I Played White
Hi, there! 👋
This is the opening position of the gambit:
The 3...Nd4, that Black's knight move to d4. Very PROVOCATIVE. Anyway, though looks free, we shouldn't take the e5 pawn. It's quite poisonous. 💀
Let the amusement begin!
You can use your left and right arrows on your keyboard or use the mouse scroll to see the moves back and forth on the chessboard. But first, click the board.
Blackburne-Kostić and the Gambit
Righto, here's the brief history on the pair of them.
Joseph Henry Blackburne
1841 to 1924.
Blackburne was an English chess player, one of the strongest in the world during the latter half of the 19th century. He picked up the game relatively late, in his late teens, after reportedly being inspired by news of Paul Morphy's exploits, and went on to become a fearsome attacking player and a legendary blindfold specialist. Sometimes taking on dozens of opponents simultaneously WITHOUT sight of the board.
His nickname —
— came from his habit of lying in wait, letting opponents overextend, then punishing them with a sharp tactical strike.
Not unlike that e5 pawn trap we spotted above.
Not unlike = like. Proper dialectical gymnastics.
Blackburne's whole reputation was built on patience and ambush.
He never won the World Championship, but he was a mainstay of the tournament circuit for decades and one of the great characters of Victorian-era chess.
"The Black Death" — it's a nickname built specifically to pun on his name whilst borrowing the menace of that historical calamity to describe how he played. Rather a clever bit of branding for a Victorian chess player.
Boris Kostić
1887 to 1963.
Kostić was a Serbian grandmaster, one of the strongest players to emerge from that part of Europe before the First World War.
He had a reputation as an excellent attacking and rapid player, and toured extensively giving simultaneous exhibitions across the Americas and Europe, which helped spread his name well beyond the Balkans.
He also briefly held a claim to a form of unofficial "world" rapid title through exhibition play, though nothing as formal as today's titles.
He's remembered as one of the pioneers of Serbian chess and a link between the old masters and the more modern, systematic approach that followed.
Where Blackburne earned his menace at the board, Kostić showed his mettle off it — imprisoned during the Second World War for refusing to play in Nazi propaganda tournaments.
The gambit line bearing both their names likely reflects each independently exploring or popularising the 3...Nd4 idea in their respective eras, rather than the two ever sitting down together to cook it up.
Right.
So.
I really don't reckon two Masters would sit together in one room discussing and sharing their analysis upon some theory and — Aha! We are excellent! 🥳🥳 — NEVER!
Imagine if they WERE in one room. Most likely, less a friendly chat over the board, more a bare-knuckle scrap. — Get your own gambit, mate! (Jabs.) 💥 — (Dodges.) Oo are you, then, guv'nor? (Throws an uppercut.) 💥 — And so forth.
And to think, Boris did East End in that bit. Boris Kostić, the Serbian-Cockney boxer.
Mamma mia!
Thanks for visiting. Cheers! 🍺