Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841 - 1924), ‘The Black Death’ as he was popularly known, was an extroverted man with an adventurous spirit. He is worth mentioning among the former greats of chess because he contested some serious games with grandmasters right up to the level of the world champion.

Former New York Times chess columnist Harold C Shonberg once wrote, “Blackburne brought something new and breezy to English chess.” Blackburne was the winner of Berlin 1881 coming ahead of such giants as Szymon Winawer , Louis Paulsen, Johannes Zukertort and Mikhail Chigorin. He was a complete chess professional, playing everyone without scruples. In 1899, he estimated he had played at least 50,000 games, and his career still had 15 years to go.

Blackburne was an extraordinary blindfolded chess player. He is on record as playing a total of 16 chess boards simultaneously. Of course that figure has already been surpassed by others, but I still consider Blackburne a great blindfold player. In blindfold chess, one player does not have sight of the board(s). The player may be backing the other contestants or may be in another room. Moves are relayed and the player responds. According to the history books, as early as 1226 there was blindfolded play. I witnessed two blindfolded sessions in Guyana, one between Maurice Broomes and Edward Greenman and the other between Broomes and two others.

Blackburne arrived at a time when chess was played in a formal setting. He, however, joked with his opponents much to his joy. He wore ordinary clothing in recognition of the ordinary man. He liked his glass and never made a secret of his drinking. One chess writer noted that Blackburne “could drink like a sailor on leave after three years at sea.” Blackburne gave an interview at the turn of the 20th century and said in part: “I find that whisky is a most useful stimulus to mental activity, especially when one is engaged in a stiff and prolonged struggle”. ‘The Black Death’ was an enormous talent.