Joseph Henry Blackburne

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Joseph Henry Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne. "Black Death"
Full name Joseph Henry Blackburne
Country Flag of England England
Born 1842
Manchester,England
Died 1924 (Aged c. 82)

Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841–1924), nicknamed "Black Death", dominated the British chess world during the latter part of the 19th century. He learned the game at the relatively late age of 18 but quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years. At one point he was number two in the world with a string of tournament victories behind him but he really enjoyed popularising chess by giving simultaneous and blindfold displays around the country.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Joseph Henry Blackburne was born in Manchester in December 1841. His father was a temperance reformer who travelled all over Britain and Ireland, taking his son with him. Ironically Joseph Blackburne became famous for his heavy drinking of whisky while playing chess.[1][2]

He learned how to play draughts as a child but it was not until he heard about Paul Morphy's exploits around Europe that he switched to playing chess, at the age of 18-19. There are differing accounts of Blackburne actually started playing chess, although they that he took to the game extremely quickly :

  • Reuben Fine writes that at age 18 Blackburne played in one of Morphy's blindfold exhibitions, and within a month was himself playing blindfold against 10 opponents simultaneously.
  • In Bill Walls' account, Blackburne joined the Manchester Chess Club around 1860 and learned endgame theory from Bernhard Horwitz, who had been appointed the resident chess professional in 1857. Despite his late start Blackburne improved very quickly. For example in July 1861 he lost 5-0 in a match with Manchester's strongest player, Edward Pindar, but 3 months later Blackburne defeated Pindar (5 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss). In Wall's acoount Blackburne's introduction to blindfold chess was a little later and less spectacular: in November 1861 Louis Paulsen give a simultaneous blindfold exhibition in Manchester, beating Blackburne among others; Blackburne was soon playing chess blindfolded with 3 players simultaneously.[1]

[edit] Competitive chess

In 1862, less than 2 years after learning the moves, Blackburne entered the London International Tournament (the world's first chess round-robin or all-play-all tournament) in 1862 and defeated Wilhelm Steinitz in their individual game, although Blackburne finished in 9th place (last). Up to that point time-keeping was measured with hourglasses, and it was Blackburne who suggested chess clocks.[1] This trip cost Blackburne his job back in Manchester (accounts vary about what it was), and he became a professional chess-player.[1]

In the 1868-69 season he won the British championship by beating the current holder, Cecil Valentine De Vere, and he was therefore regarded as England's best player.[1] His first major international success was in a strong tournament at Baden-Baden in 1970, where he shared 3rd place with Gustav Neumann, behind Adolf Anderssen and Wilhelm Steinitz but ahead of Paulsen, De Vere, Simon Winawer, Samuel Rosenthal and Johannes von Minckwitz.[3]

For the next twenty years Blackburne was regularly in the top five of the world rankings from 1871 to 1889, although Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker and, during his brief prime, Johannes Zukertort were clearly better players; and he remained in the top 20 until 1902, when he was 61 years old.[4]

His best results were in international tournaments. Although tournaments were much less frequent then than they are now,[2] Blackburne played in nearly 1 strong tournament per year from 1870 to 1899; in particular he competed regularly in the German Chess Championship, which was an open tournament.[5] In the 1870s and 1880s he was almost always a high prize-winner. His best results were 1st equal with Steinitz at Vienna 1873, where the commentators nicknamed Blackburne "the Black Death" (Steinitz won the play-off);[1] 1st in London 1876 with a score of 10/11, ahead of Zukertort; and 1st in Berlin 1881, 3 points ahead of Zukertort. He also achieved 2nd place in: a strong mini-tournament in London 1872 ( behind Steinitz but ahead of Zukertort, George Alcock MacDonnell and De Vere; shared 2nd place at Hamburg 1885 (with Siegbert Tarrasch, James Mason, Berthold Englisch and Max Weiss; behind Isidor Gunsberg; ahead of George Henry Mackenzie and 5 others); shared 2nd place at Frankfurt 1887 (with Weiss; behind Mackenzie; ahead of Curt von Bardeleben, Tarrasch and several others).[5] His worst result from this 20-year period was 6th place in the 1882 Vienna "super-tournament", the one occasion on which all his major rivals placed ahead of him.[5]

In the mid to late 1890s Blackburne's was less successful in tournaments, but by this time he was competing against the next generation of players, Emanuel Lasker and Lasker's major rivals. Blackburne's worst results were 10th place at Hastings 1895 and 11th at Nuremberg 1896; but both of these tournaments included Lasker and most of the other top players of the new generation; and in both of these he finished ahead of several of the new stars and ahead of the few competing players of his own generation.[1][5]

