nikolaas: The excellent "dictionnaire des échecs" by Le Lionnais (which I obtained for €1 - second hand books are great), says only "champion de Belgique 1945 et 1948", but this does no justice to Devos, who was for two decades or so one of Belgium's leading players (for what that's worth...).
His brief carreer is very much alike to O'Kelly's. Both appreared in the 30's and were Belgiums top players right before WWII. Both played very frequently immediately after the world war. However then for some reason unknown to me, Devos carreer stopped.The first tournament he played, as far as I know, is the Belgian champioenship in 1931. In 1933 he was Belgian's fourth board at the Folkestone olimpiad. The same he he was second in the Belgian champioenship but received the title as he was the first Belgian. In 1936 he won again a Belgian championship. 'A', because there were 3 played that year. Some players did not agree with the BSF's way of organising the champioenship and decided to hold their own. They held actually two: one where only Belgian players were allowed and one international championship. To complicate matters some more, the BSF still organised it's own championship. (Note that there was also a championship of Flanders. So you thought FIDE systems were confusing?)
anyway it was the unofficial international championship of Belgium that Devos won.
His first international tournament was Brussels 1937, where he finished 3rd, behind O'Kelly and Feigins. The same year he tied for first in the Belgian champioenship with O'Kelly. Since the play-off match finished 1½-1½, they both shared the title.A year later he was declared a national master.
In 1940 he won the national title, in 1941 both the national and the international, this time edging out O'Kelly and Van Seters. In 1945 he won the international Belgian champioenship again (before Soultanbeieff and Van Seters), as well as the national title.
However his international carreer didn't go as well. In Hastings 1945-46 he played in the first series, but shared the last place. In Londen 1946 he shared the 9-11th place out of 12 players (but defeating Euwe along the way). The same year he defeated Soultanbeieff 3½-2½ in a short match.
For the rest of his carreer just a brief overview:
National Belgian champioenship 1946:
-6th with 4/9.
Maastricht 1946
-Shared 2nd with Van Scheltinga 5½/9. Before mainly Alexander, Prins and Soultanbeieff.
Baarn 1947 group A
-shared 6th with Van Doesburgh 3/7.Before Maróczy.
Six masters tournament Brussel 1947
-5th with 1½/5.
Belgium-Holland 1947
-1½-½ won against Kramer on the fourth board.
National championship of Belgium 1947
-4th 5½/9
France-Belgium 1948
-½-1½ lost against Muffang on 2nd board.
National champiosnhip of Belgium 1948
-1st 7/9 half a point ahead of Dunkelblum.
Baarn 1948
-4th 5/9 before ao Prins.
Mastert tournament Brussels 1948
-shared first with O'Kelly, Van Seters and Dunkelblum. 1½/3
International champiosnhip of Belgium 1949
-3rd 5½/9 Before ao Soultanbeieff.
Belgium-France 1949
-1½-½ won against Betbeder Matibet on 1st board.
Belgium-Holland 1950
-½-1½ lost against Van Scheltinga on 2nd board.
9th olimpiad Dubrovnik 1950
-6/15 as 3rd player.
Holland-Belgium 1959
-1-1 against Spanjaard on 7th board.
It is remarkable the after 1950 he didn't play a single tournament of importance,although he turned every now and then in the interclubs.
PS: the game I posted above can be played over on my website following -> schaken -> schaakhistorie -> exploten in het buitenland -> Baarn 1948 -> online naspelen.
Kibitzing
