John Blackburn (photo 2009)

The Blackburn family immigrated to South Africa from England in 1946. John joined the Durban Chess Club in 1952 and has been a member of the Club for almost 60 years. John became Durban champion for the first time in 1956, and has now held the title on seven occasions, most recently in 1980.

John is no longer a regular tournament player, but must have played hundreds of tournament games at the club in his 50 years as an active player. John had a classical style of play, invariably opening with 1.P-Q4 (he always uses old-fashioned descriptive notation) and defending with the classic symmetrical lines such as the Slav Defence to the Queens Gambit or the Black side of the Ruy Lopez.

One noteworthy characteristic is that John was very strong on defence, and won many games from horrible looking positions. One such example was his defeat of GM Karl Robatsch in a 1988 simultaneous display. The GM was furious, but still went on to score +33=4-1 against the club!

Kolnik,Moss - Blackburn,John
Championship Durban, 1974

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 Na5 9.Bc2 c5 10.Re1 Nc6 11.Nbd2 0-0 12.Nf1 Re8 13.h3 Bf8 14.Bg5 Ne7 15.N3h2 Ng6 16.Ng4 Be7 17.g3? (17.Qd2 then 18.Bd1 was better) 17...Nxg4 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.hxg4 Qg5 20.Ne3 h5! 21.gxh5 Nf4! 22.Ng2 Nh3+ 23.Kf1 Bg4 24.Qc1 Qxh5 25.f4 (if 25.Bd1 Nf4! threatens Qh1 mate) 25...exf4 26.Nxf4 Nxf4 27.Qxf4 Re6! (stronger than 27...Qh1+ 28.Kf2 Qh2+ 29.Ke3) 28.Kg1 Rh6 0-1

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4!? (The Von-Hennig Schara gambit; MCO labels it "speculative but unsound") 5.Qxd4 Nc6 6.Qd1 exd5 7.Qxd5 Bd7 8.Bg5!? (another way is 8.Nf3 Nf6 9.Qd1 Bc5 10.e3 Qe7 11.Be2 g5 12.Nd4 0-0-0 13.0-0 g4 14.b4! Bxb4 15.Ncb5 Nxd4 16.Nxd4 h5 17.Qb3 Be6! with equal chances as in Rust-Byala, Durban chp 1986.) 8...Nf6 9.Bxf6 (theory suggests this be delayed until ...h6 is played, but then look at Pirc-Alekhine, Bled 1931 which went 9.Qd2 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.e3 0-0-0 12.0-0-0? Bg4 13.Nd5 Rxd5! 14.Qxd5 Ba3! 15.Qb3 Bxd1 16.Qxa3 Qxf2 17.Qd3 Bg4 18.Nf3 Bxf3 19.Qf5+ Kb8 20.Qxf3 Qe1+ 21.Kc2 Rc8 22.Qg3+ Ne5+! 23.Kb3 Qd1+ 24.Ka3 Rc5 0-1) 9...Qxf6 10.a3 (stops ...Bb4, also look at the trap 10.e3 0-0-0 11.0-0-0 Bf5 12.Qf3?? Qxc3+! 13.bxc3 Ba3#) 10...0-0-0 11.Nf3 Bf5 12.Qc4 Kb8 13.e3 g5 14.h4! (to block the attack, then play Qf4) 14...g4 15.Ng5 Ne5? (this allows pins on Ne5/Bf5; better was 15...Rd7 with good chances) 16.Qf4 Bd6 17.Nge4! (exploiting the pins to win a piece, but not 17.e4?? Nd3+) 17...Qe6 18.Nxd6 Rxd6 19.Nb5! Rd7 20.Nd4 Be4?? 21.Nxe6 1-0