Joseph Blackburne — “Great Players of the Past” series, with GM Ben Finegold

August 28, 2018 NHaselton Chess Lectures

♛

Ready to play?

Play and learn chess for free on Chess.com

Play on Chess.com →

GM Ben Finegold discusses games of Joseph Blackburne. This lecture was recorded on Nov. 7, 2017 at CCSCATL as part of our Great Players of the Past lecture series.

Games discussed:
NN vs. Joseph Blackburne, England (1880)
Joseph Blackburne vs. NN (1863)
Joseph Blackburne vs. Steinitz Wilhelm, London (1883)
Edward Bird vs. Joseph Blackburne, London (1886)

https://www.youtube.com/c/benfinegold2600

Please consider a donation at: https://atlchessclub.com/donate/

Intro and concluding music: “Da Jazz Blues,” by Doug Maxwell; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mopxtd1dZM. Thank you Doug!

♟ More videos — same opening

Danya Defeats Exposed Cheater | Ruy Lopez Bird Variation |…

Jun 20, 2026

The Real Value of a Chess Piece || Adams vs…

Dec 5, 2025

The King’s Indian is actually EASY if you learn this

Dec 5, 2025

“The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars” || McShane…

Dec 5, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

<div id="puzzlebot-container"></div>

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.polyfills.min.js"></script>

<script>
  var board = null;
  var game = new Chess();

  function onDragStart(source, piece, position, orientation) {
    // do not allow dragging when game is over
    if (game.game_over()) return false;

    // only allow white pieces to be dragged
    if (piece.search(/^b/) !== -1) return false;
  }

  function onDrop(source, target) {
    // see if the move is legal
    var move = game.move({
      from: source,
      to: target,
      promotion: "q" // always promote to a queen for example simplicity
    });

    // illegal move
    if (move === null) return "snapback";

    // update the board position
    board.position(game.fen());

    // get a random move from the engine
    window.setTimeout(makeRandomMove, 250);
  }

  // make a random move
  function makeRandomMove() {
    var possibleMoves = game.moves();

    // game over
    if (possibleMoves.length === 0) return;

    var randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * possibleMoves.length);
    game.move(possibleMoves[randomIndex]);
    board.position(game.fen());
  }

  // initialize the chessboard
  function init() {
    var config = {
      draggable: true,
      onDragStart: onDragStart,
      onDrop: onDrop,
      position: 'start'
    };

    board = Chessboard('puzzlebot-container', config);

    makeRandomMove();
  }

  $(document).ready(init);
</script>