Ulster Chess History

The 1860s saw an upsurge in interest in organised chess in Ireland, with the high-point being the 1865 Dublin Chess Congress, at which Steinitz won the principal tournament. But there were other events of a more domestic character, long since forgotten, but yet, at the time, important milestones on the road to establishing chess on a national scale. Two such events were the telegraph matches of 1861/2 and 1863 between the Victoria Club of Dublin (later simply called the Dublin Chess Club) and the Belfast Chess Club.

The original challenge had come from the Dublin club and was promptly accepted by Belfast. On Saturday 14^th December 1861 the players from both clubs gathered to play the match at their respective venues by magnetic telegraph. The teams do not appear to have been arranged in order of strength.

The British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company had placed a room in their Belfast offices in Donegall Street at the disposal of the Belfast club and the Dublin players were similarly accommodated in College Green, Dublin.

The Chief Engineer of the company B. D. Wallock had taken personal charge of all the arrangements. This was also an important occasion for the company, because it was bearing the expenses of the event, in the expectation of it being a good advertisement for its services. The tributes in the following Monday's newspapers were to show that the money had been well spent.

The Belfast News-Letter commented:

The Northern Whig was equally fulsome in its praise:

At 5.00 p.m. play commenced, with it having been agreed that the match would continue until midnight. Two umpires, both of whom were members of the clubs at which they were officiating, had been appointed, a Mr. Rose acting for the Dublin players in Belfast, and a Mr. Barbour in Dublin for the Belfast players.

Something else was happening that Saturday, which was to cast an unexpected shadow over the proceedings, and to affect materially the outcome of one of the games. Prince Albert, the Prince Consort and husband of Queen Victoria, having been taken ill on Tuesday 3^rd December, was now on his deathbed. The news of a worsening of his condition on the 14th was wired to the Belfast office of the British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company. The Belfast News-Letter takes up the story:

Prince Albert died at 10.50pm that evening.

At twelve o'clock none of the games were decided and the sitting was then terminated. The Belfast players took the view that the failure to complete any of the games was a result of what they considered the extremely slow play of the Dublin players.

The Kennedy - Walker game was clearly lost for the Belfast player after his mistake in reading his opponent's move. Of the other games, the Belfast News-Letter gave its views of the position from the Belfast side: [the game scores appear further below]

Initially it was anticipated that the match would be concluded by correspondence. The News-Letter however suggested that "there should be a second sitting when [the match] could readily be terminated by wire. A match or a game, commenced by telegraph, should be finished in the same way, as, in playing by correspondence, there is no means of preventing consultation or reference to books, which was specifically prohibited in the telegraphic play."

The suggestion of the Belfast newspaper was taken up and two months later, on Saturday 15^th February 1862 the match resumed by telegraph. Again play was to be between 5.00 p.m. and midnight.

It had been previously arranged that the Belfast players, Robinson and Kennedy would resign their games, and that Kennedy should conduct Game A from the adjourned position, McLaine being unable to be present. About seven o'clock the telegraph clerk announced that Dublin had resigned on Board D, which was received in Belfast with loud cheers. Shortly afterwards, Belfast equalled the scores in the match when Neill won on Board E. However the games on Boards A and C remained undecided when twelve o'clock arrived. Arrangements were made to complete them by correspondence, with the Belfast News-Letter of the view that "the result of neither can be in favour of Dublin. Most likely both will be drawn."

The author has not been able to find any contemporary reference to what then happened in these games or even if they were continued by correspondence. The lack of any mention in the Belfast newspapers may suggest that, contrary to expectations, Dublin won the match in the later correspondence play. The only reference, at all, was one found in a report in the Northern Whig on an over-the-board encounter between the two clubs in 1896 (won by Belfast) that suggested that the four previous meetings in "1861, 1862, 1887 and 1895" had all been won by Dublin.

(Game A) A. McLaine (Belfast) - Sam Barry (Dublin)
Telegraph Match, 14.12.1861 [C41]

This was the position at adjournment. The game was resumed on the 15^th February 1862, with J. B. Kennedy taking over conduct of the white pieces. No further moves have been found and the result is unknown.

