David Rennie Hay
OBITUARY.
DAVID R. HAY. Word reached here by cable of the death of David Rennie Hay, which occurred on October 10. The deceased gentleman’s name was a household word for many years wherever chess or draughts was played in New Zealand. He occupied the position of Chess and Draughts editor of the Otago Witness for a number of years up to the time of the Melbourne Exhibition in 1880. when he journeyed to Melbourne to take part in the draughts tournament held in that city in connection with the Exhibition. He settled there, and was subsequently installed as Chess and Draughts Editor of the Melbourne Weekly Times, which post he filled until meeting with an accident some four years ago, which incapacitated him entirely. During his career he did yeoman service for the game of dranghts. He was the originator of the Town v. Country matches in Dunedin, which have reached noteworthy dimensions in recent years. In Melbourne he organised similar gatherings, and during his active years the Melbourne Town v. Country meetings held the world’s record for number of players engaged. He engineered the “Herd Laddie's” tour of New Zealand, and did similar service for Alfred Jordan in Victoria. The late Mr Hay was a strong player of both draughts and chess, was a good writer, and possessed ah endless fund of pawky humour. As reminiscent of old times, we give a few games played by the deceased, and feel sure players of the old school will appreciate them, not for their intrinsic value, but for their aroma of “the good old days.
3 Game Match vs. D. R. Hay, Dunedin CC, 1878
Hay won 2-1
Australian Championship, October 1888
The Australian Championship was held in October 1888, and a valuable summary is on an unnumbered page of volume one of The Records of Australian Chess by John van Manen (Modbury Heights, 1986):
Book of the 30th & 31st Congresses
Obituary
NZ Chess Championships Results
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References:
[1] Weekly Times (Melbourne) Sat 24 Oct 1914
[2] Otago Witness, 6 February 1901