 Williams,A-Handoko,E/La
Valetta 1980/}) 13… Bd7 14. Qa5 (14. Bxd5 Bxa4 15. Bxb7 Rab8 16. Bxc5 Rxb7
17. Rxb4 Rxb4 18. Bxb4 Rc8 19. Nc4 Bd7 20. Rc1 e5 21. f3 Be6 22. Kf2 Bd8 23.
Bd2 Bb6+ 24. Be3 Bd4 25. f4 f6 26. fxe5 fxe5 27. Bxd4 exd4 28. Kf3 Rf8+ 29. Ke4
Rf2 30. Rc2 Rxh2 31. Kxd4 Rg2 32. Ne5 Rxg3 33. e4 h5 34. Rc6 h4 35. Rxe6 h3 36.
Re8+ Kg7 37. Re7+ Kh6 38. Nf7+ Kh5 39. Re8 Rg2 40. Rh8+ Kg4 41. e5 h2 42. e6
Re2 43. Rxh2 {1-0 Neverov,V-Kristjansson,S/Hastings ENG 2005/}) 14… Qxa2 15.
Qxc5 a5 16. Ne4 Bc6 17. Nxf6+ exf6 18. Bxc6 bxc6 19. Bh6 Rfe8 20. Qc3 Qe6 21.
e4 Red8 22. Rfd1 Qe5 23. Qb3 Rd7 24. Rd2 Re8 25. Rbd1 Qh5 26. Be3 Qb5 27. Qc3
Re6 28. g4 h5 29. h3 hxg4 30. hxg4 Qe5 31. Qc4 Re8 32. Qc1 Qe6 33. f3 Qd6 34.
Kg2 Rc8 35. Qc3 Kg7 36. g5 Rh8 37. f4 Qe6 38. f5 gxf5 39. Bd4 Rh5 40. Bxf6+ Kg6
41. Rh1 fxe4 42. Rxh5 Qg4+ 43. Kf1 Qxh5 44. Qe5 Qf3+ 45. Kg1 Rxd3 46. Rxd3 Nxd3
47. Qb8 Qf2+ 48. Kh1 Qh4+ 49. Kg1 Qg4+ 50. Kh1 Qd1+ 51. Kh2 Qe2+ 52. Kg1 Qf2+
53. Kh1 Qf1+ 54. Kh2 Qf4+ 55. Qxf4 Nxf4 {0-1 Bitansky,I-Porat,S/Tel Aviv ISR
2002/}) (12… Qe6 13. Rfc1 Nd4 (13… b6 14. d4 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 cxd4 16. Bh6 Bd7
17. Qa6 Bg7 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Bxa8 Rxa8 20. Qb7 Rd8 21. Qxa7 Qxe2 22. Qxb6 Bh3
23. Qb3 Be6 24. Qa3 Qxa2 25. Qxe7 Rc8 26. Qg5 Rxc1+ 27. Rxc1 Qe2 28. Qf4 d3 29.
Qd4+ Kh6 30. Qh4+ Kg7 {1/2-1/2 Klatt,O-Waschk,A/corr DDR 1987/}) 14. Kf1 Bd7
15. Qc4 Bc6 16. Bxd4 cxd4 17. Qxe6 fxe6 18. Nd2 Bg5 19. f4 e5 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21.
Nf3 Bf6 22. fxe5 Bxe5 23. Rxc6 Bf6 24. Ra6 h5 25. h4 Rac8 26. Rxa7 Rc2 27. Ke1
Rfc8 28. Kd1 Kf8 29. Ra5 Bg7 30. Nd2 Bh6 31. Nc4 Rc3 32. Rd5 Be3 33. Nxe3 dxe3
34. Re5 Rc2 35. Ra1 Rd2+ {1/2-1/2 Clemens,C-Kestler,H/Bad Pyrmont 1961/}) (
12… Qd7 13. Bxc5 (13. Rfc1 b6 14. Ng5 Bb7 15. Ne4 Bd4 16. Nxc5 Bxc5 17. d4
Bxd4 18. Bxc6 Bxc6 19. Rxc6 Bf6 20. Rd1 Qb7 21. Rdc1 Be5 22. Qe4 Bf6 23. Qa4 h5
24. Rc7 Qd5 25. Rxa7 b5 26. Qb3 Qxb3 27. axb3 b4 {0-1 Perez Fungueiro,M-Moreno
Carnero,J/Spain 1998/}) 13… Nd4 (13… b6 14. Nd2 Bb7 15. Ne4 Bg7 16. d4 Rfd8
17. Rfd1 Nxd4 18. Qxd7 Rxd7 19. Bxd4 Rxd4 20. Rxd4 Bxd4 21. Rd1 Bg7 22. Rd7 Bc6
23. Rc7 Bd5 24. Rxe7 Kf8 25. Rc7 Be5 26. Rc2 Rb8 27. Nf6 Be6 28. Nxh7+ Kg7 29.
Ng5 Bf5 30. e4 Bd7 31. Nf3 Bf6 32. e5 Be7 33. Nd4 Bc5 34. Nb3 Bf5 35. Rd2 Bb4
36. Rd4 Bc3 37. Ra4 a5 38. Nd4 b5 39. Nxf5+ gxf5 40. Ra3 b4 41. Ra4 Rd8 42. e6
Rd1+ 43. Bf1 fxe6 44. Rxa5 Kf6 45. Ra4 Rb1 46. Ra8 Rb2 47. Bc4 Bd4 48. Ra6 Rxf2
49. Rxe6+ Kg5 50. Kh1 f4 51. gxf4+ Kxf4 52. Re8 Rd2 53. Re2 Rd1+ 54. Kg2 Rg1+
55. Kh3 Rg7 56. Bd3 Kf3 57. Re8 Ra7 58. Be2+ Kf4 59. Bc4 Rh7+ 60. Kg2 Rg7+ 61.
Kf1 Be3 62. Rg8 Rh7 63. Kg2 Ke4 64. Rg4+ Bf4 65. Bd3+ Kxd3 66. Rxf4 Rg7+ 67.
Kf2 Rh7 68. Kg3 Rg7+ 69. Kf2 Rh7 70. h4 Kc3 71. Rf3+ Kc2 72. Rf4 Rb7 73. Ke3
Kb1 74. Rf2 Ra7 75. h5 Rxa2 {1/2-1/2 Van Hoolandt,P-Ezat,M/Cairo EGY 2003/})
14. Qd1 Nxf3+ (14… Ne6 15. Be3 Rb8 16. d4 Rd8 17. Qb3 b6 18. Qa3 Bb7 19. Qxa7
Bxf3 20. Qxd7 Rxd7 21. Bxf3 Nxd4 22. Bg4 Ra7 23. Rfd1 Nf5 24. Bxf5 gxf5 25. Rd2
Rba8 26. Rxb6 Rxa2 27. Rd5 Rxe2 28. Rxf5 Kg7 29. Rb4 Rea2 30. Rff4 Rb2 31. Rbe4
Rb5 32. Kg2 h6 33. Rf3 Rba5 34. Rg4+ Kh7 35. Rc4 Ra4 36. Rc7 Kg6 37. h4 Ra3 38.
Rb7 R8a5 39. Rb8 Ra8 {1/2-1/2 Tal,M-Pytel,K/Skopje YUG 1972/}) 15. Bxf3 Rb8 16.
