History of the Early Irish
Championships
by David McAlister
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The
1865
Dublin Congress |
The
Irish
Chess Association |
The
Hibernian
Chess Association |
The
Irish
Chess Union |
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The 1865 Dublin Congress
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One of the very earliest international chess
tournaments
held in Ireland took place in the autumn of 1865 in Dublin. It was
a five man event won by Wilhelm Steinitz, later to become the first
official
World Champion. |
There is a reasonable body of evidence that a
subsidiary
tournament was held for the Irish Championship. When discussing
the
1913 match between Porterfield Rynd and J. J. OHanlon the
Saturday
Herald commented: |
It was in the year 1865, at a Chess Congress held in
Dublin, graced by the presence of Herr Lowenthal, Herr Steinitz, Rev G.
A. MacDonnell, Mr Bolt of Dawlish, and many of our home talents
such
as Rev Dr Salmon, Messrs George Frith, Sam Barry, Edward Cronhelm,
Edmund
(afterwards Sir Edmund) Bewley, Malcolm (afterwards Sir Malcolm) Inglis,
Robert Collins, Richard Sidney, Thomas Long, and Peter Jones that
the
Irish championship was first competed for, and it was then won by the
present
holder [Porterfield Rynd] with the score of 16 out of 17. In the
intervening 48 years what changes have occurred! All the
distinguished
men just mentioned have disappeared. New men have taken their
places.
All the openings, all the methods of problem construction, all the
principles,
all the art, in fact, of chess will be found to have undergone
evolutionary,
if not revolutionary, modification. And yet the winner of that day
is expected to be able to make a fight still against the ablest of the
moderns in Ireland for the chess championship of the green isle.
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In the obituary of Porterfield Rynd in the
Belfast
Newsletter of 22nd March 1917 it mentions that Until recently
Mr Rynd
conducted a bright and interesting chess column in the Saturday
Herald. |
So it is quite likely that the passage quoted was
the personal testimony of Rynd himself. There is other
evidence.
In his book A Century of British Chess (1934) P. W. Sergeant
states
that Porterfield Rynd was reckoned amateur champion Of Ireland for
about
forty years previous to his defeat by J. J. OHanlon in
1913. |
The 1913 Belfast Newletter report of
OHanlons
win stated that Rynd had held the title for over 40 years. A
similar
statement is made in the Irish Times obituary of Porterfield
Rynd.
The Irish Times, reporting the 1892 Hibernian Chess Association
Congress, lists all the previous chess congresses in Ireland up to that
date and the number of entries for the 1865 Dublin Congress is given as
20. Finally, the section on the Irish Championships in Chess,
the Records (1986) by Ken Whyld states that A championship in
1865
was run alongside a master tournament and the winners name has
been given
as J. A. Porterfield Rynd, but he was supposedly born in
1855! |
Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography (1987)
by Jeremy Gaige also lists Rynds year of birth as 1855. This
would
suggest that Rynd would have been too young to win such a
tournament.
However these records are incorrect Rynd was either 18 or 19 at
the time
of the Dublin congress. The proof of his real age appears in his
death notice in the Irish Times for the 19th March 1917. It
reads: |
RYND - March 17, 1917 JAMES ALEXANDER PORTERFIELD
RYND,
Barrister-at-Law, in his 71st year.
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The Irish Chess Association
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The Irish Chess Association was founded in the
spring
of 1885 and held its first annual meeting in Dublin from the 3rd to the
17th October 1885. It is reported in the Irish Times that
the opening night was in the rooms of St. Patricks Chess Club at
Byrnes
Restaurant, Nassau Street. |
The President, Mr T. Long, BA, occupied the chair,
and
there was a large attendance of members, among whom were Mr W. W.
