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Robert Combe
R Combe 
 

Number of games in database: 36
Years covered: 1933 to 1952
Overall record: +18 -8 =10 (63.9%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.

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Most played openings
E16 Queen's Indian (3 games)
D30 Queen's Gambit Declined (2 games)
C50 Giuoco Piano (2 games)
D15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav (2 games)


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ROBERT COMBE
(born Aug-16-1912, died Feb-12-1952, 39 years old) United Kingdom
[what is this?]

Robert Forbes Combe was born August 16th, 1912 in Logie-Buchan. He represented Scotland in the 1933 Olympiad (reserve board), where he had the unfortunate distinction of losing the shortest decisive game in Olympiad history, R F Combe vs W Hasenfuss, 1933. In the 1939 Scottish Championship he finished second to Max Pavey, a young American who was then a student in Scotland. When the British Championships resumed in 1946 (after being interrupted for eight years by World War II), Combe was chosen as the Scottish representative. In a surprising upset, he won the tournament - British Championship (1946). Due to poor health, he did not compete again. He had rheumatic fever as a child and for a long time knew that his days were limited.

Wikipedia article: Robert Forbes Combe

https://www.chessscotland.com/docum...

Last updated: 2023-06-21 01:35:05

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 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 36  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. F S Teunon vs R Combe  1-0631933Bon Accord CC chE20 Nimzo-Indian
2. R Combe vs H J Macthomas Thoms  ½-½431933MatchE16 Queen's Indian
3. R Combe vs C Pirie  ½-½471933Bon Accord CC ch (match)D15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
4. A Goldberg vs R Combe  0-1421933Scottish ChC66 Ruy Lopez
5. R Combe vs G Page  1-0301933Scottish ChA52 Budapest Gambit
6. W McNaughton vs R Combe  0-1351933Bon Accord CC ch (match)B88 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack
7. R Combe vs W McNaughton  0-1401933Bon Accord CC ch (match)C50 Giuoco Piano
8. R Combe vs W McNaughton  1-0661933Bon Accord CC ch (match)C87 Ruy Lopez
9. R Combe vs K Makarczyk  0-1421933Folkestone OlympiadD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
10. A Simonson vs R Combe ½-½691933Folkestone OlympiadA47 Queen's Indian
11. R Combe vs W Hasenfuss 0-141933Folkestone OlympiadA43 Old Benoni
12. F Igel vs R Combe  ½-½301933Folkestone OlympiadE16 Queen's Indian
13. R Combe vs J Nielsen  ½-½301933Folkestone OlympiadD68 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Classical
14. Lilienthal vs R Combe  1-0311933Folkestone OlympiadE16 Queen's Indian
15. R Combe vs P Devos  1-0361933Folkestone OlympiadD32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
16. R Combe vs C Pirie  1-0351934Bon-Accord CC ChampionshipD63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
17. M Pavey vs R Combe  1-0551939SCO-chE00 Queen's Pawn Game
18. L H Geronimus vs R Combe  ½-½331939SCO-chE90 King's Indian
19. W McNaughton vs R Combe  0-1281939Scottish ChC50 Giuoco Piano
20. R Combe vs N A Perkins  ½-½591939Scottish ChA04 Reti Opening
21. G Page vs R Combe  0-1261939Scottish ChB12 Caro-Kann Defense
22. R Combe vs N Bernstein  1-0651939Scottish ChD15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
23. R Combe vs J Gilchrist  1-0541939Scottish ChB72 Sicilian, Dragon
24. R Combe vs W Winter  ½-½411939Scottish ChE33 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
25. R Combe vs C H Alexander  1-0361946British ChampionshipD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 36  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Combe wins | Combe loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
Dec-26-04
Premium Chessgames Member		  Benzol: Robert Forbes Combe
Born 16th August 1912 in Logie-Buchan
Died 12th February 1952 in Aberdeen
He was British champion in 1946
Apr-10-05  pazzed paun: interesting story about this guy- he played as a reserve in the olympiad-played zero chess for eight years, was invited to the British championship in 1946 as a substitute-won the championship the only time he played!
Aug-07-07
Premium Chessgames Member		  Gypsy: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconVal...
Jun-20-08  whiteshark: "In 1946, the British championship was won by an almost unknown Scot, R.F.Combe, who had hardly played a game of chess in six years. But Combe's hobby was playing over published games by a cosy fire somewhere in the Highlands; and that had made him good enough to win the title at his only attempt, though the field included some famous players."

Cecil John Seddon Purdy in 'Guide to Good Chess'

Jun-20-08  Calli: An informative passage on Combe from Bob Meadley (A Letter to Bert)

“Robert Forbes Combe (1912 –1952) British Chess champion 1946. His childhood was spent in China where his father was Consul General at Tsinan in Shantung. On a holiday in London when he was 16, he bought a little book called "The Chess Openings"”by I.Gunsberg, from which with the aid of a sixpenny book of chess laws, he taught himself the game. He played in the third class tournament at Margate the next year finishing fourth without knowing the e.p. rule for the whole tourney.

He completed his education at Aberdeen Grammar School and Aberdeen University where he qualified in law with a distinguished record. He was a brilliant pleader at the bar of the Sheriff’s Court and had a fine legal brain. In W.A.Fairhurst’s opinion, Combe had the greatest chess brain of any British player between 1932 – 1952. He had a very quick sight of the board and was rarely in time trouble.

He never won the Scottish chess championship but as he had developed rheumatic fever at the age of 18 this may have affected his play. Certainly he never thought so and in Chess October 1946 p.2 stated that “ I developed a sort of instinctive languidness and now I don’t think I could hurry or worry if I wanted to.”

In that famous game he lost to Hasenfuss in 4 moves it is worth stating that he had just played a 12 hour game prior to it. And prior to the 1946 British Championship he had NO CHESS PRACTICE AT ALL FOR THE PREVIOUS SIX YEARS. He lived in Elgin in Scotland (east of Inverness) and was an “inveterate collector of tournament books, has probably as complete a collection as anybody in the country and habitually spends evenings in quiet deep study of the masters’ methods. He looks on Richter’s “Combinationem” as a fine book for pretournament study”.(Chess 1946)”

Jun-21-08  whiteshark: Thanks, <Calli>! That's very impressive.
Apr-02-10
Premium Chessgames Member		  GrahamClayton: It is ironic that his victory in the 1946 British Championship as an outsider is less well-known than his 4 move miniature against Hasenfuss 13 years earlier.
Aug-05-13  Karpova: <His BCM obituarist, W. A. Fairhurst, wrote ”He was a very great chess-player… and it is probable he possessed the greatest chess brain of any British player of the last 20 years”.>

Source: http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId...

Apr-05-17
Premium Chessgames Member		  Sally Simpson: Adding onto Calli's excellent post above:

After winning the British title at Nottingham the Elgin local press must have got things somewhat mixed up.

Combe says he was congratulated on winning a Draughts tournament in Northampton (sic) and one lady asked him if what necessary to go all the way to Nottingham just to play dominoes.

Chess October 1946

Feb-01-18  Alan McGowan: A detailed biography of Mr Combe can be found in the Chess Scotland History Archive at https://www.chessscotland.com/docum...
Mar-09-20
Premium Chessgames Member		  FSR: I just knew this guy as a punch line - the loser of the shortest decisive game in Olympiad history. I didn't realize that he'd later won the British Championship!

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