Bxa7 Ra8 17. Be3 Rxa2 18. Qb3 Ra5 19. Rfc1 h5 20. Bh6 Re8 21. Bd2 Ra8 22. Be4
Qa4 23. Qd5 Qa2 24. Bf4 Qxd5 25. Bxd5 e5 26. Bd2 Re7 27. Rb6 Kg7 28. h4 Rd7 29.
Be4 Be7 30. Rc4 Bd6 31. Bc3 f6 32. Bb2 Rb8 33. d4 exd4 34. Rxd4 Be7 35. Rd5
Rxd5 36. Bxd5 Bd8 37. Rb3 b5 38. Re3 Bb7 39. Bb3 Bc6 40. Re6 Bd7 41. Rd6 Rb7
42. e4 Be7 43. Ra6 Be8 44. e5 f5 45. Ra8 Bc6 46. Rc8 Bf3 47. Rc3 Be2 48. Bd5
Rd7 49. e6 Rxd5 50. Rc8+ Bf6 51. Rc7+ Kg8 52. Bxf6 {1-0 Tal,M-Pribyl,J/Tallinn
EST 1973/}) (12… Bd7 13. Rxb7 Nb8 14. Qb3 Bc6 15. Qxd5 Bxd5 16. Nd2 Bxb7 17.
Bxb7 Nd7 18. Bxa8 Rxa8 19. Rb1 Rb8 20. Rxb8+ Nxb8 21. Bxc5 Nc6 22. Kg2 Bc3 23.
Nb3 Kg7 24. d4 f5 25. d5 Nb4 26. a3 Nxd5 27. Bxa7 e5 28. a4 Kf6 29. f3 Ke6 30.
e4 Nc7 31. Kf2 Kd6 32. Bb8 Kc6 33. Bxc7 Kxc7 34. Ke3 {1-0 Verleur,J-Title,R/
corr USA 1998/}) 13. Nd2 (13. Rfc1 $5 Nd4 (13… b6 14. Ne5 Bxe5 15. Bxc6 Rb8
16. Bf3 a5 17. Bc6 Be6 18. Bb5 Bd5 19. Bc4 Bc6 20. Bb5 Ba8 21. Bc4 Kg7 22. Bb5
Rfd8 23. f3 Qe6 24. Kf2 Qh3 25. Kg1 Rd5 26. Rc4 Bxg3 27. Rg4 Qxh2+ 28. Kf1 Qh3+
29. Kg1 Rh5 {0-1 Wesseln,K-Sievers,S/Germany 1996/}) 14. Nxd4 cxd4 15. Bh6 Rd8
16. Bxb7 Bxb7 17. Rxb7 a6 18. Rc6 Qe5 19. Rxa6 Rac8 20. Rc6 Qxe2 21. Rxc8 Rxc8
22. Qd7 Qe6 23. a4 Qxd7 24. Rxd7 Bg7 25. Bd2 Kf8 26. a5 Ke8 27. Rb7 Rc6 28. Bg5
Bf6 29. Bxf6 Rxf6 30. Rb4 Ra6 31. Ra4 e5 32. f4 exf4 33. gxf4 Ke7 34. Kf2 Ke6
35. Kf3 f5 36. h4 h6 37. Kg3 Kf6 38. Ra2 Kf7 39. Ra1 Kf6 40. Ra2 Kf7 41. Kf2
Kf6 42. Ke1 Kf7 43. Kd1 Kf6 44. Ra1 g5 45. hxg5+ hxg5 46. fxg5+ Kxg5 47. Ke2
Kg4 48. Kf2 f4 49. Rg1+ Kf5 50. Rh1 Kg5 {1/2-1/2 Marin,M-Kempinski,R/Krynica
1998/}) 13… Nd4 $1 (13… Bd4 14. Ne4 Qe5 15. Bf4 Qf5 16. e3 Be5 17. Bxe5
Qxe5 18. Rb5 Qc7 19. Rxc5 Bd7 20. d4 Qb6 21. Rb5 Nd8 22. Rxb6 Bxa4 23. Rb2 Bc6
24. Rd1 f5 25. d5 Be8 26. Nc5 Rb8 27. Rc1 Rc8 28. Rbc2 b6 29. Ne6 Rxc2 30. Rxc2
Nxe6 31. dxe6 Bb5 32. Rc7 Rd8 33. Bf3 a5 34. Rb7 Rd6 35. Rxe7 Bc4 36. Re8+ Kg7
37. e7 Kf7 38. Rh8 Kxe7 39. Rxh7+ Ke6 40. a3 b5 41. Rc7 Rd7 42. Rc8 Bd3 43. Rb8
Rc7 44. Rb6+ Ke7 {1/2-1/2 Schilling,H-Prange,E/corr 1994/}) 14. Bxd4 Qxd4 15.
Qxd4 cxd4 16. Bxb7 Rb8 $1 (16… Bh3 17. Bxa8 Bxf1 18. Kxf1 Rxa8 19. Nc4 $16 {
Myers}) 17. Bxc8 Rfxc8 18. Nc4 Kf8 (18… e5 $5) 19. Kg2 (19. f4 $5) 19… h5
20. Kf3 (20. Rb3 $5 {[%cal Yf1b1]}) 20… e6 21. a4 (21. Rb3 $5) 21… Ke7 (
21… Bg7 $5) 22. h3 (22. a5 $5) 22… e5 23. Rb5 Rxb5 24. axb5 Rb8 25. Ra1 $1
Rxb5 (25… Rb7 26. Ke4 Bg7 27. Nxe5 f5+ 28. Kf4 Bxe5+ 29. Kxe5 Rxb5+ 30. Kxd4
a5 31. Ra4 $16 {Myers}) 26. Rxa7+ Ke6 27. Rxf7 $1 Kxf7 28. Nd6+ Ke6 29. Nxb5
Kd5 30. Na3 (30. e4+ $5 dxe3 31. fxe3 Be7 32. Nc3+ Ke6 33. d4 exd4 34. exd4 Bb4
35. Ne2 Kf5 36. g4+ $18 {Myers}) 30… g5 31. Nb1 Be7 32. Nd2 $1 Bd8 (32… Bd6
33. e3 Be7 34. Ne4 Ke6 35. g4 h4 36. Ke2 $18 {Myers}) 33. g4 h4 34. Ne4 Be7 35.
Kg2 $1 Kc6 36. Kf1 Kb5 37. Ke1 Kb4 (37… Kc6 $5) 38. e3 $1 Kb3 (38… dxe3 39.
fxe3 Bd8 40. Kf2 Kb5 41. Nc3+ Kc6 42. d4 Ba5 43. Ne4 $18 {Myers}) 39. exd4 exd4
40. Ke2 Kc2 41. f4 (41. f3 $5) 41… gxf4 42. Nd2 Kc3 43. Nf3 (43. g5 $1 Bf8 (
43… Bxg5 $2 44. Ne4+ Kb3 45. Nxg5 $18) 44. Nf3 Be7 45. g6 Bf6 46. Nxh4 $18 {
Myers}) 43… Bf6 44. g5 Bh8 45. Nxh4 Be5 46. Nf3 Bd6 47. h4 (47. g6 $5 Bf8 48.
Ng5 Bh6 49. Ne6 f3+ 50. Kxf3 Kxd3 51. g7 $18 {Myers}) 47… Bf8 48. h5 Bg7 49.
h6 Bf8 50. Nh4 Kc2 51. Nf5 1-0
[/pgn]