Mackeson,
QC, of London and W. H. K. Pollock, of Bath. In an able speech Mr
Long pointed out the many advantages of the organisation and said that
England had its chess association, Scotland had its chess association,
and why should not Ireland have its chess association? The healthy
and intellectual pastime should be encouraged and played north, south,
east and west, in every county and in every town. He warmly
thanked
the promoters of the association, and said that much credit was due to
them, particularly to Mr P. Rynd and Mr T. B. Rowland, who were foremost
in their exertions to make the meeting a success.
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There were two individual tournaments: the
Principal
Tournament, open to all members of the ICA, and the Handicap Tournament
(play at odds) again open to all members. In addition there was a
club tourney, and various problem and endgame competitions. |
1885 ICA Principal Tournament
|
Pol. |
Ryn. |
Mur. |
Pea. |
Mac. |
Nic. |
_ |
Score |
Place |
W. H. K. Pollock |
|
10 |
11 |
11 |
11 |
11 |
|
9 |
1 |
J. A. P. Rynd |
01 |
|
½1 |
11 |
11 |
11 |
|
8½ |
2 |
J. Murphy |
00 |
½0 |
|
01 |
11 |
11 |
|
5½ |
3 |
A. S. Peake |
00 |
00 |
10 |
|
01 |
11 |
|
4 |
4 |
W. W. Mackeson |
00 |
00 |
00 |
10 |
|
11 |
|
3 |
5 |
W. Nichols |
00 |
00 |
00 |
00 |
00 |
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0 |
6 |
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In her book, Pollock Memories, Mrs F. F.
Rowland, the wife of T. B. Rowland, states that In 1885 he
[Pollock] also
played in the Master Tournament of the Irish Chess Association, coming
out first with 9 points, thereby winning the Irish
Championship. |
The question that arises from this is whether or
not Pollock should be regarded as the Irish national champion.
William
Henry Krause Pollock was born in Cheltenham but was of Irish
ancestry.
He had been a medical student at Trinity College, Dublin and was a
member
of Dublin Chess Club in 1880, 1881 and 1882 while pursuing his
studies.
By the time of the 1885 congress he was no longer resident in
Ireland.
Whether his background was such that he could justifiably claim to be
Irish
is perhaps a moot point, but this is perhaps unimportant in that it
would
appear that the promoters of the tournament may not have considered that
they were organising a national championship. |
The following year the Irish Chess Association
held
its congress in Belfast from 20th September to 1st October. The first
intimation
of this in Belfast chess circles was an article prepared by members of
the Belfast Chess Club and appearing on the 18th March 1886 in both the
Belfast
Newsletter and the Northern Whig newspapers. It stated: |
We understand that the Irish Chess Association has
been
invited to Belfast for its annual autumn meeting. As a visit from
the association would undoubtedly give a great stimulus to the game in
Belfast and the Northern counties, we hope the Council [of the ICA] may
see their way to accept the invitation.
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Due to the imminent arrival of the congress, a
weekly
chess column was provided by the Belfast Chess Club for both newspapers,
the one in the Belfast Newsletter continuing for a period of 70
years before being discontinued. The column of the 22nd April
confirmed
that the ICA had accepted the invitation to Belfast. There
followed
an account of how and why the Association had come into being: |
Previous to the spring of last year no organisation
existed representative of Irish Chess collectively. There were
chess
clubs no doubt, the Dublin, the Richmond, and the University in Dublin,
the Belfast and the Salvio in Belfast, others probably in the smaller
towns,
but between these various clubs there was no connecting link, no central
organisation drew them together. To remedy this, the Irish Chess
Association was founded last spring. Already its invigorating
influence
is felt, most strongly, perhaps in Dublin, to which hitherto its
operations
have been confined, and to a not inconsiderable extent elsewhere.
By the constitution of the Association it is to hold annual meetings
alternately
in Dublin and some provincial town. Of these meetings the first
was
held in Dublin last October, and proved successful, even beyond the
expectation
of its promoters.
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However behind the scenes all was not quite so
rosy.
