Robert Forbes Combe was born on August 16, 1912 in Logie-Buchan, Scotland. He spent his childhood in China where his father was a consul general.
In 1928, on a holiday in London, he bought a chess book and taught himself how to play chess. The book was The Chess Openings by Isador Gunsberg, published in 1895.
In 1929 he entered a chess tournament (third class section) in Margate (Margate Chess Congress). He never played a game before, and took 4th place. At the time, he was unaware of the en passant rule.
In 1930 he came down with rheumatic fever, which left him with a weak heart.
In the early 1930s he was champion of the Aberdeen Chess Club and played in the Scotland chess championships. In the Scottish Championship of 1932, he finished in 3rd place, behind Fairhurst and Page. He was also a top draughts (checkers) player.
In 1933 he was selected to play for Scotland in the International Team Tournament (5th chess olympiad) at Folkestone. This event was held from June 12th to June 23rd in Folkestone, United Kingdom. The Scottish players were William Fairhurst (later British champion in 1937) on board 1, George Page on board 2, D. McIsaac on board 3, and Arthur Mackenzie on board 4. Combe was a reserve player, and did play 12 games as board 4, winning 1 game, drawing 8 games, and losing 3 games.
In round 1, Combe played board 4 against Makarczyk of Poland and lost. On June 13 he played Albert Somonson of the USA and drew a game that lasted over 12 hours. The rest of his team lost to the USA team (Kashdan, Fine, Dake). On June 14 he played Wolfgang Hasenfuss of Latvia and lost in 4 moves. It was the shortest game ever played in any chess olympiad.
Combe - Hasenfuss, Folkestone Chess Olympiad, Round 3, June 14, 1933
1.d4 c5 2.e4 (some sources say 2.c4) cxd4 3.Nf3 e5 4.Nxe5? Qa5+ and White resigned as he loses his knight.
Combe said he lost because he was too exhausted from the 12-hour game of the previous round. He was also quoted about this game, "The positional layout was perfect, but it was spoilt by tactical circumstances."
Combe did not play in rounds 4 and 12. Scotland lost 11 rounds in a row before beating Iceland. Scotland took last place out of the 15 countries that played. Combe scored the 2nd highest on the Scottish team (Fairhurst scored 42.9% and Combe scored 41.7%). The rest of the team scored only 9% - 10%. This was Combe's only chess olympiad.
Combe lived in Elgin (east of Inverness) and Aberdeen (he attended Aberdeen University) and became a distinguished lawyer and collector of chess books.
In the 1939 Scottish Championship (played in Aberdeen), he came in 2nd place (with William Winter), behind Max Pavey. Pavey was a medical student from the USA. Combe's only loss was to Max Pavey.
Combe did not play and chess from 1940 until his entry into the British championship in 1946.
In 1946 the British Championship was held in Nottingham. The last British championship was held in 1938 and won by C.H.O'D Alexander. There were 12 players. Originally, the organizers refused the entry of Combe, the Scottish representative, to play in the championship section due to his lack of practice and the thought that he was not strong enough a player. It was William Fairhurst who appealed to the organizing committee, vouching for Combe's character and playing strength.
So Combe was allowed to play, and became the last Scottish player to win the British Championship (the first Scottish winner was Fairhurst in 1937). He had won the British championship on his first and only attempt after 6 years of no chess play. Combe had a quick sight of the board and was rarely in time trouble, playing most of his games in an hour. This would be his last tournament.
The other players in the 1946 British Championship were Gabriel Wood (British Postal champion in 1948) , Gerald Abrahams, William Winter (British champion in 1935 and 1936), C.H.O'D Alexander (British champion in 1938 and 1956), Henry Golombek (British champion in 1947, 1949, and 1955) , Reginald Broadbent (British champion in 1948 and 1950), Philip Stuart Milner-Barry, Baruch Wood, Frank Parr (winner at Hastings in 1939/40), Andrew R.B. Thomas, and Robert Wade (British champion in 1952).
The ladies' 1946 British Championship was won by Elaine Saunders (Pritchard), born January 6, 1926. She had previously won the championship in 1939, at the age of 13 years, 6 months. That record stood as the youngest female to win the British Ladies' Championship until 2000 when Humpy Koneru won it at the age of 13 years, 4 months.
Robert Combe died in Aberdeen, Scotland on February 12, 1952. He was 39 years old.