King's Indian I by Frank Boyd, Chess Praxis, 1981 — King’s Indian I by Frank Boyd, Chess Praxis, 1981

2021, Autobiography, Biographies, Books, Games Collection, London Chess Centre Publishing, Reviews, Richard James

Kupreichik: The Maestro From Minsk

March 6, 2023 Richard James Leave a comment

From the London Chess Centre Publishing web site:

“Kupreichik: The Maestro from Minsk features tributes to the legendary attacker from those who regularly faced him at the board, including Alexander Beliavsky, Oleg Romanishin, Evgeny Sveshnikov and Vladimir Tukmakov. Kupreichik also inspired the next generation, as the contributions of Boris Gelfand, Garry Kasparov, Andrey Kovalev and Rauf Mamedov reveal.

Our picture of Viktor Kupreichik is completed by a series of pen portraits from his family, which make clear the kind and principled man this hero of Belarusian chess was, as well as his love for the 64 squares.

Translated by Ken Neat, this work is also a collection of Kupreichik’s best games, many annotated by the man himself. His wins over Tal and Zilbershtein are legendary examples of the power of a knight sacrifice on d5 in the Open Sicilian. Inside you will learn not just about handling Kupreichik’s favourite Classical Sicilian, Slav and King’s Indian, but attacking and sacrificial chess in general. Readers even have the chance to solve 26 positions and so play like Kupreichik!

Viktor Kupreichik (1949-2017) was a leading Soviet Grandmaster in the 1970s and 1980s, famed for his attacking prowess. He twice won a staggering five games in a row at the super-strong USSR Championship. A former world student champion, Kupreichik won many tournaments, including the Masters section at Wijk aan Zee in 1977 and the Hastings Premier of 1981/82.

with forewords by Anastasia Sorkina and Genna Sosonko”

If I asked you to guess who played this game you’d be forgiven for thinking Tal. (Click on any move in any game in this review for a pop-up window)

[pgn]

[Event “”]
[Site “”]
[Date “”]
[Round “”]
[White “”]
[Black “”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B82”]
[PlyCount “61”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bc4 Qb6 7. Nb3 e6 8. Be3 Qc7 9. f4 a6 10. Bd3 b5 11. a3 Be7 12. Qf3 Bb7 13. O-O Rc8 14. Rae1 O-O 15. Qh3 b4 {[#]} 16. Nd5 exd5 17. exd5 Nb8 18. Bd4 g6 19. Rf3 Bxd5 20. Rfe3 Bd8 21. Qh4 Nbd7 22. Qh6 Qb7 23. Rg3 Nc5 24. Nxc5 dxc5 {[#]} 25. f5 cxd4 26. fxg6 fxg6 27. Bxg6 Kh8 28. Qxf8+ Ng8 29. Bf5 Rb8 30. Re8 Qf7 31. Rh3 1-0

[/pgn]

You’d be partly right: Tal was playing – the black pieces. Spoilsport Stockfish will tell you he should have won, but it’s not easy, even for a genius, to defend against that sort of attack over the board. It was played in Sochi i n 1970, in a match tournament between a team of young layers and a team of grandmasters.

On the white side was the hero of this book, Viktor Davydovich Kupreichik (1949-2017). This book, unusually without a credited author, was compiled by his family and friends after his death and published in Russian in 2019 to celebrate what would have been his 70th birthday. Here we have an English translation from London Chess Centre Publishing.

Genna Sosonko wrote the foreword to the English edition:

A master of attack, he demonstrated play that you rarely see nowadays. Even today when playing over games by Minsk’s favourite, an expression of Tal’s comes to mind – “tasty chess”.

Memories of him have been written by world champions, trainers, colleagues, friends and Viktor’s pupils. They all remember not only a wonderful chess player, but also an extraordinary personality. Even in the world of Soviet chess, Viktor was distinguished by his independence.

Mikhail Tal, Viktor’s idol, once said that his favourite squares on the chess board were d5 and f5. Viktor, who was similar to Tal not only in his constant striving for the initiative, but also the incredible boldness of his play, repeatedly placed his pieces en prise too on these very squares. And his most brilliant firework display began with a knight sacrifice on d5 in a game with Tal himself.

If you’re a fan of Tal’s games, then (and who isn’t?), you’ll enjoy Kupreichik’s games as well. You might put him in the same category as other chess mavericks such as Nezhmetdinov and Planinc: a player who valued creativity, beauty and excitement above results.

One of the contributors, Boris Gelfand, recalls, as an 11-year-old in 1979, being deeply impressed by this game.

[pgn]
[Event “URS-ch47 Final”]
[Site “Minsk”]
[Date “1979.12.??”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Tseshkovsky, Vitaly”]
[Black “Kupreichik, Viktor D”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B64”]
[WhiteElo “2560”]
[BlackElo “2365”]
[PlyCount “58”]
[EventDate “1979.11.29”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “17”]
[EventCountry “URS”]
[EventCategory “12”]
[SourceTitle “URS-ch”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O O-O 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 Bd7 11. Nf3 Qa5 12. Bc4 {[#]} b5 13. Bxb5 Rfc8 14. Bc4 Nb4 15. Qe2 Rxc4 16. Qxc4 Rc8 17. Qb3 Nxe4 18. a3 {[#]} Nxc2 19. Qxc2 Nxc3 20. Be1 Bf6 21. Ne5 Ba4 22. Bxc3 Bxc2 23. Bxa5 Bxd1+ 24. Kxd1 dxe5 25. fxe5 Bxe5 26. b4 Rc3 27. a4 Ra3 28. Kc2 Bd4 29. Rd1 e5 0-1
[/pgn]

Kupreichik’s niece, Anastasia Sorokina, is President of the Belarus Chess Federation and a FIDE Vice-President. She wrote the foreword to the Russian edition.

The publication of this book is timed to coincide with the 70th birthday of an outstanding chess-player, the first Belarusian Grandmaster, a true friend and a wonderful person, Viktor Davydovich Kupreichik. Vitek – that’s what his friends and the fans called him.

