| Albéric O'Kelly de Galway | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Albéric O'Kelly de Galway |
| Country | Belgium |
| Born | 17 May 1911 Brussels, Belgian |
| Died | 3 October 1980 (aged 69) |
| Title | Grandmaster |
Albéric O'Kelly de Galway (17 May 1911, Brussels – 3 October 1980, Brussels) was a Belgian chess Grandmaster (1956), and an International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1962), most famous for being the third ICCF World Champion in correspondence chess between 1959 and 1962. He was also a chess writer. One of his most notable games was the draw with Bobby Fischer.
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O'Kelly de Galway won the Belgian championships thirteen times between 1937 and 1959. He placed first at Beverwijk 1946. In 1947 he become one of Europe's leading players, finishing first at the 1947 European Zonal tournament at Hilversum, tied for first place with Pirc at Teplice Sanov, tied for second at Venice. The next year O'Kelly de Galway finished first at São Paulo ahead of Eliskases and Rossetto. He earned the title International Master (IM) in 1950, the first year the title was awarded. He placed first at Dortmund 1951. O'Kelly de Galway finished first at the round-robin Utrecht 1961 with 6½/9, followed by Karl Robatsch second with 6 points and Arthur Bisguier and Aleksandar Matanović tied for third and fourth with 5½.[1]
O'Kelly de Galway was made an International Arbiter in 1962 and was the chief arbiter of the world championship matches between Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky in 1966 and 1969. In 1974 he was the arbiter for the Moscow Karpov–Korchnoi match.
O'Kelly de Galway was a good linguist, speaking six languages well (French, Dutch, German, English, Spanish, and Russian, and also some Italian). He published many books and articles, often in languages other than French.
He wrote the book Improve Your Chess Fast, published by Batsford. Another title was The Sicilian Flank Game, also published by Batsford.
| This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves. |
The O'Kelly Variation in the Sicilian defence: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6[2] is named after him.
| Preceded by Viacheslav Ragozin |
World Correspondence Chess Champion 1959–1962 |
Succeeded by Vladimir Zagorovsky |