Albéric O'Kelly de Galway

Albéric O'Kelly de Galway (May 17, 1911, Brussels–October 3, 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.

He 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 1st at the 1947 European Zonal tournament at Hilversum, 1st= with Pirc at Teplice Sanov, 2nd= at Venice. The next year O'Kelly finished 1st 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 1st at Dortmund 1951.

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 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.

References

• Golombek, Harry (1977), Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, Crown Publishing, p. 219, ISBN 0-517-53146-1
• Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess (2 ed.), Oxford University Press, p. 277, ISBN 0-19-280049-3

External links

• Alberic O'Kelly de Galway player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• O'Kelly de Galway at chessmail.com
• Biography (in Dutch)