James Rynd

Background

He was born on 6 April 1846 the son of Dublin solicitor James William Goodlatte Rynd and Isabella Susannah Stephens Rynd.

Career

This Tournament was run alongside an international chess tournament in Dublin. Porterfield Rynd"s birth date is often listed incorrectly as 1855 this has led some books to cast doubt on his claim to the Irish championship in 1865, such as The Guinness Book of Chess Records by Ken Whyld. But further articles and his obituaries discount this and state he was born in 1846 and died aged 71 in 1917.

Porterfield Rynd held an Bachelor of Laws, in 1869 he entered the King"s Inns, Dublin, and was called to the Bar in 1874.

He briefly wrote a column for the Irish Sportsman and Farmer. Porterfield Rynd was a Unionist and produced pamphlet of his thoughts on the subject in 1906 for the Irish Unionist Association.

A letter of Rynd"s outlining support for the unionist cause are contained in letters to Andrew Bonar Law, to whom the Colourful Rynd was described as being a confidante. Rynd was also associated with the Dublin Liberal Unionist Association, serving as its chairman.

In the 1890s Porterfield Rynd edited a chess column which regularly appeared on the back page of the Saturday issue of Dublin"s Evening Herald.

He died in Dublin on 17 March 1917, his obituary was in the Irish Times of Monday 19 March 1917, RYND – 17 March 1917 JAMES ALEXANDER PORTERFIELD RYND, Barrister-at-Law, in his 71st year, and there was also an obituary in the Belfast Newsletter 22 March 1917.

Achievements

• He won the Irish Chess Championship competition in 1865 was run under the auspices of the Hibernia Chess Association a forerunner of the Irish Chess Union. He was accepted as the Irish Chess Champion until 1885 when a tournament was hosted by the Irish Chess Association to find an Irish Champion, Rynd did not play in this tournament. Rynd won the title again in 1892. Easily the most colourful personage in the place was Porterfield Rynd, one of the ablest members of the Dublin bar—a man who, if he had been half as devoted to the drudgery of work as he was to the allurement of play, could easily have attained the highest honours in the judiciary. He was not burdened with modesty and the title Irish Champion appears beside his column.

Membership

He was a member of Clontarf Tennis and Chess Club, and played many sports in his youth. Rynd was a member of Dublin Chess Club and played in the first ever Armstrong Cup, the oldest Irish league competition.