Joseph Blackburne
Notable Games

Joseph Blackburne

15 celebrated games · 488 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 488 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1862.08.02 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsAnderssen, Adolf 1-0 King's Gambit Accepted: Muzio Gambit Accepted, From's Defense 24 moves British CA-05 Casual Games London 1862, and Blackburne — twenty years old, self-taught, barely two years at the board — plays a Muzio Gambit against Adolf Anderssen, the strongest player in the world. He gives the knight on move five and never looks back: 19.Rxf6, 20.Rh6, then 21.Rxh7+ Kg8 22.Rxg7+ Kxg7 23.Qh6+ Kg8 24.Bf6, both rooks sacrificed and Anderssen mated in the middle of the board.
  • 1863 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsSteinitz, William 1-0 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Mortimer-Evans Gambit 28 moves London Casual Games London 1863, an Evans Gambit against Wilhelm Steinitz — the future first World Champion, then a young Bohemian newly arrived in England. Blackburne plays 12.Bxf7+ Kf8 13.Qc2 Kxf7 and hunts the king for the rest of the game, finishing 27.Qg3 Qd7 28.Nh5.
  • 1868.11 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsBird, Henry Edward 1-0 French Defense: Classical Variation, Swiss Variation 40 moves British CA Challenge Cup-02 British Chess Association Challenge Cup 1868 against Henry Bird, his lifelong sparring partner — they met more often than any other pair in this archive. Rare among master games, this one ends in mate on the board: 39.Be5 Qh6 40.Qxf7#.
  • 1873.07.24 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsSteinitz, William 1-0 Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense 27 moves Wien International-01 Vienna 1873, the tournament where Blackburne and Steinitz finished level at the top. This is Blackburne's win from the event proper: he throws the h-pawn forward with 14.h4 and 16.h5, opens the file with 17.hxg6 fxg6, breaks with 18.e5 and 19.Nd5, and lands 24.Rh7+.
  • 1873.08.16 Anderssen, Adolf vsBlackburne, Joseph Henry 0-1 Ruy Lopez: Bird Variation 31 moves Wien International-01 Vienna 1873, Anderssen again — eleven years after their first meeting, and this time Blackburne wins with Black. He plants a knight on e3 with 16...Ne3, and when Anderssen takes it the recaptured pawn on e3 becomes a passed pawn that reaches d2 by move twenty-seven and decides the game.
  • 1880.07.04 Winawer, Szymon vsBlackburne, Joseph Henry 0-1 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack 19 moves Wiesbaden Wiesbaden 1880 — nineteen moves with Black against Szymon Winawer, one of the strongest players on the continent. A Petrov, no fireworks, and Winawer's position simply collapses under the pressure of 15...Ne5 and 16...Rxe5.
  • 1881.09.10 Zukertort, Johannes Hermann vsBlackburne, Joseph Henry 0-1 English Opening: Agincourt Defense 54 moves DSB Kongress-02 Meisterturnier Berlin 1881 — the greatest tournament victory of Blackburne's life, won ahead of a field that included Zukertort, Chigorin, Winawer and both Paulsens. This is the individual win over Johannes Zukertort from that event, a fifty-four-move endgame in which Blackburne walks his king from g6 to g3 to escort the f-pawn home.
  • 1882.06.12 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsChigorin, Mikhail Ivanovich 1-0 Scotch Game: Classical Variation, Blackburne Attack 33 moves Wien International-02 25years WienerSK Vienna 1882 against Mikhail Chigorin, and the record names the line the Scotch Game, Classical Variation, Blackburne Attack — his own. Chigorin takes on g4 and grabs a pawn on d4, and Blackburne answers with 25.e6, 26.Bc3, 27.Bxd4 and finally 33.Be8+.
  • 1887.10.06 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsGunsberg, Isidor 1-0 Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Wormald Attack 11 moves Match Gunsberg-Blackburne +5-2=6 Eleven moves — the shortest win in the archive, from an 1887 match against Isidor Gunsberg, who would go on to contest a World Championship match with Steinitz. A Ruy Lopez with the early 4.Qe2, and after 10.Bb3 the queen sortie 10...Qe4 loses on the spot to 11.Qxe4.
  • 1895 Lasker, Emanuel vsBlackburne, Joseph Henry 0-1 Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense 44 moves Hastings International Masters Hastings 1895, one of the strongest tournaments ever assembled, and Blackburne — at fifty-three, playing Black — beats the reigning World Champion Emanuel Lasker. The finish is exact: 38...Qf6, 40...e4, 41.Rxh3 Qa1+ and the checks run out at 44...Qxd5+.
  • 1899.06.13 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsPillsbury, Harry Nelson 1-0 Queen's Pawn Game: Colle System 53 moves London International London 1899 against Harry Nelson Pillsbury, the American who had won Hastings 1895 outright. Blackburne takes the White side of a quiet queen's-pawn opening and wins a fifty-three-move struggle — the positional side of a player better remembered for sacrifices.
  • 1899.06.03 Lasker, Emanuel vsBlackburne, Joseph Henry 0-1 Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense 46 moves London International London 1899, ten days earlier, and the second time Blackburne beat Lasker while Lasker held the world title. He is fifty-seven here. The combination is 31...Rh1+ 32.Kxh1 Bxg3 33.Nxg3 Nf2+ 34.Kg1 Nxd1 — rook and bishop given up to win the queen — and the rest is technique.
  • 1914.05.02 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsNimzowitsch, Aron 1-0 Van't Kruijs Opening 42 moves St Petersburg International Preliminary St Petersburg 1914, the last great tournament of the pre-war era, and Blackburne is seventy-two. He opens 1.e3, gives Aron Nimzowitsch the whole centre, and then breaks it apart with 25.g5, 26.Nxf6 and 39.g6 hxg6 40.Rxg6. The game won him a special prize — more than fifty years after he first beat Anderssen.
  • 1881.09.16 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsSchwarz, Jacques 1-0 French Defense: Classical Variation, Delayed Exchange Variation 27 moves DSB Kongress-02 Meisterturnier Berlin 1881 — a 27-move win with White against Jacques Schwarz. Selected in Savielly Tartakower and Julius du Mont, 500 Master Games of Chess, game 241 (PDF page 172).
  • 1907.08.13 Blackburne, Joseph Henry vsWard, William 1-0 Scotch Game: Blumenfeld Attack 23 moves British CF-04 Championship London/Crystal Palace 1907 — a 23-move win with White against William Ward. Selected in Savielly Tartakower and Julius du Mont, 500 Master Games of Chess, game 125 (PDF page 97).
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