AOctober 14 1908
Birmingham Gazette, Birmingham, West Midlands, England, Wednesday, October 14, 1908
Joseph Henry Blackburne
That visit of Morphy to Europe, besides being a landmark in the history of the oldest of games, had far-reaching consequences. Far asunder, one in Manchester and one in Prague, two youths of genius pondered over that phenomenal progress. For the newspapers of the world were full of Morphy. Since his day blindfold chess has become common enough to be passed over without remark. Moreover, Morphy's feats have been completely surpassed in quantity, though not in quality. Louis Paulsen played ten games sans voir. Blackburne has played fifteen, Zukertort played 16; poor Pillsbury, whose early death all chess-players deplore, took the record to 22, the glory which began in America, returning there after many years. But though Morphy was surpassed in blindfold chess, the interest his brilliant coruscations aroused throughout the chess world, and the influence of his enormous celebrity, are with us still. To him we owe the greatest of all British players, alive or dead, Joseph Henry Blackburne, who played a strong team at the Midland Institute last evening. Born in 1862, Blackburne at 16 heard of Morphy, and at 18 was emulating his most famous deeds. That Blackburne was a born genius of phenomenal power his long and glorious career amply proves. No British player ever attained the world-wide fame of J. H. Blackburne. he has played in every country in Europe, to say nothing of Australia, America, Cuba and even in Africa, at Mogador. It was Blackburne who defeated the world in arms, Blackburne contra mundum, at Berlin, the very centre of the profoundest German chess science. For nearly 50 years Blackburne has been a great name, his games have been pondered amid Arctic snows and beneath the tropical sun, from one end of the planet to another, wherever chess is played. The great master who was entertaining the Birmingham Chess Club last evening, was accounted a great master before the majority of his opponents were born. Nay, in some cases, Blackburne might have claimed to have made a name for himself before their fathers had made a first appearance on the sphere. Blackburne then, was due to Morphy, so was Steinitz, for nearly thirty years world-champion. As far back as 1862 Blackburne and Steinitz were struggling for the mastery. It is a curious result of Morphy's visit to England, emphasized by his historic visit to Birmingham, that Blackburne should have been playing at the Midland Institute last evening. Blackburne's “bits of Morphy” have for nearly half-a-century been proverbial. There were “bits of Morphy” yesterday. All good chessists will hope that there may be many more. Blackburne is the last of the British paladins. There have been many chess-masters; only one Blackburne. And there is no sign of a successor.