T. B. Rowland had resigned from his post of Honorary Secretary and
Treasurer
of the Association to be replaced by Alfred Peake, who had competed in
the 1885 tournament. That this may not have been a trivial matter
can be seen by the statement in the Chess Players Annual and
Club Directory
1891 edited by Mr and Mrs Rowland that After the resignation
of Mr
Rowland and other resignations that followed, the association was not
worked
on its original lines, and eventually became a thing of
nought. |
Porterfield Rynd had also taken up residence in
London, where he had joined the famous City of London Chess Club, and so
the two main progenitors of the Association were not involved in its
second
annual congress. |
If there had been any doubt about who could be
described
as the Irish champion after the 1885 tournament, the programme for the
1886 event made it quite clear. There were to be two tournaments,
an even tournament and a handicap tournament and the Championship
of Ireland
for the year will be won by the Irish resident who in the even
tournament
scores highest. |
The 1886 tournament was much stronger that the
inaugural
congress because Pollock was joined by two formidable English masters
Joseph
Blackburne and Amos Burn. It was expected that the winner would
come
from these three players but it was something of a surprise that Pollock
triumphed with a full score in what was undoubtedly the finest
achievement
of his career. The International Chess Magazine for
November
1886 records that The highest Irish scorer in the Tourney is Mr R.
W.
Barnett who thus becomes Irish champion, a post hitherto held by Mr P.
Rynd who, however, is now resident in London. |
Barnett, later Sir Richard Barnett, had been the
president of the victorious Oxford team in the 1886 Varsity match with
Cambridge. After the First World War he became a Conservative MP
and was president of the House of Commons Chess Circle and played
against
Capablanca in the latters famous simultaneous exhibition in the
Houses
of Parliament in 1919. Barnetts obituary in the Belfast
Newsletter
for 18th October 1930 said this about his sporting achievements: |
From his boyhood days he took a keen interest in
markmanship,
and at the age of 15 he was the Irish rifle champion. He was one
of the twelve representatives of the UK at the Olympic Games of 1908,
and
finished fourth, winning the Diploma of Merit for shooting at 1000
yards.
Just as in markmanship so in chess, Sir Richard Barnett distinguished
himself
in his early boyhood, achieving the remarkable record of being champion
chess player of Ulster at the age of twelve, and of Ireland from 1886 to
1889.
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It is intriguing that the International Chess
Magazine should suggest that Barnett had succeeded Rynd as Irish
chess
champion. If the rules of the 1886 championship had applied to the
1885 tournament then Rynd as the highest placed Irish resident would
have
taken the title of Irish champion. However this may not be the
reason
that Rynd was regarded as the champion before Barnett. Instead
there
is the possibility that Rynd had been the holder of the title of Irish
chess champion since the 1865 tournament and that the 1885 ICA event did
not affect his status because it was not regarded as determining the
national
championship. |
The ICA did not hold a congress in the 1887/88
season
but it hoped to make up for this by holding two congresses the following
season in Limerick and Dublin. In the end there was only one
congress
in the 1888/89 season. It commenced on the 4th March 1889 at the
Coffee Palace Hall, Townsend Street, Dublin. The date had been
chosen
in the hope of attracting a number of English based masters looking for
competitive practice before setting sail for the United States for the
imminent Sixth American Chess Congress. This resulted in three
master
strength players entering; two of the masters who competed in the 1886
event, Pollock and Burn, were joined by the Irish born James
Mason.
Unfortunately a number of strong Irish amateurs did not compete.
As well as the main tournament there was also to be a Handicap event and
the championship of Ireland was to go to the highest scorer among those
players competing in the Handicap not accepting odds. The Masters
Tournament was won by Burn. |
The Handicap Tournament, originally planned to
take
place alongside the Masters event, was postponed and only started about
a month later and ended towards the end of May. There were 32
competitors,
divided into qualifying pools of eight from which the first two
qualified
making a final consisting of 8 players. There were ten players
playing
off scratch (not accepting odds) and thus eligible for the Irish
championship.
