English Chess Forum

Does anyone have an explanation for how a Scottish guy from Elgin won the 1946 British Championship in Nottingham?
Robert Combe won a 12 player all play all, ahead of C H O´D Alexander, Abrahams, Milner-Barry, Winter, Golombek and Wade.
Wade actually finishing last!

And then he disappeared into the ethers.

Who the heck was this guy?
How the heck did he pull it off?

I´ve heard he was a solicitor who studied GM games of an evening.

Anybody have more info, please??

Yes. He won the British in 1946. If you google Robert Combe chess, you will get some information on him.

Astonishing result!

btw, I see that in Winter´s Wikipedia entry they write he was the only ex-British chess champion to have served time in jail.

But, if they ever collar Brian Eley...

James Plaskett wrote:Does anyone have an explanation for how a Scottish guy from Elgin won the 1946 British Championship in Nottingham?
Robert Combe won a 12 player all play all, ahead of C H O´D Alexander, Abrahams, Milner-Barry, Winter, Golombek and Wade.
Wade actually finishing last!

And then he disappeared into the ethers.

Who the heck was this guy?

Obviously a Russian mole sent to spy on the cream of British intelligence who then blew his cover by beating them all.

Alas he also holds the record for the shortest ever loss in an Olympiad.

Robert Forbes Combe vs Wolfgang R Hasenfuss Folkestone (1933)

1. d4 c5 2. c4 cd4 3. Nf3 e5 4. Ne5 Qa5

White resigned. Apparently he was knackered from analysing an adjourned game.

He should have played on for a few more moves to escape the record books.
I also have also seen games where White won after losing the piece

James Plaskett wrote:Does anyone have an explanation for how a Scottish guy from Elgin won the 1946 British Championship in Nottingham?

Perhaps the opposition weren't as good as their reputations. He could have had a less stressful war than some of his opponents.

A year later, another wild card player finished third

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Crown

Roger de Coverly wrote:

James Plaskett wrote:Does anyone have an explanation for how a Scottish guy from Elgin won the 1946 British Championship in Nottingham?

Perhaps the opposition weren't as good as their reputations. He could have had a less stressful war than some of his opponents.

A year later, another wild card player finished third

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Crown

Following the footnotes on the wikipedia entry on Combe took me to this page http://www.chessscotland.com/history/bi ... /combe.htm which gives the cross table of the 1946 British. Interesting G Wood, who came second, is not exceptionally well known either. It's possible that Golombek, Alexander et al were out of practice having had to devote their energies elsewhere in the preceding year.

The biography suggests it was a combination of professional commitments and ill health (he was only 39 when he died) that prevented Combe from playing more frequently although the war years must have cost him opportunities as well. In that respect he could possibly be seen as a lost talent similar to Gordon Crown.

"Robert Forbes Combe vs Wolfgang R Hasenfuss Folkestone (1933)"

In those days, adjourned games were played the next morning (I think) and he had a game lasting well over 100 moves, so when he turned up for the afternoon round, he was a bit shattered...

I asked exactly the same question of David Pritchard (of chess variants fame) a number of years ago, I.e. Who was this guy Combe? I had bought a copy of the tournament book in a 2nd hand shop and noticed that either David was playing or helped with the production of the tournament book. He said: we didn't have a clue who he was - he just turned up and won
...

Mike Gunn wrote:I asked exactly the same question of David Pritchard (of chess variants fame) a number of years ago, I.e. Who was this guy Combe?

Here's his game against one of the better known players of that era.

[Event "Ch Great Britain"] [Site "Nottingham (England)"] [Date "1946.??.??"] [Round "1"] [White "Combe Robert"] [Black "Alexander Conel H O'D (ENG)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D30"] 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.Qb3 c6 7.Nbd2 Nd7 8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Qf4 10.Bd3 g5 11.Ng3 g4 12.Ne2 Qc7 13.Nd2 c5 14.d5 Ne5 15.O-O-O Bd7 16.Be4 O-O-O 17.f4 gxf3 18.Nxf3 Bd6 19.dxe6 Bxe6 20.Rxd6 Rxd6 21.Nxe5 Rhd8 22.Nf3 f5 23.Bc2 Qg7 24.Nf4 Bf7 25.Qe3 Re8 26.Qxc5+ Rc6 27.Qxa7 Qg4 28.Qa8+ Kc7 29.Nd5+ Bxd5 30.Qxe8 Qxc4 31.Qe5+ Kc8 32.Qxf5+ Be6 33.Qf8+ Kc7 34.Qg7+ Kb8 35.Qe5+ Ka8 36.Nd4 1-0

In a position more or less equal, Alexander walked into a tactical trick 20 Rxd6 which according to a brief engine analysis, he could easily have avoided .

[FEN "2kr3r/ppq2p2/3bb2p/2p1n3/2P1B3/1Q3N2/PP2N1PP/2KR3R w - - 0 20"]

Usually it's juniors who appear from nowhere and win tournaments. The surprise value is that no one is familiar with the style of play.

Mike Gunn wrote: He said: we didn't have a clue who he was - he just turned up and won
...

We can only imagine what the ACP would say if he did that today.

Kevin Thurlow wrote:"Robert Forbes Combe vs Wolfgang R Hasenfuss Folkestone (1933)"

In those days, adjourned games were played the next morning (I think) and he had a game lasting well over 100 moves, so when he turned up for the afternoon round, he was a bit shattered...

His reported comment afterwards - "the positional layout was perfect, it was just spoiled by a tactical circumstance".

I suppose that is one way of putting it

Matt Mackenzie wrote:
His reported comment afterwards - "the positional layout was perfect, it was just spoiled by a tactical circumstance".

I suppose that is one way of putting it

That would make a great quote for a book on the french.

A photo of an almost uniquely dapper R.G.Wade accompanying the above report of Combe...

Interesting also to hear thoughts on how the men of Blechley may have lost touch with the game somewhat...

I guess the simplest explanation is that, you know, "once in a blue moon..."