Joseph Henry Blackburne
A Chess Biography
Format:Hardback
Publisher:McFarland & Co Inc
Published:30th Aug '15
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
During a career spanning more than 50 years, J. H. Blackburne (1841-1924) won the British Chess Championship and several international tournaments, at his peak becoming one of the world's top three chess masters. A professional player who derived his livelihood from annual tours of chess clubs in England and other countries, entertaining and teaching amateur players, he astonished his contemporaries by the ease with which he played the game without sight of the chessboard. At 21, he set a world record for such exhibitions, competing against 12 club players simultaneously, and he continued to perform “blindfold” into his sixties.
This first comprehensive biography of Britain's greatest chess player of the early 20th century presents more than 1,000 of Blackburne's games chronologically, including all his surviving games from serious competition, annotated in varying detail. Many are masterpieces containing beautiful combinations and instructive endgame play. Blackburne's unusual family and social background are fully explored.
"A monumental new book by chess scholar Tim Harding represents a colossal contribution to chess literature. Harding has not just provided a full biography with many games, he has also done far more than simply reproduce 19th century commentary....no chess library which aspires to the name can afford to be without this book." - The Spectator, 10th October 2015
"Harding's biography is a breathtaking and carefully researched masterpiece, full of information about one of the great English players. It is also a portrait of the old Europe that vanished in the upheavals of WWI." -- André Schulz, ChessBase.com
"A monument in the history of chess-books." - Bab en Truus Wilders, Nederlands Dagblad
"In his introduction, T. Harding, as a true historian, thoroughly analyses the current state of research into JHB’s legacy.
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This (hopefully) exhaustive list illustrates the extraordinary depth of Harding’s historical research, on which he must have spent hundreds or possibly even thousands of hours in a wide range of books and other sources. Hats off to Harding here!
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In closing, we can say that this is a unique book on the life of one of the greatest English chess masters. Harding has tracked down hundreds of unknown Blackburne games (1,184 in total), many of which are appearing in print for the first time, and without his efforts these games would have remained lost in old chess columns and magazines for another hundred 580 years or more. Even so, Harding did not content himself with merely providing analysis of Blackburne’s chess activities and the accumulation of his serious tournament and match games, but in the introductory and following chapters presents hitherto unknown information on his youth, family and personal life, which paints a colourful picture of this renowned British chess master.
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We can heartily recommend this book to all lovers of chess history and believe it belongs on the bookshelf of any serious chess collection. Harding’s book ranks among the best chess biographies from the McFarland and Co. publishing house that have been published in the previous decades." - Quarterly for Chess History, Vol. 18
ISBN: 9780786474738
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 1617g
592 pages