In the distant 1980s the name of Kuprechik resounded throughout the country. He was recognised in the street, fans would queue up to watch him play, and largely thanks to him a chess boom began in the Republic.

and

A sensitive and tactful person, he did not like boasting and bravado, so when the idea of this book emerged I wanted to make it modest, like him, but at the same time show all the power of his chess talent and the charm of his human character.

The first half of the book, then, comprises tributes to Kupreichik from friends and colleagues, including Kasparov and Karpov, very often with annotated games.

His friend Andrey Kovalev describes this encounter as ‘one of the best King’s Indian games in the history of chess’.

See what you think.

[pgn]
[Event “URS-ch49 Final”]
[Site “Frunze”]
[Date “1981.12.??”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Agzamov, Georgy”]
[Black “Kupreichik, Viktor D”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E73”]
[WhiteElo “2435”]
[BlackElo “2575”]
[PlyCount “74”]
[EventDate “1981.11.28”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “17”]
[EventCountry “URS”]
[EventCategory “12”]
[SourceTitle “URS-ch”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Qd2 e5 8. d5 Nc5 9. f3 Bd7 10. h4 Qe8 11. g4 h5 12. O-O-O hxg4 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. fxg4 Qd8 15. Qe1 Bg7 16. Nh3 f5 17. exf5 gxf5 18. g5 {[#]} b5 19. cxb5 a6 20. b4 axb5 21. bxc5 b4 22. Nb1 Rxa2 23. Bc4 Ra5 24. c6 {[#]} Qb8 25. Qe2 b3 26. cxd7 Qb4 27. Rd2 e4 28. Nf4 Ra1 29. Rh3 Bc3 30. Bxb3 Bxd2+ 31. Qxd2 Rxb1+ 32. Kxb1 Qxd2 33. Ne6 Rb8 34. d8=Q+ Rxd8 35. Nxd8 e3 36. Ne6 e2 37. Rh1 f4 0-1
[/pgn]

Throughout his long career, lasting 55 years or so, Kupreichik remained loyal to his favourite openings. He preferred 1. e4 with White, replying to 1. e4 with the Sicilian, and to 1. d4 with the King’s Indian or the Slav. If you enjoy these openings yourself you’ll find a lot of inspiration from the games in this book.

The second major section of the book is a collection of games annotated by Kupreichik himself. Those he annotated for Chess Informant have had verbal explanations added by the editorial team.

Here’s a quick win against Nigel Short.

[pgn]

[Event “Telechess ol2 8182”]
[Site “telex”]
[Date “1982.05.08”]
[Round “3.6”]
[White “Kupreichik, Viktor D”]
[Black “Short, Nigel D”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B07”]
[WhiteElo “2570”]
[BlackElo “2430”]
[PlyCount “43”]
[EventDate “1981.06.30”]
[EventType “team-k.o.”]
[EventRounds “4”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “Soviet Union”]
[BlackTeam “England”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “URS”]
[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 c6 5. Qd2 Nbd7 6. Nf3 Qa5 7. Bd3 e5 8. O-O-O b5 9. Kb1 Qc7 10. Bg5 Be7 11. h4 a6 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. h5 Nxh5 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 {[#]} 15. Rxh5 gxh5 16. Qg5+ Nf6 $6 17. Nxe5 Rg8 18. Qf4 Ra7 {[#]} 19. Nd5+ cxd5 20. exd5 Bb7 21. Ng6+ Kd7 22. Qf5+ 1-0
[/pgn]

By now you might be wondering why Kupreichik isn’t better known, or why he never reached the heights these games would suggest he deserved (his highest rating was 2575). I guess he was one of those players who loved chess too much, who valued beauty above success.

You might also think there are many higher rated players who deserve to be the subject of a games collection. You may well be right, up to a point, but were their games as entertaining as Kupreichik’s?

Here’s one final example: another spectacular miniature.

[pgn]
[Event “GMA Baleares op”]
[Site “Palma de Mallorca”]
[Date “1989.??.??”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Kupreichik, Viktor D”]
[Black “Sunye Neto, Jaime”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B43”]
[WhiteElo “2520”]
[BlackElo “2480”]
[PlyCount “45”]
[EventDate “1989.12.??”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ESP”]
[SourceTitle “TD”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1994.03.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1994.03.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. Nf3 b5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bb7 6. Bd3 e6 7. O-O Qc7 8. Qe2 Nc6 9. Nxc6 Qxc6 10. a4 b4 11. Nd5 Nf6 12. Bc4 Bd6 13. Rd1 Bc5 14. Bh6 O-O-O{[#]} 15. Bb5 axb5 16. axb5 Qd6 17. Nxf6 Qf8 18. Bxg7 Qxg7 19. Qc4 d6 {[#]} 20. Rxd6 Qg5 21. Nd5 exd5 22. Qxc5+ Kb8 23. Rc6 1-0
[/pgn]

At the end of the book you’ll find a puzzle section: 26 tactical puzzles based on his games, spaciously laid out with only two diagrams per page. Finally, and charmingly, we have short memoirs from his closest family: his sister, niece and daughter.

There are also 16 pages of photographs, on glossy paper. Here you’ll see pictures of Kupreichik throughout his life, from the young boy with his parents to playing in tournaments at the end of his life: sadly he was denied the pleasures of old age. You’ll see him playing chess – and also playing football and volleyball.

All in all, it’s a delightful book: 85 games brimming with exciting tactics and sacrifices as well as reminiscences of someone who was a much loved human being as well as a highly creative player.

It’s beautifully produced as well: a handsome hardback which will look good on your bookshelf. It’s refreshingly free from typos and the translation is, as you’d expect from Ken Neat, outstanding. I very much hope that the London Chess Centre plan to publish more books of this quality.

The one thing that’s missing, for me, is a career summary. I’d have appreciated a full list of Kupreichik’s tournament results and perhaps also his ratings over the years. We do, however, have indexes of openings and opponents.

While it might not be an essential purchase, many readers will enjoy this book. If it appeals to you it comes with a strong recommendation.

If you enjoy games collections you’ll want this book. If you enjoy the games of players like Tal, Nezhmetdinov and Planinc, you certainly won’t be disappointed in this book. If you play the Sicilian (with either colour), the King’s Indian or the Slav, or you’re an e4 player looking for new ideas, you’ll find this book inspirational.

Here are some sample pages in pdf format.

Richard James, Twickenham 6th March 2023

Book Details :

Hardback: 344 pages
Publisher: London Chess Centre Publishing; New edition (10 Sept. 2021)
Language: English
ISBN-10:0948443960
ISBN-13:978-0948443961
Product Dimensions: 15.24 x 3.49 x 23.5 cm

Kupreichik: The Maestro From Minsk, Translated by Ken Neat, London Chess Centre Publishing; New edition (10 Sept. 2021), ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0948443961

2021, Biographies, Books, New in Chess, Reviews, Richard James

Chess Buccaneer: The Life and Games of Manuel Bosboom

January 6, 2022 Richard James Leave a comment

From the publisher:

“There aren’t many chess players who can say they’ve both beaten Garry Kasparov in an official blitz game and crushed Peter Leko in a classical game in 26 moves. And who regularly win blitz tournaments high on marihuana. But then Manuel Bosboom is not an ordinary chess player.

