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Joseph Henry
Blackburne gave displays of one sort or another in Sheffield, at the
invitation of the Sheffield Athenaeum Chess Club, on Wednesday and Thursday,
24/01/1883 and 25/01/1883. This was described in a report which
followed H. E. Bird’s syndicated chess column in the Sheffield &
Rotherham Independent of 27/01/1883, and was possibly penned by Dr. Joseph Law. The mildly
humorous feature of the report is that it used “James” as
Blackburne’s forename, rather than “Joseph”. In the
following directly quoted text, therefore, one should read “Joseph
Blackburne” for “James Blackburne”.
The article
described the events of Wednesday 24/01/1883 as follows (broken into
paragraphs by the present writer):
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MR. JAMES [sic] BLACKBURNE AT THE
ATHENAEUM
Mr. James
[sic] Blackburne, the celebrated professional chess player, gave a
remarkable exhibition of his skill on Wednesday at the Athenaeum. Mr.
Blackburne was visiting Sheffield upon the invitation of the Athenaeum
Chess Club, and at night he played 15 simultaneous games, the players being
amongst the strongest the club could bring against him. The play was
watched by many spectators, amongst whom were several representatives of
clubs in neighbouring towns.
His opponents
were Messrs. Wm. Cockayne, Jun.; Henry Davy, G. A. Askham, F. E. Foster, J.
W. Barber, W. H. Camm, G. B. Cocking, J. H. Hunter, Henry Mercer, William
Allott, T. Marshall, W. H. Stacey, Marriott Oakes, the Rev. T. Smith, and
Mr. T. S. Algar. Of several of these Mr. Blackburne made short
work. The Rev. T. Smith was the first to succumb, Mr. Blackburne
mating him at the sixth or seventh move. Mr. Allott was soon
afterwards beaten, and resignations by his opponents or mates by Mr.
Blackburne quickly followed.
The strongest
players were Mr. W. Cockayne, Jun., Mr. Henry Davy and Mr. G. A.
Askham. Mr. Davy was at length obliged to yield to the superior play
of Mr. Blackburne, but the latter found two redoubtable foes in Mr.
Cockayne and Mr. Askham. Mr. Cockayne’s game was a brilliant
one. It was opened by a powerful attack on the part of Mr. Blackburn,
met, however, by a counter attack equally as powerful from Mr.
Cockayne. In the end this proved irresistible, and, in spite of the
most careful play on Mr. Blackburne’s part, he was compelled at
length to surrender. Mr. Askham, who is one of the most promising
members of the club, showed the strength of his play by securing a drawn
game. Mr. Marshall and Mr. Cocking were the last to succumb.
Mr. Blackburne thus won all games except two, his only successful opponent
being Mr. Cockayne.
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The details of
this initial display were thus as follows:
The Independent
article continued:
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As the
contest was over much sooner than had been anticipated, Mr. Blackburne expressed
a willingness to play eight more simultaneous games. An opportunity
was thus afforded the visitors to try their strength, and it was taken
advantage of by Mr. E. Barraclough, president of the Arundel Chess Club;
Mr. J. D. Chambers, Glasgow; Mr. Charles Sackville, secretary of the
Penistone Chess Club; Mr. W. A. Dyson, one of its members. The other
four players Mr. Zimmerman, the Rev. T. Smith, Mr. G. A. Askham, and Mr. F.
E. Foster. Mr. Blackburne scored a victory over all his opponents
with the exception of Mr. Askham, who played a really splendid game, fought
out to the very end, and then resulting in a win for the latter. Mr.
F. E. Foster and Mr. Barraclough played strongly.
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The details of
this second display were thus as follows:
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Player
(as reported) and club
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Result
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Full Name
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E. Barraclough
(Arundel)
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loss
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J. D. Chambers
(Glasgow)
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loss
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Charles Sackville (Penistone)
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loss
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Charles
Sackville
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W. A. Dyson
(Penistone)
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loss
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(William R.
Dyson ?)
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Zimmerman
(Athenaeum)
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loss
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Julius Hermann
Zimmermann
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Rev. T. Smith
(Athenaeum)
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loss
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Rev. Thomas
Smith
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G. A. Askham
(Athenaeum)
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win
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George Albert Roberts Askham
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F. E. Foster
(Athenaeum)
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loss
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Frederick Edward Foster
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George Askham must
have gone home content, as he’d scored a win and a draw against the
great Joseph Henry Blackburne.
The Independent
article then went on to describe a 10-board blindfold simultaneous given by
Blackburne the following day, Thursday, 25/01/1883, from 6.00 pm to 11.00
p.m. With the notable exception of George A. Askham, who arrived too
late for the start, the Sheffield Athenaeum Chess Club once again put up the
best players it could muster to oppose Blackburne. There was a
description of the progress in the games, as for the previous
day’s play. At 11.10 Blackburne offered draws to the three
players still playing, namely Messrs. Shuttleworth, Foster and Hunter.
These offers were agreed, though afterwards Blackburne generously said Hunter
would probably have won had they played on. Results were as follows:
All ten players
are familiar as Athenaeum players except Rev. R. J. C. Orde, of Castleton,
Derbyshire, who had been curate in charge at Castleton since 1880 (according
to Venn, but since 1870 according to White).
A game from the
Thursday-night blindfold simultaneous display, given in the Sheffield
& Rotherham Independent Weekly Supplement of 17/02/1883:
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Blackburne
Blindfold Simul, 25/01/1883
Sheffield
Athenaeum Club, Sheffield
White: Joseph
Henry Blackburne,
Black: Frederick
Edward Foster;
1. e4 e5 2. d4
exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. O-O Na5 7. Bd3 c6 8. Nxc3 d6 9.
Re1 Ng4 10. e5 dxe5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Rxe5+ Be7 13. Bg5 Be6 14. Bxe7 Kxe7
15. Qe2 b5 16. Bf5 Re8 17. Rd1 Qc7 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Rxe6+ Kf8 20. Qf3+ Qf7
21. Re3 Qxf3 22. Rxf3+ Kg8 23. b3 Rad8 24. Rxd8 Rxd8 25. Kf1 a6 26. Ke2 c5
27. Ne4 c4 28. Nc5 Rd6 29. Re3 cxb3 30. axb3 Nc6 31. Rd3 Rxd3 32. Kxd3 a5
A draw offered
by White and was accepted: ½-½
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