The Time Traveller

The Belfast New-Letter for the 14th March reported on the course of the contest:

"The match was keenly contested throughout, and until the very end it was impossible to say what the result would be. The first win was scored by Belfast, but it was quickly followed by a win for the other side and two draws. Then for a while Dublin was leading by 3.5 to 2.5 and so on. When twelve games had finished the score was 6.5 for Belfast to 5.5 for Dublin, but just before the time for closing play the Belfast player at board No. 18 resigned to H.M Dockrell, bringing the score level again at 6.5 each."

At this point the adjudication process on the six uncompleted games began. The Belfast New-Letter report continues:

"The adjudicators, Messrs. T.G Cranston and J.J. O'Hanlon, then began their work on five of the unfinished games. At board No. 2 C.J. Barry, with the White, has some advantage, and the adjudicators decided it was sufficient to win and awarded him the game. At board No. 10 Lord Dunsany was awarded the game in similar circumstances. At the 6th board, A. Orr was a piece up against 2 Pawns, but here a draw was the verdict, and this was also the decision at boards 9 and 11, where none of the players had made any headway. At the top board, where Messrs. Cranston and O'Hanlon were themselves concerned, the second board players acted as adjudicators. The advantage was slightly with the Northern player, but the adjudicators could not find any winning continuation and awarded a draw. This made the final score: Dublin 10.5; Belfast 8.5."

The teams had tea together and then Lord Dunsany presented prizes won in a number of recently finished events. W. J. Allen, the Belfast board No. 3 received the gold medal for the Irish Correspondence Chess Championship (his 6th victory in the event), P.J. Laracy, the Dublin board No. 5, the prize for the championship of Leinster and T. G. Cranston the shield for the Championship of Ireland. Lord Dunsany's speech was reported by the Belfast News-Letter and a humorous opening gave way to a more philosophical middle game before the endgame concentrated on the technical details:

".... he supposed that if it was suspected in the city of Dublin that roughly speaking forty of the most level-headed men in Ireland were meeting in that place there would be considerable excitement among the civic Guards. But the excitement would easily be allayed if it were added that they were only chess players. The common idea of a game of chess was that two people sat down facing each other and did not move hand or foot for quite a long while. That, after all, was very much like a blind man's view of a football match. He could not appreciate it. The ordinary man who could not see or imagine what was passing in the brain of a chess player was in much the same position as a blind man at a football match. With regard to the inter-city matches, as they knew Dublin and Belfast were level on two and a-half matches each, but Dublin had secured that day's match by two games and was now ahead 3.5 to 2.5. Possibly the record would not stand in that position very long."

Mr Harold Thomas, President of both the Belfast Chess Club and the Ulster Chess Union, on behalf of the Belfast players, then thanked their Dublin hosts for they way they had been received and entertained. He said, "There was not much excitement in the Belfast chess world, and they looked forward to the inter-city match as the event of the year. Their visit on this occasion had been a very enjoyable one, all the more so as they had not been badly beaten."

Mr Bowesman concluded proceedings by observing that Irish chess players were all under one union and that all their contests were "conducted with the utmost good fellowship" and then the Belfast players were on the way to take the 6-40 p.m. train home.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Bc5 4.Bb5
4.Nxe5 Nxe5 5.d4 is good here, but White wished to run into a variation of the Four Knights, which is unfavourable to Black.
4...d6 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 Bd7 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.Qd3 Qf6
The Queen is not well placed here, and later is in some danger.
9.Be3 Ne7 10.0–0 0–0 11.f4 Rab8
The three moves made with this Rook were loss of time, and only strengthened White's position on the Queen's side.
12.b3 Rb4 13.Nce2 Bg4 14.c3 Rbb8 15.Ng3
Threatening h3, which would force the Black Bishop to return.
15...h5
Black determined to maintain the Bishop, and this coupled with the position of his Queen, worked out to his disadvantage.
16.h3 h4

17.e5
17.hxg4 hxg3 18.Rf3 (or Nf3) would have given Black a useful attack.
17...dxe5
17...Qg6 at once seems better.
18.Ne4 Qg6 19.Nxc5 exd4
And here 19...Qxd3 was better, for example 20.Nxd3 exd4 21.hxg4 dxe3 22.Rae1 Nd5 23.c4.
20.Qxg6 Nxg6 21.hxg4 dxe3 22.Nd7 Rbd8 23.Nxf8 Kxf8 24.Rae1 Rd3 25.c4 Rd2 26.Rxe3 Rxa2 27.f5 Ne7 28.Rfe1 h3 29.gxh3 1–0
He must lose the Knight or be mated.