The Dutch International Master never made it to the top in chess, but over the course of his swashbuckling career he has produced an astonishing amount of brilliantly creative games. When Manuel Bosboom enters the room, a smile appears on every chess players face. Not only is he an exuberantly colourful player, he also leads an unconventional existence. His enthusiasm for the game and zest for life are highly contagious.

This book offers a captivating collection of games and it also describes the adventurous life of the Wizard from Zaanstad, who grew up and still lives in a picturesque shed next to a 17th century windmill on the famous Zaanse Schans. You will be treated to many a stunning chess move, a wealth of hilarious but also touching stories and a vivid impression of the Dutch chess scene in the late 20th and early 21st century.

Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands. He has been a chess trainer for more than two decades and created instructional material both online and offline.

Peter Boel is a FIDE Master and a sports journalist who works as an editor with New In Chess. He is the author of two collections of short stories (in Dutch).”

My last review introduced you to a Chess Crusader. Now we have a Chess Buccaneer.

The Dutch IM Manuel Bosboom has been a cult figure in his native country for several decades, renowned for his bohemian lifestyle, adventurous and creative play, erratic results and brilliance at blitz. He came to the notice of a wider public recently when some of his games were featured in David Smerdon’s wonderful book The Complete Chess Swindler. Now we have a whole volume devoted to his life and games, written by two of his friends, Peter Boel, who was responsible for the biography, and Merijn van Delft, who provided the annotations.

Bosboom himself provides a foreword.

Meanwhile, I developed an affection for players like Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Tal and Leonid Stein. My games became wilder, often leaving the opponent wondering: was this move a blunder or a sacrifice?! I didn’t mind! From my many blitz games I learned that you just had to keep going, regardless of the situation. A diehard attitude, quick board view and deft movements earned me a reputation in blitz.

He concludes:

Follow your Heart and use your Mind. Play without Dogma!

You’re promised some entertaining games, then, and that’s exactly what you’ll get.

From the authors’ preface:

If Manuel Bosboom didn’t exist, he would have to be invented. His unique, fascinating personality is bound to enrapture every true chess fan.

…

The book features 66 amazing games, as well as a number of other striking fragments that have been gathered and annotated by Peter in the chapters ‘Swindles’ and ‘Curiouser’. And of course we couldn’t leave out a collection of 36 combinations that the reader can try his hand at solving, with three different levels of difficulty.

We mixed this explosive material into a heady cocktail that we hope will get you pleasantly tipsy, and no hangover!

Chess is an adventure with many beautiful vistas. The great appeal of Manuel Bosboom is that he shows us that you can do things differently – in chess as well as in life. This is a marvellous gift for which we will never be able to thank him enough.

Chapter 1 takes us to the 1999 Wijk aan Zee blitz tournament, and demonstrates the game in which Bosboom beat none other than Garry Kasparov.

We then take a chronological journey through our subject’s life. Bosboom, born in 1963, comes from a Jewish socialist working-class family – the name was originally Nussbaum – and his father, Adriaan, is a talented, but commercially unsuccessful, painter.

Chapters 2 and 3 take him through his childhood and career up to 1990. At this time he favoured openings such as the King’s Gambit, so you’ll see a lot of romantic chess in these games, with brilliantly creative attacking play alongside mutual blunders.

Bosboom is famous for his early attacks with his g- and h-pawns, which sometimes result in sparkling miniatures such as this game. (Click on any move and a pop-up board will magically appear.)

[pgn]

[Event “Bussum op”]
[Site “Bussum”]
[Date “1989.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Bosboom, Manuel”]
[Black “Rijnbergen, Michel”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B40”]
[WhiteElo “2375”]
[PlyCount “29”]
[EventDate “1989.??.??”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “5”]
[EventCountry “NED”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2002”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2001.11.25”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2001.11.25”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5.
Nbd2 Nge7 6. h4 h6 7. h5 Qc7 8. c3 Bd7 9. a3 dxe4 10. dxe4 O-O-O 11. Nc4 Be8
12. Bf4 e5 13. Nfxe5 Rxd1+ 14. Rxd1 b5 15. Nxc6 1-0

[/pgn]

Chapter 4, Manuel versus Computer, must be one of the shortest chapters ever to appear in a chess book. Just a four-move game. You’ll discover the reason later in the book.

Chapter 5 takes Bosboom through the 1990s, when he was perhaps, at the peak of his strength. He was now producing positional as well as tactical masterpieces.

I particularly enjoyed this game against Sofia Polgar.

[pgn]

[Event “Sportland NRW-Cup”]
[Site “Muenster”]
[Date “1993.??.??”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Bosboom, Manuel”]
[Black “Polgar, Sofia”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B51”]
[WhiteElo “2440”]
[BlackElo “2430”]
[PlyCount “55”]
[EventDate “1993.12.26”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “GER”]
[EventCategory “9”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 038 Extra”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1994.03.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1994.03.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4.
O-O a6 5. Bd3 Ngf6 6. c3 b5 7. Bc2 Bb7 8. Re1 c4 9. b3 Rc8 10. a4 cxb3 11. Bxb3
Nxe4 12. axb5 axb5 13. Ra7 Bc6 14. Nd4 Ne5 15. Nxc6 Nxc6 16. Qh5 d5 17. Bxd5
Nd6 18. Ra8 Qd7 19. Rxc8+ Qxc8 20. Ba3 b4 21. cxb4 Nd8 22. Bb3 N8b7 23. Nc3 Kd8
24. Bxf7 g6 25. Qd5 Bg7 26. Be6 Qc7 27. Nb5 Qb6 28. Rc1 1-0

[/pgn]

Chapter 6 again interrupts the narration, this time for a short collection of swindles. Then Chapter 7 takes Bosboom from 2001 through to 2006.

We don’t just get Manuel Bosboom’s wins: there are draws and losses as well, such as this extraordinary game, played in the Dutch League. Bosboom was, as he often is, broke at the time so couldn’t afford the bus to the tournament venue, only just managing to arrive before the default time.