(Game B) Robert Collins (Dublin)- W. A. Robinson (Belfast)
Telegraph Match, 14.12.1861 [C38]

This was the position at the adjournment. The Northern Whig opined that "The game closes with an advantage on White's side, though with good play Black should be able, from his force of King's pawns, to contest the game for many moves".

In fact, the game was resigned without further play.

At this point play ended for the evening. The view of the Northern Whig on the game the following Monday was: "Game closes rather in favour of White, who has a very strong attack on his adversary's centre."

The game was resumed on 15^th February 1862. As with the game on Board A, no further moves have been found and the result is unknown.

[The game was adjourned here. The Northern Whig commented on the 16^th December that "Black, with the exchange and a pawn advantage, has now a winning position." The game resumed on the 15^th February 1862-Ed.]

This was the position at adjournment. The Monday morning newspapers gave their views on the game to that point. The News-Letter contented itself with "In this game the attack is kept up with great spirit by White" while the Whig more trenchantly commented "In this game Black is evidently afraid of his unseen adversary, and in thirty-one dreary moves makes a curious pawn game, and succeeds in effectually choking up his own pieces, though, on the other hand, it may be many moves before White can get his attack well opened on him."

"White making an attack which Black is unable to resist. The game to this point has been very stupid, it being impossible to see any meaning in many of Black's moves. It now becomes very interesting" - Belfast News-Letter. Black's next move is a clear blunder.

[The game was adjourned here and White resigned without further play - Ed.]

A number of friendly games were also played on both evenings, though only one of them was actually completed. In it Belfast gains revenge on the rather fortunate winner on Board F.

15....bxc6 would have kept Black in the game.

White now announced mate in two.

At a meeting of the Belfast Chess Club on Wednesday 26^th November 1862 it was resolved that a challenge to a return match, by telegraph, be sent to the Dublin club. The challenge was at once accepted by the Dublin players and arrangements were made to have a match over eight Boards in January 1863.

The date originally fixed was Thursday 22^nd January. However damage done to the telegraph wires by a storm on the Monday night on the week of the match caused a postponement. All telegraph communication between Dublin and Belfast was stopped on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on the Thursday, when the wires had been repaired, the consequent rush of business prevented the company from sparing the wire. However the delay was short-lived as the match was quickly re-arranged for the following Thursday, to commence at five o'clock.

For this second match the Magnetic Telegraph Company had generously organised that its wires and instruments were to be brought into both clubrooms, so that the Belfast Club played at its usual meeting place in Donegall Place and the Dublin Club in the Northumberland Hotel. The Belfast Club took advantage of the match being played in their clubrooms to make the most of the event. Admission was charged to those who were not members of the club and in addition a large room close to the clubroom was opened, where refreshments were available and boards provided for any strangers who might wish to play a game while the match was going on.

A large number of visitors took advantage of the opportunity of watching the match, but apparently this did not meet with universal approval. Some of the players complained about the amount of noise making it impossible to play. However, the chess columnist of the Weekly Northern Whig, in his report on the match retorted:

Once again the players do not appear to have been arranged in order of playing strength. Five of the Belfast players and four of the Dublin team had played in the 1861/2 match, but none of the games in 1863 duplicated the pairings from the earlier match.

The arrangements made by the telegraph company in Belfast went as smoothly as on the previous occasion, but as reported in the Whig "this was, unfortunately, not the case at the Dublin end, as, through some mismanagement there, more than an hour was lost before play could be commenced." On this occasion, however games were continued well past midnight and it was possible for three of the eight games to be completed. All three were won by Dublin, and the assessment of the adjourned positions in the other games pointed very clearly to an ultimate victory for the Dublin Club. The chess columnist of the Whig assessed the five unfinished games as two being in favour of Dublin, one in favour of Belfast and the two remaining games without apparent advantage to either side. While it was agreed that games could be continued by correspondence, the Belfast players conceded the match.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6....