Those 10 were Fitzpatrick, Morphy and Woollett, who had all played in
the
Masters, plus Baker, Drury, Fawcett, Hobson, Middleton, Miley and
Soffe.
The title of Irish Champion and the first prize in the Handicap of
£4
both went to G. D. Soffe. |
This was to be the last Irish Chess Association
congress and its organisational role was taken over by the Hibernian
Chess
Association. However this was not to be the end of the story for
the ICA because T. B. Rowland returned to its helm and, although he
occasionally
organised over-the-board events, he concentrated his organisational
energies
on furthering correspondence chess, establishing the Irish
Correspondence
Chess Championship. He was probably recalling past glories when he
had this letter published in the Belfast Newsletter on the 2nd
December
1926, shortly before that years championship began in
Belfast: |
There is no truth in the statement that the Irish
Chess
Union is the directing body of chess affairs in Ireland. The Irish
Chess Association, which numbers over 500 members, was founded in 1885,
under the patronage of the Right Hon The Earl of Dartrey, KP, General
the
Right Hon Lord Wolsey, GCB, CGMG, the Right Hon Viscount Bangor, Admiral
R. B. Beechey, RHA, and other distinguished chess players, and has since
then kept alive chess throughout the whole of Ireland, and is the only
organisation that has done so.
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The Hibernian Chess
Association
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The Irish Chess Union (see below) had recognised
that Porterfield Rynd had been Irish chess champion since 1892.
The
championship he had won then had been organised by the Hibernian Chess
Association. This body had been set up in the 1891/92 season and
was, according to the Belfast Newsletter: |
A federation of chess clubs and individual
players.
Its object is the promotion of the theory and practice of chess in all
the various branches. The governing body consists of president,
vice
presidents, council with honorary secretary and treasurer. In
addition
to the honorary members, foreign players of distinction may be elected
honorary members.
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The first annual congress of the Association
commenced
on the 3rd January 1892 at the XL Café, Grafton Street. The
honorary secretary and undoubtedly driving force behind the new
Association
was T. B. Rowland. There were a considerable number of events;
four
individual competitions, the most important being the Championship
Tournament,
open to all first class Irish chess players with the winner to receive
£5 and the title of Chess Champion of Ireland. |
Play in all the various tournaments was go-as-you
please in that it was for the competitors themselves to make
arrangements
as to when they would play at the venue but all games had to be played
by the 23rd January. It was possible to enter for a short time
after
the congress had started and interestingly Porterfield Rynd was one of
the additional entrants. The Irish Times stated that: |
It was pleasing to note that a more successful or
better
managed chess congress has not been hitherto been seen in this
country.
It is supported by the heads of all the chess clubs in Dublin, as well
as a large number of provincial players, and has been well attended
throughout.
The play is of a high order, and the well managed events are attractive
and interesting. On being congratulated on the successful working
of the meeting, the hon. Secrertary stated that he was not to be
congratulated
as the meeting worked itself. Nevertheless, the vast
amount of
work undertaken by the promoter is recognised and appreciated.
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The tournament was won by Porterfield Rynd and
his
son, K. A. Rynd, made it a family double by sharing first place in the
Class 1 event. |
The Association held its second annual meeting
commencing
2nd January 1893 again at the XL Café. Among the events
there
was again there was to be a tournament for the Irish Championship open
to all first-class Irish players. Unfortunately the only entrant
was Porterfield Rynd and he therefore retained his championship without
a contest. |
However the Belfast Newsletter reported on
the 23rd March that in a match for the Irish Championship: |
A close contest is proceeding between Messrs E. L.
Harvey
and Porterfield Rynd, the Irish chess champion. Eight games have
been decided, and so far the score is three each and two draws.
Our
townsman is to be congratulated on making so good a fight with such a
formidable
foe, and it is to be hoped that he may succeed in bringing the
championship
to Belfast. The player who scores the first five games wins the
match.
