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.
[Event "Paignton"]
[Site "Paignton ENG"]
[Date "1951.09.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Harry Golombek"]
[Black "Max Euwe"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "1951.??.??"]
{Catalan} 1. d4 Nf6 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 {[%mdl 32] Of course black can avoid the Catalan with either 3...
Bb4+ of 3...c5} 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Nf3 a6 6. a4 {White generally castles or plays
6.Ne5} c5 7. O-O (7. dxc5 Qxd1+ 8. Kxd1 Bxc5 {favors black.}) 7... Nc6 8. Nbd2
cxd4 9. Nxc4 Bc5 10. Nfe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 O-O 12. Qc2 Ba7 (12... Bd6 13. Nc4 Bc7
14. Rd1 e5 15. e3 Bg4 {Black is better. Lazarne Vajda,S (2294)-Bulmaga,I (2438)
Petrovac MNE 2023}) 13. Rd1 Nd5 {White has sufficient play for his P minus.}
14. Qc4 {This turns out not to be an especially good square for the Q. Either
14.Nf3 or 14.Bd2 would have been better.} Qd6 15. Nf3 e5 {[%mdl 32] Black's
control of the center and space advantage give him the advantage.} 16. Ng5 Be6
{But this move should have allowed white to regain equality by simply playing
17.Nxe6} (16... Rd8 {leaveds white in a difficult situation.} 17. Ne4 Qc6 18.
Qxc6 bxc6 19. Bd2 f5 20. Ba5 Rd7 21. Nd2 e4 (21... c5 22. e4 {is much less
effective.} Nf6 23. exf5) 22. Rac1 Rb7 23. Rxc6 Rxb2 24. Rdc1 Bb7 {with the
advantage.}) 17. Qd3 f5 18. Bd2 e4 19. Qb3 h6 {[%mdl 2048]} 20. Nxe6 Qxe6 21.
Rac1 (21. Qxb7 {is a losing blunder...} Rfb8 {traps the Q}) 21... Rf7 22. Kh1
Re8 23. a5 Qe5 {23...g5 would also have left white facing a strong attack.} 24.
f3 Qe6 25. fxe4 fxe4 26. Rf1 {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.} Nf6 27. Qxe6 Rxe6 28. Bh3 Re8 29. Bf5 {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... Rff8 30. Bb4
Rf7 31. Bg6) (29... Rd8 30. Be6) (29... Rfe7 {results in equal chances after}
30. Bb4 Re5 31. Bg6 Rd8 32. Rc4 {Black's P center is under attack.}) (29... d3
{gets tricky, but it results in equal chances after} 30. exd3 e3 (30... exd3
31. Bg6) 31. Be1 e2 32. Rf3) 30. Bb4 (30. Bg6 exd2 31. Bxf7+ Kxf7 32. Rcd1 Rxe2
{and black is winning.} 33. Rf3 Ke6 34. Rd3 (34. Rff1 Ng4 35. Rf3 d3 {There is
no way to meet the threat of ...Rxf2#}) 34... Re1+) 30... Ne4 {[%mdl 8192] A
simple tactical blunder. Euwe was susceptible to making these throughput his
career.} (30... Nd5 31. Ba3 Rf6 32. Bd3 Kf7 33. Rxf6+ gxf6 34. Bf5 {with about
equal chances. Black's extra P is countered by white's two Bs and R on the
open file.}) 31. Bh7+ {[%mdl 512]} Kxh7 32. Rxf7 {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 Nf2+ 34. Kg2 Nxd3
35. Bc3 {New York Yankee baseball catcher Yogi Berra once said "It's not over
'til it's over" and that is the case here!} (35. Rd1 {and black wins.} Nxb4 36.
Rdd7 (36. Re1 e2 37. Kf3 Re3+ 38. Kg2 Nd3) 36... Kg6 37. Rxg7+ Kf6 38. Rdf7+
Ke6 39. Kf3 Nd3 40. Rc7 Rf8+ 41. Ke2 Ne5 42. Rge7+ Kd6 43. Rxb7 Rf2+ 44. Ke1
Nd3+ 45. Kd1 Rd2#) (35. Rxb7 {allows black to equalize.} Nxc1 36. Bc3 e2 {loses
} (36... Bd4 37. Bxd4 Kg6 38. Rxg7+ Kf5 39. Kf3 e2 40. g4+ Ke6 41. Bf2 Kd5 42.
Rh7 Re6 {and the game should resolve into a draw.}) 37. Rxa7 e1=Q 38. Rxg7+ Kh8
39. Re7+ Kg8 40. Rxe1 Rxe1 41. Bxe1) 35... Kg6 36. Rcf1 {White is clearly
winning now.} Nf2 37. Rxb7 Bc5 38. Rxg7+ Kf5 39. Rc7 Bd6 40. Rc6 Be5 41. Rc5 {
Euwe resigned. A fine finish, especially beginning with Golombek's 35.Bc3!} (
41. Rc5 Ke4 42. Rxf2 Bc7 (42... exf2 43. Rxe5+) 43. Rf7 Bd8 44. Rd7 e2 45. Rd4+
Ke3 46. Rcd5 {with the threat of Bd2#}) 1-0
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