"The attack was well kept up for forty moves by the first player, and the game was left to be finished by correspondence, at three o'clock a.m. There are some beautiful positions in this game, which, as it now remains, seems rather in favour of the Belfast player." - Weekly Northern Whig, 31^st January 1863.

"Twenty-four moves only were made before three o'clock, when play at this board also was abandoned. It has not yet been arranged whether Games B and C shall be concluded by correspondence or not. Such a way is very tedious and wearisome." - Weekly Northern Whig, 31^st January 1863. As we saw above Game B was completed by correspondence, but the author has been unable to find out whether Game C was also completed.

"Twenty-five moves had been made by three o'clock, and the game is to be finished by correspondence, Dublin having won an exchange of rook for bishop." - Weekly Northern Whig, 31^st January 1863.

Only sixteen moves were made in seven hours play in this game "This was another very slow game, and was left at 2 o'clock very equal, to be finished by correspondence." - Weekly Northern Whig, January 31^st 1863.

"Mr. McLaine played the Scotch Gambit against Mr. Buckley, and, after a good, steady game, was obliged to strike his flag about one o'clock, giving first blood to Dublin." - Weekly Northern Whig, 31^st January 1863.

"Mr. Neill made an error in the reading of move 13, to which he was held by his opponent, and this, doubtless, lost him his chance of the game." - Weekly Northern Whig, 31^st January 1863.

From the Weekly Northern Whig chess column of Saturday 31^st January 1863, in which there was a lengthy report on the match, came this clear acceptance of defeat:

Despite the candid acceptance of defeat, two issues rankled with the Belfast players and which clearly they felt had affected the result. The first of these related to rulings on misreading moves played by the opponent. As can be seen from the notes to the games, Belfast considered that the rulings in games E and H were materially responsible for Belfast having lost those games. More generally Belfast considered that, as in the first match, the Dublin players were guilty of extremely slow play. The Whig columnist had this to say in his Saturday match report:

The depth of feeling on this issue is shown by the fact that the following week the slowness of the Dublin players was again mentioned in the Whig:

These points of criticism were soon answered in this letter, appearing in the Weekly Northern Whig on the 21^st February:

The Chess Editor of the Whig gave a reply in the same issue in these terms:

In a further letter dated the 24^th February Peter Jones indicated that as the Chess Editor of the Whig did not wish any controversy on the issue of slow play, he was content to "leave your readers to form their own opinion of the merits of that question." But he had this to say on the issues concerning mistakes in reading moves:

In reply, the Chess Editor of the Whig continued to support Mr. Neill's view that his game was lost from the thirteenth move, and then added "We also think that no after-concession can compensate for the two opposite decisions of the Dublin umpire in similar cases. If the decision in Mr. Kennedy's game in the former match was right then the decision in Game E last match was wrong. It may have been very politic for the Dublin player in Game B to yield something when he had the beat of the game, but it cannot form any excuse for the course pursued in Game E."

What conclusion should the present-day reader reach? The author would suggest that while some of the Dublin players, perhaps in particular the two Barrys, were tardy in making their moves, there was no organised campaign by the Dublin Club to gain an advantage by playing slowly. As for the problem of mistaking moves, it seems that, in the second match at least, that there was an element of what you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts. Perhaps, the decision in the Walker - Kennedy game from the first match was somewhat harsh (if not necessarily incorrect) but it does seem to have affected the judgements made by Belfast about the second match.

Here is the position after White's 25^th move in Game H, Collins - Neill.

Unfortunately, although Game B, Jones - Cordner was published in the Weekly Northern Whig, Peter Jones's explanations as to "the nature of the favour" were omitted. However, what we can say is that even if he has some advantage after his eighteenth move (see diagram below) it was still a genuine favour to waive a win of a piece, due to a mistake in reading the move by his opponent, at this point.

On the Saturday immediately after the second match the chess columnist of the Northern Whig had suggested a new way for the Belfast club to join combat with the Dublin chess players:

This reply came from the Dublin Express:

It was to be 24 years before an over-the-board encounter between the two clubs was to take place.