Chessmetrics concludes that Blackburne's best performances, taking account of the strength of his opponents, were his 2nd places at Frankfurt 1887 (behind Mackenzie) and London 1892 (behind Emanuel Lasker). At London 1892 he finished only ½ point behind Emanuel Lasker and 2 points ahead of the 3rd player, Mason.[4]

Blackburne's match results look much less impressive. In particular he was twice thrashed by Steinitz, in 1862 (+1, -7, =2) and 1876 (+0, -7, =0); but in 1862 Blackburne had been playing chess for barely 2 years, and in 1876 Steinitz was playing at his life-time best and in the middle of a 24-game winning streak.[6] Emanuel Lasker annihilated Blackburne in 1892, but Lasker also beat Steinitz very decisively in their 1894 championship match. Blackburne was also comfortably beaten in 1881 by Zukertort (+2 =5 −7), who was in great form at the time;[7] and Zukertort's health and play were declining rapidly when Blackburne beat him in 1887 (+5-1=7).[8] On the other hand against Gunsberg Blackburne won his 1881 match (+7 -4 =3) and lost his 1887 match (+2, -5, =6); the 1887 match was Gunsberg's strongest performance,[9] and Gunsberg only narrowly lost a world title match against Steinitz in 1890 (+6=9-4).[5]

The 1876 match against Steinitz was held at the West-end Chess Club in London.[10] The stakes were £60 a side with the winner taking all. This was a considerable sum of money in Victorian times – £60 in 1876 would be roughly equivalent to £29,000 in 2006's money.[11] This was the first time that spectators were charged an entrance fee (half a guinea, = 52.5P in decimal terms) to see a chess match.[1]

[edit] Exhibitions and other games

After losing his job and discovering that he had a special aptitude for blindfold chess, in Blackburne began give blindfold and simultaneous exhibitions all over Britain, [1] and for most of his career made most of his income from these exhibitions, including blindfold displays against up to sixteen opponents simultaneously.[12] He even travelled to Australia and New Zealand in 1885 to give exhibitions.[1]

The Teesside Chess Association (formed in 1883; now called the Cleveland Chess Association) invited world-class players to give exhibitions, in order to raise money for the Association. Blackburne's fee for two simultaneous displays and a blindfold event in 1889 was 9 guineas (about £4,600 at 2006 values[13]). Players paid the club 1/- (5P in decimal terms) for a simultaneous game or 2/6d (12.5P in decimal) to play him blindfold. In the simultaneous games he won 29, drew 2 and lost only 1; in the blindfold he won 7 and drew 1 with no losses.[14]

In addition he played top board for the British team in 11 of the Anglo-American cable matches which commenced in 1896 and in the first six matches he recorded a score of 3½-2½ against the top American, Harry Pillsbury.

It is estimated that Blackburne played 100,000 games in his career, more than any other professional chess-player.[1]

However he still had time to marry twice and with his second wife, Mary Fox, he had a son, Julius.[15]

The dubious chess opening the Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4?!) has been named for Blackburne because he purportedly used it to win quickly against amateurs, thus winning the shilling wagered on the game. Chess historian Bill Wall questioned this story because he could find no record of any games Blackburne played with this opening. The opening is mentioned by Steinitz in his book The Modern Chess Instructor (1889).[16]

[edit] Hard drinking

Blackburne's fondness for drinking whisky at the board once led him to down an opponent's glass. Shortly afterwards, the opponent resigned, leading him to quip, "My opponent left a glass of whisky en prise and I took it en passant". In an interview with a liquor industry publication, Blackburne once claimed that drinking whisky cleared his brain and improved his chessplay.[12]

There is even a story that part of the prize fund at Hastings 1895 was paid in advance, and for Blackburne the "currency" was a case of Scotch. Mr. Blackburne finished the case of Scotch during the first six rounds of play at which point his game fell off.

During a simultaneous exhibition at Cambridge University, the students thought they would gain an advantage by placing 2 bottles of whisky near the boards. Blackburne won all his games very quickly and finished off both bottles of whisky before the exhibition was over.[1]

Blackburne could become violent when drunk - in 1889 Steinitz claimed that Blackburne has assaulted him in London (1867) and a few years later in Paris, and that Blackburne had also assaulted 3 other men, one even smaller than Steinitz.[17][18]

[edit] Writings

In 1889 he published Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess, edited by P. Anderson Graham.[1][19]

For many years Blackburne was a chess correspondent for The Field, the UK's leading sports journal, and held that position until his death.

