Hugh Blandford
Encyclopedia
Hugh Francis Blandford was born in January 1917 in Southampton, England. He was a metallurgist and a chess
endgame composer
.
He spent several years of his childhood in Jamaica with his father, the Reverend Albert Francis (Frank) Blandford, a Minister in the Congregational church
, his mother and two younger brothers, Evan Arthur and Philip Thomas Blandford. 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
("Hugh Blandford: Published Works and Notebooks", edited by A. John Roycroft, Russell Enterprises, 1998).
Hugh Blandford was co-inventor with Richard Guy - and, later, with John Roycroft - of the Guy-Blandford-Roycroft code for classifying studies. He also served for several years as the endgame study editor for the British Chess Magazine
.
He continued to compose chess endgame studies until the end of his life, dying of a heart attack in early retirement in September 1981.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
endgame composer
Chess composer
A chess composer is a person who creates endgame studies or chess problems. He usually specializes in a particular genre, e.g. endgame studies, twomovers, threemovers, moremovers, helpmates, selfmates, fairy problems...
.
He spent several years of his childhood in Jamaica with his father, the Reverend Albert Francis (Frank) Blandford, a Minister in the Congregational church
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
, his mother and two younger brothers, Evan Arthur and Philip Thomas Blandford. All three brothers then returned to England and attended Eltham College
Eltham College
This article is about the school in London, England. For the school in Research, Australia see Eltham College of Education.Eltham College is an independent school situated in Mottingham in south-east London...
(the School for the Sons of Missionaries) in South-East London, while their parents remained in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. 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
John Roycroft
Arthur John Roycroft is an English chess endgame study composer and author, who lives in North West London. He is married to Betty Roycroft...
("Hugh Blandford: Published Works and Notebooks", edited by A. John Roycroft, Russell Enterprises, 1998).
Hugh Blandford was co-inventor with Richard Guy - and, later, with John Roycroft - of the Guy-Blandford-Roycroft code for classifying studies. He also served for several years as the endgame study editor for the British Chess Magazine
British Chess Magazine
British Chess Magazine is the world's oldest chess magazine in continuous publication. First published in January 1881, it has appeared at monthly intervals ever since. It is frequently known in the chess world as BCM....
.
He continued to compose chess endgame studies until the end of his life, dying of a heart attack in early retirement in September 1981.