[pgn]

[Event “NED-chT 0506”]
[Site “Netherlands”]
[Date “2005.11.05”]
[Round “3.9”]
[White “Bosboom, Manuel”]
[Black “Kuijf, Marinus”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “D30”]
[WhiteElo “2402”]
[BlackElo “2420”]
[PlyCount “64”]
[EventDate “2005.09.24”]
[EventType “team”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “NED”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2007”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2006.11.23”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2006.11.23”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “Homburg Apeldoorn”]
[BlackTeam “Breda Worx”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “NED”]
[BlackTeamCountry “NED”]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c6 4. Qc2 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6
Qxf6 7. a3 dxc4 8. Nbd2 b5 9. g4 Bb7 10. Rg1 c5 11. g5 hxg5 12. Rxg5 Nd7 13. a4
cxd4 14. axb5 c3 15. bxc3 dxc3 16. Ne4 Qf4 17. Ra4 Rc8 18. Nc5 Qc7 19. Nxb7
Qxb7 20. Bg2 Qc7 21. Ra6 Nb6 22. Ne5 Be7 23. Bc6+ Kf8 24. Nxf7 Bxg5 25. Nxg5
Qxh2 26. Nxe6+ Ke7 27. Rxa7+ Kxe6 28. Qg6+ Ke5 29. Re7+ Kd4 30. Qd3+ Kc5 31.
Qxc3+ Nc4 32. Rd7 Qh1+ 0-1

[/pgn]

Chapter 8 is the obligatory (for this publisher, it seems) Combinations chapter, and then Chapter 9 takes us up to the present day.

Finally, Chapter 10 is entitled ‘Curiouser’.

Here are some episodes from Manuel’s chess life that may be even curiouser than what you have seen so far. Since ‘correctness’ is not a very prevalent characteristic in this chapter, the comments have been done in a slightly more ‘enthusiastic’ style than elsewhere in this book!

[fen]6rk/1pr4p/3p2q1/1P2b3/7R/5RPQ/5PBK/8 w – – 0 35[/fen]

This is from Bosboom – Dvoirys (Leeuwarden 1997).

(Dvoirys) seemed to know nothing but chess in his life and would only mumble an unintelligible reply every time you asked him something.

The game concluded: 35. Rf5! Rf7 36. Be4! Rgg7 37. Rxe5

Dvoirys sat aghast, staring at the ruins of his position. Then he started fumbling with a big chocolate bar he had put beside the board, and suddenly squeezed it to pieces. These then fell out of his hands and onto the floor, and Bosboom watched in amazement how Dvoirys knelt down and started crawling around to collect all the pieces of chocolate.

It seems almost de rigueur these days that every chess book should include Hilarious Anecdotes, and this book, as you might expect, is no exception. They’re more likely to involve alcohol or marijuana (or marihuana, as preferred by the back cover) than chocolate, though.

For someone like me, who leads a very sober and boring life, and plays very sober and boring chess, it comes as quite a shock to meet someone like Manuel Bosboom who is, in both respects, my polar opposite. He is, I suppose very much a product of the Dutch counter-culture in that respect.

It’s again fascinating, from the UK perspective, to learn about the difference between Dutch and British chess culture. Here chess is seen very much as a game played either by small children in primary schools or by old men in draughty church halls, but in the Netherlands it seems very different. It’s also interesting to learn that Bosboom makes much of his meagre income from winning cash prizes in blitz tournaments: something almost unknown here, although it’s good to see that some enterprising organisers are now running blitz events with substantial cash prizes.

This book is well structured, well written (the English is not always entirely idiomatic, but no matter) and well produced. Merijn van Delft is rapidly earning a reputation as one of the best chess writers around and his annotations here are excellent, pitched at just the right level to be accessible to all readers.

The world needs eccentrics, and the chess world benefits enormously from the presence of the likes of Manuel Bosboom. Playing through his games – his fiascos as well as his successes – will, if you follow his example, add creativity and excitement to your chess. Whether it will also improve your rating is, I suppose, another matter entirely.

I really enjoyed this book in every respect. Bosboom’s life and games are both enormously entertaining and often wildly funny. The authors have done a fine and important job in bringing his colourful personality and chess moves to our attention.

This book, then, is very highly recommended for players of all strengths. Even if you’ve never heard of Manuel Bosboom, do yourself a favour and give it a try.

Richard James, Twickenham 6 January 2022

Book Details:

Softcover: 288 pages
Publisher: New In Chess (25 Oct 2021)
Language: English
ISBN-10:9056919814
ISBN-13:978-9056919818
Product Dimensions: ‎17.02 x 23.11 cm

Official web site of New in Chess

2021, Books, Gambit Publications Ltd., Puzzles, Reviews

600 Modern Chess Puzzles

December 28, 2021 John Upham Leave a comment

600 Modern Chess Puzzles : Martyn Kravtsiv

Blurb from the publisher:

“The easiest, quickest and most effective way to improve your overall game is to increase your tactical vision. Many good positions are lost because a key moment is passed by and a player misses the opportunity to win by a beautiful combination. This book is designed simply to help you improve your play by seeing tactics better.” – Martyn Kravtsiv

Written along similar lines to Gambit’s earlier Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book, this new work presents 600 puzzles, mostly from the last two years, that are chosen for instructive value and maximum training benefit. To ensure that few will be familiar to readers, Kravtsiv has deliberately chosen positions from obscure games or from analysis. If you find the right answers, it will be because you worked them out yourself!

The solutions feature plenty of verbal explanations of the key points, and cover most of the logical but incorrect answers. The book is completed with a set of ‘no clues’ tests, and an index of themes that will be useful to coaches and those looking to focus on specific aspects of tactics – or just seeking extra clues!”

From the rear cover:

“The author is an experienced grandmaster from Lviv, Ukraine. His tournament results include tied first places at Cappelle in 2012 and the 2015 Ukrainian Championship, as well as being blitz champion of the 2008 World Mind Sports Games (at age 17). He represented his country at the 2017 World Team Championship and was a coach for the team that won silver medals at the 2016 Olympiad.”

Gambit Publications have their own YouTube channel to promote and publicise their products. Here we have GM John Nunn introducing this book :

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffv964-Wl6M[/embedyt]

Before going further we suggest you make use of the Look Inside option. This will reveal the Table of Contents.

Also, you may download a pdf sample.

Just like “Snakes on a Plane” you might imagine, from the title, you know what this book is about without reading it: well let us see!

The first mystery to clear up is what does the author mean by “Puzzles”? Almost all 600 positions presented are taken from actual gameplay during 2018 and 2019 or from analysis derived from those games. Strangely, there is a tranche from 2012
mostly from the author’s own games.

If you do have a phobia of problems, fairies or endgame studies etc then have no fear here: there are none of these.

From the “Warming Up” Chapter we have position #36:

Theodor Kenneskog – Klavs Stabulnieks, 48th Rilton Cup, Stockholm, 2nd January 2019

[fen cal=Gd2c3]
8/5pk1/1r1p1pp1/4r3/P4R2/qPQR3P/6P1/7K b – – 0 1
[/fen]

Does Black have a way to get the upper hand?

*(We have added the previous move arrow and these are not shown in the book.)

71 warming up puzzles of multiple themes are followed by solutions with explanations which is the continuing pattern for each chapter.

Chapter 3 contains 29 forced mates and here is an example, #92:

Vahe Danielyan – Chinna Reddy Mehar, Novi Sad, 20th April 2019

[fen cal=Gg8f7]
2Q5/4qkp1/7p/3p4/1p1P2P1/p1nB1P2/5K1P/8 w – – 0 1
[/fen]

Can you see White’s mating idea?

