A New Year’s game: Armstrong-Dix, 1897

Previous posts here have discussed William Armstrong B. L. (1848-1899), the donor of the Armstrong Cup.

He donated the Cup in 1888, but left the running of it to others, and doesn’t seem to have played in it himself. For the most part his name subsequently appears in chess reports either as the donor of the Cup or in some peripheral role in the chess scene (one of the prominent people present on major occasions, for example).

He is recorded as playing two consultation games against the visiting F. J. Lee in November 1892 (Armstrong with “Porterfield” Rynd (Irish champion 1865-1886 and 1892-1913) and George Soffe (Irish champion 1889-1892), Lee with John Howard Parnell (brother of Charles Stuart Parnell) and Alfred S. Peake) but the games weren’t recorded. No game of his appears in the ICU games archive.

But at least one of his games was recorded for posterity. Porterfield Rynd’s column in the Saturday Herald on January 2, 1897 gives the following report:

“NEW YEAR’S DAY

At the Lucan Spa Hotel, amid all the gaiety of the Christmas and New Year’s festivities, the sparkler given below came off between Mr. Willie Armstrong, the donor of the Dublin Inter-Club Challenge Cup, and Mr. Dix, one of the most prominent of the Dawsonians:—”
1. e4 e5 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd4 4. Qxd4 Qe7+ 5. Be3 Qb4+ 6. Qxb4 Bxb4+ 7. Nc3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Bf5 9. Bd3 Bg6 10. Nf3 Nd7 11. O-O-O O-O-O 12. Bxa7 b6 13. Ba6 mate

Armstrong - Dix, New Year's Day 1897

William Armstrong – E. R. McC. Dix, New Year’s Day 1897
Position after 11… O-O-O

[Click to replay the full game.]

Happy New Year!

This entry was posted in Games. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply