Duel in Dublin - Steinitz's First International Tournament Win

In my last blog post (see here), we took a look at the first major tournament that followed the World Championship match between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort. While such a match is obviously of immense importance, it doesn't fall within the scope of my current series, and thus I won't be talking about it much. However, given the weight of the result, and the fact that Steinitz wouldn't play in another tournament until after he lost the title in 1894, it seems like I ought to talk about him in some capacity.

Today I would thus like to talk about a small congress that took place in the city of Dublin, Ireland in late 1865. This was the first notable tournament to be held after the British Chess Association seemed to fade into nothingness following the grand London 1862 tournament. Among its features were the first Irish Chess Championship (won by James Alexander Porterfield Rynd, who would win the championship for the second time in 1892) and an international tournament, which is our chief focus today.

Now, calling this an international tournament is a little generous, because nobody outside of Britain actually entered. Among its entries was Steinitz, whose foreign-born status meant that he was ineligible for many British tournaments that were restricted to British-born players (for example, the BCA Challenge Cup events held in the following years). Having moved to London following the 1862 tournament, he was doubtlessly eager to participate in whatever events there may be.

I didn't talk about this tournament in my Winner's POV series, and hopefully the games below will give you a good idea as to why. For one, the small turnout was a feature I was hoping to mostly avoid in future chapters. The bigger issue is the quality of play, with two of Steinitz's opponents making serious mistakes right out of the opening. The game played against William Bolt - champion of the Bristol Chess Club in 1864 - was a relatively good one, however, and the final move is our thumbnail for today.

Now surely if I was looking to make a post about one of Steinitz's earliest achievements, I would want to talk about something slightly more significant than him crushing some relatively weak players, right? Thankfully, this post is saved by the tournament not featuring four players, but five. The one player I've not yet featured was the President of the Dublin Chess Club and fourth place finisher at the London 1862 tournament, George MacDonnell.

MacDonnell was arguably the strongest Irish-born player, as evidenced by him winning another tournament at this Congress restricted to British- or Irish-born players (distinct from the aforementioned Irish Chess Championship, which he didn't enter). He was rather consistent in this tournament as well, beating the same three players as Steinitz, if a little slower. Do check the final moves in his game against Edward Cordner for what could have been a very impressive swindle.

While the exact dates for these games aren't known, what is known is that Steinitz and MacDonnell saved their clash for the very end. This was a big deal for Steinitz, who couldn't last even 30 moves against MacDonnell when the two played at London three years ago. As with any good chess storyline, there was revenge on the table.

The first game was a good one for Steinitz, who was once again the beneficiary of an opening mistake. MacDonnell didn't seem to understand the value of giving Steinitz the Bishop pair in a completely open position, which conceded the initiative as a result. Steinitz probably cashed his advantage in a little too early, as he was able to win a pawn at the cost of many exchanges. After MacDonnell ensured the extra pawn was a Rook pawn - the most drawish of all pawns - Steinitz decided not to test his opponent's endgame skills, and a draw was agreed upon.

This tournament took place in that weird interim period where draws were replayed (a holdover from the knockout tournament days), thus the action isn't quite finished.

In the second game, MacDonnell played the solid Philidor, but once again gave up his Bishop unprovoked. As we're still mostly in the Romantic Era, it should come as little surprise that Steinitz thrust forth the pawns in front of his King, going on the attack. Had MacDonnell taken the offered pawn on f4, his defensive task would have been doable; once he let the pawn get to f5, things started to collapse.

This game was ideally a good indicator that the Bishop pair was a valuable tool, as both of Steinitz's Bishops were very strong attackers. One went to h6 to target the pawn on g7, and once its defence was sufficiently clunky, the other went to a4 to ensure a material gain. MacDonnell tried to give up his Queen in exchange for two of Steinitz's pieces, but his King remained exposed and endangered until the very end. I think it's somewhat artistic that in the final position, MacDonnell's two extra pieces are the subject of Steinitz's tactic.

With that, Steinitz had won his first international tournament with a "perfect" 4/4, collecting the £15 first prize. While far from his biggest success, this was the first tournament he won following his departure from Vienna (his win in the club championship of 1861/1862 helped inspire him to travel to London in the first place), and thus it's worth at least a superficial look. Hopefully I've succeeded in facilitating that for you today.

Next Winner's POV is on the shorter end and thus it hopefully won't take too long to write. Hopefully...