page_title: Joseph Henry Blackburne
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Joseph Henry Blackburne / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Reproduced from Edward Winter's Chess Notes - http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/1924.html Public Domain by age.
context_page_description: Joseph Henry Blackburne was a British chess player. Nicknamed "The Black Death", he dominated the British scene during the latter part of the 19th century. Blackburne learned the game at the relatively late age of 17 or 18, but he quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years. At one point he was one of the world's leading players, with a string of tournament victories behind him, and popularised chess by giving simultaneous and blindfold displays around the country. Blackburne also published a collection of his own games.
context_section_description: Blackburne is an icon of Romantic chess because of his wide open and highly tactical style of play. His large black beard and aggressive style earned him the nickname of "der Schwarze Tod" ("the Black Death", based on the plague of the same name) after his performance in the 1873 Vienna tournament. According to Chessmetrics, he was ranked second in the world at various times between 1873 and 1889. He was especially strong at endgames and had a great combinative ability which enabled him to win many brilliancy prizes. He was also widely known for his popular simultaneous and blindfold displays.
  Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess, which he published in 1899, has been recently reprinted by Moravian Chess. It contains over 400 of his games, around 20 problems composed by him, and a short biography.
  A new book about him was published by McFarland in August 2015. It contains over a thousand of his games and more than 50 problems with a detailed account of his life, family, and career.
caption: Blackburne, about 1890
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