Rather pleasing!

Chapter 3, Your Choice, asks the solver to select between two plausible options more reminiscent of one’s thinking in a practical game situation when the clock is ticking. Here is an example (#106):

Marc Narciso Dublan – Kratvtsiv, Olivier Gonzalez Memorial, Madrid, 8th September 2012

[fen cal=Ge1c1]
2r5/8/8/5k1P/K7/8/2p5/2R5 b – – 0 1
[/fen]

Choose between 74…Ke4 and 74…Kg5

Chapter 4 (“Getting Tricky”) ups the ante and the difficulty is raised followed by 58 endgame puzzles graded into four levels.

Here is example #283:

Anthony Fred Saidy – Thomas Kung, Bay Area Open, Burlingame, 3rd January 2019

[fen cal=Gh5h6]
8/8/4bpPK/8/4k2P/8/8/8 w – – 0 1
[/fen]

The game ended in a draw. Show how Black could have done better.

Tough Nuts is the title of Chapter 6 containing 43 challenging positions for example #313:

Jonathan Hawkins – Bogdan Lalic, Hastings 2018/19, 5th January 2019 (Analysis)

[fen]
5r1k/p4qbp/3Q2p1/2P5/4pP1P/4N1K1/Pr4P1/R6R b – – 0 1
[/fen]

Black has a beautiful path to victory. Can you find it?

Chapter 7 is a tougher version of Chapter 3.

In Part 2 the book changes tack slightly in that the clue or clues for each position are not present. You are placed in a much more game like situation thinking for yourself. The Part is broken down into sections of Not Too Hard, Tricky Tasks, Endgame Challenges and finally Chapter 11 entitled Nightmare! including #562 featuring Hastings once more:

Thomas Villiers – PU Midhun, 98th Hastings Masters, 4th January 2019

[fen cal=Gc7b7]
1r6/1k6/3p1p2/4pPp1/Bq2P1Pp/n2Q3P/P7/2R4K w – – 0 1
[/fen]

Unfortunately, White did not find the killer blow and went on to lose.

The exercises are followed by an Index of Themes which is a clever touch removing this “clue” from the position as posed.

As is to be expected from a Gambit publication the explanations are crystal clear and instructive and expertly translated and edited by Graham Burgess. Petra Nunn does an excellent job of typesetting.

To have found 600 instructive puzzles from 2018, 2019 and 2012 is a real achievement and then to organise them for a range of students makes this book both enjoyable and hard work!

The author has produced another reliable publication from the Gambit stable and we are sure he will be asked to produce another in due course. We particularly liked the puzzles that created a game-like feel to the task. Highly recommended.

John Upham, Cove, Hampshire, December 28th 2021

Book Details :

Hardcover :160 pages
Publisher:Gambit Publications Ltd (16 Sept. 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10:1911465473
ISBN-13:978-1911465478
Product Dimensions: 17.15 x 1.65 x 24.77 cm

Official web site of Gambit Publications Ltd.

2021, Biographies, Composer, Composition, History, Minor Pieces, Player, Problems, Richard James

Minor Pieces 23: Cecil Alfred Lucas Bull Part 2

December 23, 2021 Richard James Leave a comment

Last time we left Twickenham’s finest chess problemist, Cecil Alfred Lucas Bull, as he was about to emigrate to Durban in 1892.

Unfortunately, South African online records, both births, marriages and deaths, and newspaper archives, are few and far between, but we are able to provide a fairly comprehensive record of his chess career in the southern hemisphere, both as a player and as a problemist.

This problem, submitted to a London newspaper, dates from soon after his arrival in Durban.

[fen]n2K4/5b2/1p2p2n/1p4Br/4k3/1P3N2/4p1PP/2Q5 w – – 0 1[/fen]

Problem 1. Mate in 3: 1st prize winner Hackney Mercury 1894

And here, continuing where we left off last time, is FR Gittins again.

The Chess Bouquet Frederick Richard Gittins 1897

We know from some useful information on the Durban Chess Club website that he was one of the founders of the club and was Durban champion five times, in 1901, 1903, 1904, 1906 and 1911

Lucas Bull was one of the founders of the Durban Chess Club in 1893 and the first person to win the Durban championship on five occasions, running out the winner in 1901, 1903, 1904, 1906 and 1911. He also participated in the South African championships on three occasions, finishing 9th in 1897, 7th in 1899, and 2nd on his final appearance in 1906.

Lucas Bull was born in Twickenham (part of London) in 1869, and came from a very large family, consisting of five sons (he was the third son) and four daughters. His father, Thomas Bull, was a surveyor and auctioneer, and must have had a profitable business, as the Bull family employed four servants at the time (source: 1881 census).

Bull arrived in Durban in 1892 and apparently chose South Africa, rather than the United States, as they don’t play cricket in the USA! He was already the champion of the Twickenham Chess Club, and was starting to get an international reputation as a problemist. From the date of his arrival, up until the time that he discontinued serious over the board play in 1907, he was almost certainly the strongest player in Natal.

Source: Durban Chess Club website http://www.durbanchessclub.co.za/bull.html

Further information about his appearances in the South African Championships (1897: Cape Town, 1899 Durban, 1906 Cape Town) can be found on Rod Edwards’ indispensable EdoChess site.

Two games from the 1899 tournament, played in the shadow of the 2nd Boer War, are extant. Click on any move and a pop-up board will magically appear, enabling you to play through the games.

[pgn]

[Event “RSA-ch03”]
[Site “Durban”]
[Date “1899.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Bull, Cecil Alfred Lucas”]
[Black “Van Breda, P G.”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C65”]
[Annotator “Richard”]
[PlyCount “49”]
[EventDate “1899.??.??”]
[SourceVersionDate “2020.10.20”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O d6 5. d3 Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Be3 Bd7 8. Ba4
Qc8 9. Nbd2 Ng4 10. Bc2 f5 11. exf5 Bxf5 12. d4 Bxc2 13. Qxc2 Nxe3 14. fxe3 Qd7
15. Ne4 h6 16. Rad1 d5 17. dxe5 Nxe5 18. Nxe5 Rxf1+ $4 (18… Qe6 $11) 19. Rxf1
Qe6 20. Ng6 $1 dxe4 (20… Qxg6 21. Nf6+ Qxf6 22. Rxf6 Bxf6 23. Qb3 $18) 21.
Qb3 Qxb3 22. Nxe7+ Kh8 23. axb3 Rd8 24. h4 Rd2 25. h5 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]

