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Hugh Francis Blandford (24 January 1917 – 20 September 1981) was a chess endgame composer born in Southampton, England.[1]
| Hugh Blandford | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Hugh Francis Blandford |
| Country | England |
| Born | 24 January 1917 Southampton, England |
| Died | 20 September 1981 (aged 64) Hatfield, England |
| Title | International Judge for Chess Composition |
Biography
editBlandford spent several years of his childhood in Jamaica with his father, Albert Francis (Frank) Blandford, a minister in the Congregational church, his mother and two younger brothers. All three brothers then returned to England and attended Eltham College (the School for the Sons of Missionaries) in South-east London, while their parents remained in Jamaica. He married Marjorie Cox, whom he had worked with during the Second World War.
He played chess from his schooldays and as well as playing, also started to compose original chess endings. He became known in the field of chess endgame studies for a small but elegant body of compositions, expertly edited and published after Hugh's death by his long-standing chess endings colleague, John Roycroft.[2]
Blandford was co-inventor with Richard Guy – and, later, with John Roycroft – of the Guy–Blandford–Roycroft code for classifying studies.[3] In July 1951 he began as the endgame study editor for the British Chess Magazine.[4][5] He was made an International Judge for Chess Composition[4] in 1961.[6]
A metallurgist, he continued to compose chess endgame studies until the end of his life, dying of a heart attack in early retirement in Hatfield, England, on 20 September 1981.
Sample composition
edit| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 |       | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
This example of the excelsior theme might be his best-known composition.[4] Solution:
6.Kxc6? stalemate; 6.c8=Q+? Nb8+ 7.K-any stalemate.
Winning.
References
edit- ^ Gaige, Jeremy (1987), Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography, McFarland, p. 41, ISBN 0-7864-2353-6
- ^ Hugh Blandford: Published Works and Notebooks, edited by A. John Roycroft, Russell Enterprises, 1998
- ^ Autobiography Archived 2012-04-16 at the Wayback Machine by A. J. Roycroft
- ^ a b c Sunnucks, Anne (1970), The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martin's Press, pp. 30–31, LCCN 78106371
- ^ Roycroft, Test Tube Chess, p. 58
- ^ "WFCC International Judges of Chess Compositions". Archived from the original on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
Bibliography
- Roycroft, A. J. (1972), Test Tube Chess, Stackpole, ISBN 0-8117-1734-8
Further reading
edit- British Chess Magazine, 1981, p. 532
- The Times, 25 September 1981, p. 25, c. 1
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