Berlin, 1881. Joseph Henry Blackburne — the bearded English professional nicknamed 'the Black Death' — produced an attack that Wilhelm Steinitz, no easy critic, called 'among the finest efforts of chess genius.' Out of a quiet French Exchange, Blackburne piled both rooks onto the h-file and finished with a queen sacrifice and a rook sacrifice that smashed open the black king.
An open file pointed at the king is a highway for your rooks. Blackburne doubled rooks on the h-file, then spent his queen (26.Qxf4!) and a rook (27.Rxh5!) to demolish the pawn cover. When you have overwhelming force on a file, material is just fuel for the breakthrough.
Joseph Henry Blackburne, England's leading player for much of the late 19th century, nicknamed 'der Schwarze Tod' after the Vienna 1873 tournament. He was famous for his attacking brilliancies and his blindfold displays.
Blackburne doubled rooks on the h-file and used the bishop on f6 to box in the king. The queen sacrifice 26.Qxf4 and rook sacrifice 27.Rxh5 remove the defenders of h5, opening the file for a decisive attack.
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