Harry Golombek

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Harry Golombek OBE (March 1, 1911–January 7, 1995), was a British chess International Master and honorary grandmaster, chess arbiter, and chess author.

He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955. He was the chess correspondent of The Times newspaper from 1945 to 1989. He was an official of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, and served as Arbiter for several important events, including the Candidates' Tournament of 1959 in Yugoslavia. He was also editor of some well-known collections of games such as Capablanca's and Réti's, and was a well respected author. He was editor of British Chess Magazine from 1938 to 1940, and its overseas editor throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Golombek also translated several chess books from Russian into English.

On the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Golombek was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, competing in the Chess Olympiad for Britain alongside C. H. O'D. Alexander and Stuart Milner-Barry.^[1] They immediately returned to the UK, and were soon recruited into Bletchley Park, the wartime codebreaking centre. Golombek worked in Hut 8,^[2] the section responsible for solving German Naval Enigma, moving to another section in October/November 1942.^[3] After the war he lived at 35 Albion Crescent Chalfont St Giles.

Golombek represented England nine times in chess Olympiads. He earned the title of International Master in 1950. He was the first British player to qualify for an Interzonal tournament.

Golombek studied philology at King's College London.^[4] He was appointed OBE in 1966, the first to be so honoured for services to chess.^[4]

[edit] References

^ Stuart Milner-Barry, "Hut 6: Early Days", p. 89 in F. H. Hinsley and Alan Stripp, eds. Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park, Oxford University Press, 1993
^ David Kahn, Seizing the Enigma, 1991, ISBN 0-395-42739-8, p. 139
^ Ralph Erskine, "Breaking German Naval Enigma", p. 186 in Action this Day, edited by Ralph Erskine and Michael Smith, 2001
^ ^a ^b British Society for the History of Mathematics Gazetteer