MARK RUBERY CHESS

Joseph Blackburne (1841-1924) was one of the top six players in the world for two decades. Initially he was an accomplished draughts player and it was only at the age of 18 that he learned the moves of chess. Taking lessons from Horwitz he quickly developed his skills particularly in the endgame phase and in 1869 when he won the British Championship he took the game up professionally. For more than 50 years he was to tour Great Britain giving simultaneous and blindfold displays and in the 1880s he arrived briefly in Port Elizabeth to give a 10 board blindfold simultaneous-an SA record that stands to this day (recently tied by American GM Wesley So). Nicknamed the Black Death he brightened up these normally solemn occasions by cracking jokes and drinking copious amounts of whiskey. A famous anecdote has him downing an opponent’s drink and then declaring ‘he left it en prise so I took it en passant!’ He was the winner of numerous international tournaments including Berlin 1881 when he outdistanced the field by three points but his style and temperament were not suited to match play and he was rarely successful against world-class players.

At the age of 58 Blackburne convincingly defeated the world champion.

Lasker,Emanuel - Blackburne,Joseph Henry [C62]