[Event “RSA-ch03”]
[Site “Durban”]
[Date “1899.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Bock, A.”]
[Black “Bull, Cecil Alfred Lucas”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C50”]
[Annotator “Richard”]
[PlyCount “72”]
[EventDate “1899.??.??”]
[SourceVersionDate “2020.10.20”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O h6 7. h3 Ne7 8. Be3
Bb6 9. Ne2 Be6 10. Bb3 Qd7 11. Bxe6 Qxe6 12. c4 O-O 13. Ng3 Nd7 14. b4 f5 15.
Bxb6 axb6 16. Qe2 (16. exf5 Nxf5 17. a4 $11) 16… f4 17. Nh1 Rf6 18. Nh4 g5
19. Nf5 Nxf5 20. exf5 Rxf5 21. Qh5 (21. f3 $17) 21… Kg7 22. Rfe1 Raf8 23. d4
f3 24. d5 Qe7 25. Qg4 h5 26. Qe4 Rf4 27. Qe3 fxg2 28. Kxg2 h4 29. Re2 Qf6 30.
Rf1 e4 31. Qd2 Ne5 32. Qd4 Rg4+ $1 33. hxg4 h3+ 34. Kxh3 Rh8+ 35. Kg2 Qf3+ 36.
Kg1 Rxh1# 0-1

[/pgn]

The Bock game. which was awarded a brilliancy prize, was published, for example, in the Newcastle Courant (17 March 1900). The van Breda game comes, via South Africa chess historian Len Reitstein, from the Durban Chess Club website (link above).

His best result was his second place in 1906, giving him an estimated rating of 2130: a strong club player at the time he gave up serious over the board chess (the 1911 Durban championship must have been a very brief comeback). The winner in 1906, Bruno Edgar Siegheim (1875-1952) was born in Germany, played chess in New York (1899-1904), South Africa (1906-1912) and England (1921-1926) before returning to South Africa. His best result was finishing 2nd= with Réti at Hastings in 1923, just half a point behind the great Akiba Rubinstein, which suggests he was IM strength.

We know very little about his life outside chess. It seems like he had enough money not to work and was able to devote his time to his hobbies. I presume he continued to play cricket in Durban, although newspapers from that period aren’t available online. There’s no archival record of Cecil ever having played first-class cricket.

What we do have is a couple of passenger lists.

A 1903 passenger list for a ship sailing from London to Port Natal lists Mr C A Lucas Bull (35), Mrs Bull (32), Miss B Bull (3), Mr C Bull (28). This looks like Cecil and his family visiting England and returning with Clifford, who was going to live with them in Durban. Cecil appears to have a wife and young daughter, but we have no further information about them.

A 1909 passenger list, again from London to Natal, offers Cecil Slade (sic) Lucas Bull, Eunice Chillingworth Lucas Bull and Bessie Lucas Bull. I have no idea where the Slade came from but it looks like he was married to Eunice and Bessie was their daughter.

He was still composing prolifically: here’s one from 1912.

[fen]QK3N1n/1B1p4/1pN3p1/1p1k4/1B3p2/1P3P2/b7/7n w – – 0 1[/fen]

Problem 2. Mate in 3: 1st prize winner Saale-Zeitung 1912

Cecil Alfred Lucas Bull Durban 15 September 1913 Source, Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Here’s a photograph of him from 1913.

He continued composing successfully up until 1932, mixing heavyweight prizewinners with more lightweight offerings for the Natal Mercury. He died in Durban on 19 July 1935, at the age of 66.

[fen]8/6p1/6pp/Q6N/6k1/1rp5/2B3PP/n1n4K w – – 0 1[/fen]

Problem 3 is another first prizewinning mate in 3 from the latter stages of his career: British Chess Magazine 1931.

In 1960 Cecil’s friend and occasional collaborator Donald Glenoe McIntyre published Sonatas in Chess, a collection of 136 of his best threemovers (South African Chessplayer). This is a rare book and second hand copies go for high prices. I saw a copy for sale back in the 1980s but didn’t buy it – I really should have done.

https://www.biblio.com/book/sonatas-chess-d-g-mcintyre/d/1377097913#gallery-2

I occasionally publish his more accessible problems on the Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club website: see here and here.

At present I have no idea about what happened to Eunice and Bessie. I can find no information about anyone with the forenames Eunice Chillingworth, and the 1927 London marriage of Bessie L Bull to Robert Douglas King-Harman isn’t the same person.

There’s a prominent South African businesswoman named Wendy Lucas-Bull, who is married to Clive Lucas-Bull, and whose father-in-law is, or was, Leslie Arthur Lucas-Bull. Any connection? If you have any further information about Eunice, Bessie or any other relation do let me know.

Cecil Alfred Lucas Bull, chess champion of Twickenham and Durban, and multiple prizewinning problemist, this was your life.

Join me again soon for another delve into the Twickenham Chess Club menagerie.

Sources and acknowledgements:

ancestry.co.uk

findmypast.co.uk

Problems and solutions from Yet Another Chess Problem Database

EdoChess (Rod Edwards)

Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery

Durban Chess Club website

Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club website

Thanks to Dr Tim Harding for The Chess Bouquet by Frederick Richard Gittins

Problem solutions:

1.♕a1! ~ 2.♕e5+ ♔d3 3.♘e1# 1…♔d5 2.♕×a8+ 2…♔d6 3.♗e7# 2…♔c5 3.♗e7# (Model mate) 1…♔f5 2.♕b1+ ♔g4 3.♕e4# 1…♔d3 2.♕b1+ ♔c3 3.♗d2# (Model mate) 1…♖×g5 2.♕d4+ ♔f5 3.♘h4# (Model mate) 1…♘g4 2.♕d4+ ♔f5 3.♕d3# (Model mate)

Model mates were much valued at the time.

From Wikipedia:

A model mate is a type of pure mate checkmating position in chess in which not only is the checkmated king and all vacant squares in its field attacked only once, and squares in the king’s field occupied by friendly units are not also attacked by the mating side (unless such a unit is necessarily pinned to the king), but all units of the mating side (with the possible exception of the king and pawns) participate actively in forming the mating net.

♗c8! ~ 2.♗×d7 ~ 3.♗e6# 1…♗b1 2.♕a1 A ~ 3.♘e7# B 2…d×c6 3.♗e6# 2…♔×c6 3.♗b7# 3.♕a8# 1…♗×b3 2.♘e7+ B 2…♔e5 3.♕a1# A 2…♔d4 3.♕e4# 2…♔c4 3.♕e4# 1…d×c6 2.♕×c6+! 2…♔d4 3.♕e4# 2…♔×c6 3.♗b7# 2…♔e5 3.♕d6# 3.♗c3# 1…♘f7 2.♘×d7 ~ 3.♘×b6# 3.♘f6# 2…♔e6 3.♘d4#

Some more model mates here, as well as sacrifices and corner-to-corner queen moves, something of which Bull was very fond.

1.♕d8! ~ 2.h3+ ♔×h5 3.g4# 1…♖b4 2.♗×g6 ~ 3.h3# 1…♔×h5 2.♗d1+ ♘e2 3.♗×e2# 1…g5 2.♕d7+ 2…♔×h5 3.♕h3# 2…♔h4 3.♕h3# 2.♕c8+ 2…♔×h5 3.♕h3# 2…♔h4 3.♕h3# 1…g×h5 2.♕d4+ ♔g5 3.h4#

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