Harry Golombek

Who was Harry Golombek?

Harry Golombek OBE, was a British chess International Master and honorary grandmaster, chess arbiter, and chess author. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. He became a grandmaster in 1985.

He was the chess correspondent of The Times newspaper from 1945 to 1989. He was an official of the FIDE, and served as Arbiter for several important events, including the Candidates' Tournament of 1959 in Yugoslavia, and the World Chess Championship match 1963 between Mikhail Botvinnik and Tigran Petrosian. He was also editor of some well-known collections of games such as José Raúl Capablanca's and Réti's, and was a well-respected author. He was editor of British Chess Magazine from 1938 to 1940, and its overseas editor throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Golombek also translated several chess books from Russian into English.

On the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Golombek was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, competing in the Chess Olympiad for Britain alongside C. H. O'D. Alexander and Stuart Milner-Barry. They immediately returned to the UK, and were soon recruited into Bletchley Park, the wartime codebreaking centre.