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The paper reported two weeks later that the match
had been temporarily suspended and unfortunately there is no record of
it ever having been recommenced. Ernest Harvey was, like
Porterfield
Rynd, a barrister. |
The Hibernian Chess Association never held
another
congress and it seems to have fairly quickly faded from the Irish chess
scene. It was to be another 20 years before a further Irish
Championship
was to be held. By then Porterfield Rynd was in his mid-sixties
and
his powers waning but by putting up the championship he won in 1892 he
conferred extra legitimacy on the fledgling Irish Chess Union and its
first
championship.
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The Irish Chess Union
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The Irish Chess Union was founded in 1912 and
held
its first Championship in the following year. The details of the
conditions for the contest appeared in the Irish Times: |
The Irish Chess Union has arranged for a series of
matches
to decide the Irish Championship for the year 1913, to be held in Dublin
during the present season. The first match will take place at the
rooms of the Dublin Chess Club, commencing Monday 10th February at
10.30pm.
The following with Mr Porterfield Rynd, the present champion
are eligible
to compete: the chess champions of the four provinces. All such
players
to have been born within the province which they represent, or to have
been resident therein for the past two years. The challenging
players
are to compete among themselves in an American tourney. The winner
to play the present champion a match of five games. All games to
be played under the rules of the British Chess Code. Number of
moves
per hour to be 20. Entries: J. A. Porterfield Rynd, chess
champion
of Ireland; C. J. Barry, chess champion of Leinster; J. J.
OHanlon, chess
champion of Ulster; and a player representing the Cork Chess
Association.
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No representative of the Cork Chess Association
came forward for the preliminary tournament and instead a match of five
games was arranged between Barry and OHanlon, won by the
latter.
The chess column in the Belfast Newsletter for the 17th July 1913
provided news of the imminent commencement of the championship
contest: |
Owing to various causes, among which was the illness
of Mr Rynd, no meeting has taken place between the champion and the
challenger.
We have just been informed, however, that Mr Rynd has now intimated to
Mr OHanlon that he will be prepared to begin the match to defend
his title
on Monday 4th August. This, we believe is the first time Mr Rynd
has had to defend the title, which he won many years ago.
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The Irish Times for the 4th August carried
further details about the match: |
A match to decide the Irish Chess Championship has
been
arranged to take place under the auspices of the Irish Chess Union on
Monday
to Friday this week, at the rooms of the Dublin Chess Club in Lincoln
Place.
The last contest for the title took place so far back as the year 1892,
when the present holder of the championship, Mr J. A. Porterfield Rynd,
scored an easy win in a large field of competitors, truly representative
of the best play of the time in Ireland. The Irish Chess Union
took
the matter in hand last year, with a view to bringing on a match with
the
host of younger players, who have been trained in the more modern views
of the game. It will be a crucial test which the old-time champion
is called on to face. Apart from the fact of Mr Rynd being more or
less divorced from serious chess for some years past, his opponent, Mr
J. J. OHanlon, the Ulster champion and winner of the running up
competition
in February last, has wide experience in modern chess tourney play, and
the contest should prove most interesting and productive of chess of the
highest class.
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The match turned out to be a comfortable victory
for the challenger. The chess column of the Belfast
Newsletter
for the 7th August reported on the progress of the match: |
The third, and as it proved, the deciding game was
played
yesterday morning, the challenger again having the move. The
champion
played rather rapidly, and after about 20 moves sacrificed a Rook for a
Knight. The result was disastrous, for his opponent maintained his
advantage, and after about a dozen more moves forced Mr Rynd to
resign.
Mr OHanlon thus secures the title of chess champion of Ireland,
which
has been held by Mr Rynd for over forty years. We heartily
congratulate
him on his success.
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OHanlon went on to become the dominant
figure in
Irish Chamionships for a generation, winning the title a further eight
times. His last title was in 1940 but he continued to compete
regularly
until his last appearance in 1956. |
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