Joseph Henry Blackburne was the leading British tournament player towards the end of the 19th century. It could be said that he challenged Steinitz for world matchplay supremacy, though he could not hold his own with the great Austrian strategist.
A monumental new book by chess scholar Tim Harding represents a huge contribution to chess literature. Harding has produced a full biography with many games, and has done far more than just reproduce 19th-century commentary. In this week’s game he pinpoints a critical fulcrum, missed by previous commentators, where Blackburne could have seized the advantage. If I have one regret about this splendid volume, it is the near absence of complete crosstables of Blackburne’s superlative tournament performances, such as his astounding first prize at Berlin in 1881. Despite this, no good chess library can afford to be without this book.
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