He once held Soviet kingpin Yefim Geller to a draw and he scored wins against such stalwarts as I.A. Horowitz, Nicolas Rossolimo, Migual Najdorf, Arturo Pomar, Albrec O’Kelly, Ludek Pachman, Savielly Tartakower, J.H. Donner and Max Euwe.
He was an FIDE arbiter, chess author, represented England nine times in the Chess Olympiads, was three times British chess champion (1947, 1949 and 1955), finished second in 1948, was the first British player to qualify for an Interzonal and was awarded that of Honorary Grandmaster in 1985.
Harry Golombek was born on March 1, 1911, in Lambeth, a district in South London, England; he passed away on January 7, 1995.
At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Golombek was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, competing in the Chess Olympiad. The British team immediately returned home and Golombek, Alexander and Milner-Barry were soon recruited to Bletchley Park where they were involved in code breaking.
He was appointed Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1966, the first to be so honored for services to chess. OBE is an order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organizations and public service outside the civil service.
In the following game Golombek defeats the former World Champion at the historic Paignton tournament in 1951.
The Paignton Chess Congress started annually in 1951 in the prestigious Oldway Mansion as a celebration of the Devon County Chess Association's 50th year of existence.
Harry Golombek–Max Euwe1–0E04PaigntonPaignton ENG09.1951Stockfish 16
Catalan 1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 In the Catalan white combines the Queen's
Gambit with the Reti. The c4-Pawn my become vulnerable and white might have to
sacrifice it. Black has two main approaches. In the Open Catalan seen in this
game black plays ...dxc4 and can either try to hold on to the Pawn with ...b5
or give it back to gain time to free his game. In the Closed Catalan, black
does not capture on c4 which leaves his position somewhat cramped, but very
solid. d5 Of course black can avoid the Catalan with either 3...
Bb4+ of 3...c5 4.g2 dxc4 5.f3 a6 6.a4 White generally castles or plays
6.Ne5 c5 7.0-0 7.dxc5 xd1+ 8.xd1 xc5 favors black. 7...c6 8.bd2 cxd4 9.xc4 c5 10.fe5 xe5 11.xe5 0-0 12.c2 a7 12...d6 13.c4 c7 14.d1 e5 15.e3 g4 Black is better. Lazarne Vajda,S (2294)-Bulmaga,I (2438)
Petrovac MNE 2023 13.d1 d5 White has sufficient play for his P minus. 14.c4 This turns out not to be an especially good square for the Q. Either
14.Nf3 or 14.Bd2 would have been better. d6 15.f3 e5 Black's
control of the center and space advantage give him the advantage. 16.g5 e6 But this move should have allowed white to regain equality by simply playing
17.Nxe6 16...d8 leaveds white in a difficult situation. 17.e4 c6 18.xc6 bxc6 19.d2 f5 20.a5 d7 21.d2 e4 21...c5 22.e4 is much less
effective. f6 23.exf5 22.ac1 b7 23.xc6 xb2 24.dc1 b7 with the
advantage. 17.d3 f5 18.d2 e4 19.b3 h6 20.xe6 xe6 21.ac1 21.xb7 is a losing blunder... fb8 traps the Q 21...f7 22.h1 e8 23.a5 e5 23...g5 would also have left white facing a strong attack. 24.f3 e6 25.fxe4 fxe4 26.f1 Black should now have consolidated his position
by playing 26...Rfe7 or 27...Rd7. Instead, he allows the exchange of Qs which
dissipates his advantage. f6 27.xe6 xe6 28.h3 e8 29.f5 How should
black neet the threat of 30.Bg6? e3 oOf all the moves available to black
this is the least effective way of meeting white's threat. 29...ff8 30.b4 f7 31.g6 29...d8 30.e6 29...fe7 results in equal chances after 30.b4 e5 31.g6 d8 32.c4 Black's P center is under attack. 29...d3 gets tricky, but it results in equal chances after 30.exd3 e3 30...exd3 31.g6 31.e1 e2 32.f3 30.b4 30.g6 exd2 31.xf7+ xf7 32.cd1 xe2 and black is winning. 33.f3 e6 34.d3 34.ff1 g4 35.f3 d3 There is
no way to meet the threat of ...Rxf2# 34...e1+ 30...e4 A
simple tactical blunder. Euwe was susceptible to making these throughput his
career. 30...d5 31.a3 f6 32.d3 f7 33.xf6+ gxf6 34.f5 with about
equal chances. Black's extra P is countered by white's two Bs and R on the
open file. 31.h7+ xh7 32.xf7 The exchange up, Golombek
has no trouble securing the win. d3 Euwe complicates the issue, but Golombek
is up to the task of seeing his way through them/ 33.exd3 f2+ 34.g2 xd3 35.c3 New York Yankee baseball catcher Yogi Berra once said "It's not over
'til it's over" and that is the case here! 35.d1 and black wins. xb4 36.dd7 36.e1 e2 37.f3 e3+ 38.g2 d3 36...g6 37.xg7+ f6 38.df7+ e6 39.f3 d3 40.c7 f8+ 41.e2 e5 42.ge7+ d6 43.xb7 f2+ 44.e1 d3+ 45.d1 d2# 35.xb7 allows black to equalize. xc1 36.c3 e2 loses
36...d4 37.xd4 g6 38.xg7+ f5 39.f3 e2 40.g4+ e6 41.f2 d5 42.h7 e6 and the game should resolve into a draw. 37.xa7 e1 38.xg7+ h8 39.e7+ g8 40.xe1 xe1 41.xe1 35...g6 36.cf1 White is clearly
winning now. f2 37.xb7 c5 38.xg7+ f5 39.c7 d6 40.c6 e5 41.c5
Euwe resigned. A fine finish, especially beginning with Golombek's 35.Bc3! 41.c5 e4 42.xf2 c7 42...exf2 43.xe5+ 43.f7 d8 44.d7 e2 45.d4+ e3 46.cd5 with the threat of Bd2# 1–0
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