Background
He spent several years of his childhood in Jamaica with his father, the Reverend Albert Francis (Frank) Blandford, a Minister in the Congregational church, his mother and two younger brothers, Evan Arthur and Philip Thomas Blandford.
He spent several years of his childhood in Jamaica with his father, the Reverend Albert Francis (Frank) Blandford, a Minister in the Congregational church, his mother and two younger brothers, Evan Arthur and Philip Thomas Blandford.
All three brothers then returned to England and attended Eltham College (the School for the Sons of Missionaries) in South-east London, while their parents remained in Jamaica.
He played chess from his schooldays and as well as playing, also started to compose original chess endings. Hugh Blandford was co-inventor with Richard Guy – and, later, with John Roycroft – of the Guy–Blandford–Roycroft code for classifying studies. In July 1951 he began as the endgame study editor for the British Chess Magazine.
He was made an International Judge for Chess Composition in 1961.
A metallurgist, he continued to compose chess endgame studies until the end of his life, dying of a heart attack in early retirement in Hatfield, England, on 20 September 1981. This example of the excelsior theme might be his best-known composition.
Solution:
1. Bd4+ Ka8 2. c4 Nd2 3. c5 Nb3 4. c6 Na5 5. c7 Nc6 6. c8=R+
6.Kxc6? stalemate.
6.c8=Q+? Nb8+ 7.K-any stalemate. 6.. Nb8+ 7. Kd6
Winning.