[edit] Final years

In 1914, at the age of 72, Blackburne defeated Aron Nimzowitsch at St. Petersburg in 1914, but failed to qualify for the final stage. That same year he tied for first place in the British championship with Frederick Yates, but ill health prevented him from contesting the play-off for the title. This was Blackburne's last major tournament. However in 1921 Blackburne was still giving simultaneous exhibitions.[1]

In 1922 his wife died. Blackburne died of a heart attack on September 1, 1924 at the age of 82.[1]

[edit] Legacy

Joseph Henry Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne

Joseph Henry Blackburne is an icon of Romantic chess because of his wide open and highly tactical style of play. His large black beard together with his aggressive attacking style earned him the nickname of 'der Schwarze Tod' (the Black Death, referencing the plague of the same name) after his performance in the 1873 Vienna tournament. In 1881, according to one retroactive rating calculation (see www.chessmetrics.com), he was the second highest-ranked player in the world. He was especially strong at endgames and had a great combinative ability which enabled him to win many brilliancy prizes but he will be best remembered for his popular simultaneous and lightning displays which captured the imagination of the general public who flocked to watch him.

Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess, which he published in 1899, has been recently reprinted by Moravian Chess. It contains over 400 of his games, around 20 problems composed by him, and a short biography.

[edit] Tournament results

Sources:[1][3][5][20]

Date Location Place Notes
1862 London International Tournament 9= Adolf Anderssen won; Blackburne shared last place.
1867 Dundee International Tournament 5 Behind Gustav Neumann, Wilhelm Steinitz, George Alcock MacDonnell and Cecil Valentine De Vere
1869 2nd British Chess Championship 1 Beat De Vere in the final.
1870 Baden-Baden 3= Tied with Neumann; behind Adolf Anderssen and Steinitz; but ahead of Louis Paulsen, De Vere, Szymon Winawer, Samuel Rosenthal and Johannes von Minckwitz
1872 London 2 Behind Steinitz; ahead of Zukertort, MacDonnell and De Vere
1873 Vienna 1= Tied with Steinitz, who won both games of the playoff match
This is where Blackburne was nicknamed "the Black Death".
1876 London 1 Ahead of Johannes Zukertort; Blackburne scored 10/11; this was just a month after Steinitz had whitewashed Blackburne 7-0 in a match.
1878 Paris 3 Behind Winawer and Zukertort
1880 Berlin 1= Tied with Berthold Englisch and Adolf Schwarz
1881 Berlin 1 3 points ahead of Zukertort (2nd)
1882 Vienna 6 Behind Steinitz, Winawer, James Mason, Zukertort and George Henry Mackenzie
1883 London 3 Behind Zukertort and Steinitz; ahead of Mikhail Chigorin, Englisch , Mackenzie, Mason, Rosenthal, Winawer and Henry Edward Bird
1885 Hamburg 2= With Siegbert Tarrasch, Mason, Englisch and Max Weiss; behind Isidor Gunsberg; ahead of Mackenzie and 5 others.
1887 Frankfurt 2= With Weiss; behind Mackenzie; ahead of Curt von Bardeleben, Tarrasch and several others; Zukertort could only finish 14=.
1889 Breslau  ?? Won by Tarrasch. Other competitors were Schallop, Mason, Amos Burn, Jacques Mieses and Gunsberg.
1889 New York 4 Behind Chigorin, Weiss and Gunsberg; ahead of Burn and 15 others. This tournament was extremely strong, as it was designed to select a challenger for Steinitz' title.[21]
1890 Manchester 2 Behind Tarrasch; ahead of Mackenzie, Bird and Mason
1892 Belfast International Tournament 1= equal first with James Mason
1894 Leipzig 4 Behind Tarrasch, Paul Lipke and Richard Teichmann; ahead of Carl August Walbrodt, Dawid Janowski, Georg Marco, Mieses and Carl Schlechter
1895 Hastings 10 Behind Harry Nelson Pillsbury, Chigorin, Emanuel Lasker, Tarrasch, Steinitz, Emanuel Schiffers, von Bardeleben, Teichmann and Schlechter; ahead of Walbrodt, Burn, Janowsky, Mason, Bird, Gunsberg, Adolf Albin, Marco, William Pollock, Mieses, Samuel Tinsley and Beniamino Vergani.
1896 Nuremberg 11 Behind Emanuel Lasker, Geza Maroczy, Pillsbury, Tarrasch, Janowski, Steinitz, Walbrodt, Schiffers and Chigorin; ahead of Rudolf Charousek, Marco, Albin, Winawer, Jackson Showalter, Moritz Porges, Schallopp and Teichmann.
1897 Berlin  ?? Won by Charousek; other competitors were Janowski, Schlechter, Chigorin and Walbrodt.
1898 Vienna 11 Behind Tarrasch, Pillsbury, Janowski, Steinitz, Schlechter, Chigorin, Burn, Lipke, Maroczy and Simon Alapin; ahead of Schiffers, Marco, Showalter, Walbrodt, Halprin, Horatio Caro, Baird and Trenchard.
1899 London 6 Behind Emanuel Lasker, Janowsky, Maroczy, Pillsbury and Schlechter; ahead of Chigorin, Showalter, Mason, W.Cohn, Steinitz, Lee, Bird, Tinsley and Teichmann (who withdrew after 4 games due to illness). Blackburne, playing with the Black pieces, beat Lasker; this was the first time a British player had defeated a reigning world chess champion.
1904 Hastings (British Championship) 3  
1907 (British Championship) 2=  
1910 (British Championship) 2=  
1913 (British Championship) 3  
1914 St. Petersburg --- Blackburne did not qualify for the 5-player final stage, in which the placings were: 1 Emanuel Lasker; 2 Jose Raul Capablanca; 3 Alexander Alekhine; 4 Tarrasch  ; 5 Frank James Marshall.
1914 (British Championship) 1= Tied with Frederick Yates; this was Blackburne's last international tournament; he was 72.

