Mr. Blackburne's games at chess, selected, annotated and arranged by himself; ed. with a biographical sketch and a brief history of blindfold chess

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 Excerpt: ... accomplish the task, and to commence from any square that might be chosen. One of the centre squares was selected, whence, after a few moment's consideration, Mr. Blackburne proceeded to call the moves with great rapidity, covering the board in sixty-three moves." I give a diagram showing the steps of the tour, and the young reader may perhaps derive some amusement from changing the first square and trying to make the tour with his eyes open. The Knight's Tour. Black. White. Obviously the mental faculty required here is not particularly a chess quality; not that, for instance, which is required in the long mates that so frequently occur in the games that follow--mates often so distant and intricate that one can scarcely imagine what accurate thinking was required to produce them, often so beautiful that they have been set for solution as problems in chess columns. The longest mate ever announced by Mr. Blackburne, and I believe the longest mate ever announced in blindfold play, was one in sixteen moves. I give the diagram here, and the solution will be found at the end of the book. White mates in sixteen moves. Black--Scott. I say nothing about the games which are very well able to speak for themselves. Blindfold Chess is now a commoner accomplishment than it was when Mr. Blackburne began. For one exponent then there are twenty now, yet so far he remains the undisputed master in that field, excelling alike his predecessors and his contemporaries. No doubt the day will come when he too will be eclipsed, even as he eclipsed Morphy and Morphy eclipsed Philidor, but at present it is difficult to conceive of greater chess ingenuity than is displayed in these blindfold games. P. A. G. (a) Kt-QB 3 at this juncture allows Black to retain the Pawn. (6) Q x P w...