[edit] Match results

Here are Blackburne's results in matches:[1][5][9]

  • Under Score, + games won, = games drawn, − games lost
Date Opponent Result Location Score Notes

1862-3 Dec.-Jan. London, Steinitz-Blackburne +7 =2 -1
1862-63 Wilhelm Steinitz Lost London 2/10 +1=2-7 Only 2 years after Blackburne started playing chess.
1876 Wilhelm Steinitz Lost London 0/7 +0=0-7  
1881 Johannes Zukertort Lost London 4½/14 +2=5−7  
1881 Isidor Gunsberg Won Düsseldorf 8½/14 +7-4=3  
1887 Zukertort Won London 9½/5½ +5-1=7 Zukertort's health and play declined rapidly after he lost the 1886 World Championship match to Steinitz.
1887 Gunsberg Lost Düsseldorf ½/5 +0=1−4 In 1890 Gunsberg gave Steinitz a good fight in a world title match (Steinitz won by +6=9-4).
1891 Celso Golmayo Zúpide Won Havana 6/10 +5=2−3  
1891 Vasquez Won Havana 5½/6 +5=1−0  
1892 Emanuel Lasker Lost  ?? 2/10 +0-6=4  
1895 Curt von Bardeleben Drew London 4½/9 +3=3−3  

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Joseph Henry Blackburne, by Bill Wall.
  2. ^ a b Fine, R. (1952). The World's Great Chess Games. Andre Deutsch (now as paperback from Dover). 
  3. ^ a b Baden-Baden 1870.
  4. ^ a b Chessmetrics Player Profile: Joseph Blackburne.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Major Chess Matches and Tournaments of the 19th century.
  6. ^ Chessmetrics Player Profile: Wilhelm Steinitz.
  7. ^ Chessmetrics Player Profile: Johannes Zukertort.
  8. ^ Johannes Zukertort by Bill Wall.
  9. ^ a b Chessmetrics Player Profile: Isidor Gunsberg.
  10. ^ The development of London chess clubs is described at Charles Dickens, Jr (1879). Dickens's Dictionary of London, by Charles Dickens, Jr., 1879 - CHA-CHR.
  11. ^ This is as a percentage of average earnings, which are the best measure for the results of several days' hard work. If we use average prices as the conversion factor, the 2006 value is about £3,900 - Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.K. Pound Amount, 1830 - 2006: 2006 equivalent of £60 guineas in 1876.
  12. ^ a b Harold C. Schoenberg, Grandmasters of Chess, W.W. Norton & Co., New York, Rev. Ed. 1981, p. 67.
  13. ^ Conversion based on average incomes: Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.K. Pound Amount, 1830 - 2006: 2006 equivalent of 9 guineas in 1889.
  14. ^ History of the CCA.
  15. ^ Relatives and Spouses of Chess Masters, by Bill Wall.
  16. ^ Blackburne Shilling Gambit (2005).
  17. ^ "(unknown)" (Nov. 1889). International Chess Magazine. 
  18. ^ Winter, E.. Chess with Violence.
  19. ^ Available as an e-book; not specified whether it has been translated to algebraic chess notation: Mr. Blackburne’s Games at Chess.
  20. ^ St. Petersburg 1909 and 1914.
  21. ^ New York 1889 and 1924.

[edit] External links