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Alberic O'Kelly de Galway vs Paul Devos
"Whip It" (game of the day Jul-22-2012)
BEL (1937)
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense. King's Knight Variation (A15)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-18-07  nikolaas: Since Devos and O'Kelly finished aqual in the Belgian championship of 1937 (with 7½/9, 1 point ahead of Dunkelblum), a play-off was needed. This game is the first of the play-off match and the only one that gained some fame. Although it wouldn't score high as a chess problem (because of capture and checks), the finish - starting from 21...Qxf2 - has a certain degree of elegance. O'Kelly won the second game while the third was a short draw. Both players shared the title.

Note that, when this game was played, O'Kelly was still rather unknown although that very year his star began to shine brighter with every tournament he played. In the beginning of the year he had won a small fourway tournament in Brussels. He had also done quite well in the 1937 olimpiad, which was held right before the Belgian championship. As is well known his real breakthrough came after WWII.

Aug-12-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  tpstar: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. b3 g6 4. Bb2 Bg7 5. g3 0-0 6. Bg2 d5 <Double Fianchetto openings are notoriously slow. Here Black chooses a Grunfeld set-up with ... c6 & ... d5 which was also successful in R Forster vs O Dimakiling, 2006 & N Delgado vs R D'Arruda, 2005 although the overall results favor White Opening Explorer > 7. 0-0 Na6 8. d3 <[last book move]<>> Be6 9. Nbd2 Qc8 <Black wants to trade lsb with 10 ... Bh3> 10. Re1 Bh3 11. Bh1 h5 12. Rc1 <Threatening 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. cd winning a Pawn> Qf5 13. a3 Bh6 <Pins the Nd2 to the Rc1 while transferring the Bishop to an active diagonal> 14. b4 Ng4 15. cxd5 cxd5 16. b5 Nb8 17. Rc5 Ne3 <Knights on the 6th rank are always deadly> 18. Qb3 <18. fxe3? Bxe3#> Nd7 19. Rc7 e5 <[19 ... Rac8 20. Qc3 Nf6 21. Rc1 Rxc7 22. Qxc7 ]<>> 20. Qc3 <[20. d4!? Rfc8 21. Rxc8+ Rxc8 22. fxe3 ]<>> d4 21. Nxd4 <Big Finish>


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21 ... Qxf2+!! 22. Kxf2 Ng4+ 23. Kf3 e4+! <Decoy> 24. Kxe4 <24. Nxe4/dxe4 Nde5#> Ndf6+ 25. Kf3 Ne5+ 26. Kf2 Nfg4+ 27. Kg1 Be3# 0-1.


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<[Fritz 7]<>>

Jun-26-08  apexin: stunning queen sac!
Jun-27-08  saintstephen11: Every move by white after the sac is forced too. Really amazing move. The game was over at that point.
Jul-22-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  profK: Every player would like to have one of these games in their portfolio before they retire....
Jul-22-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: For those who don't get the pun, it is an allusion to Devo's greatest (and only) hit, "Whip It." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbt3...
Jul-22-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Break your mother's back!

Their version of the Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" was a minor chart presence. Rolling Stone magazine voted it "Best cover of the year" when it came out, around '78.

Jul-22-12  shaikriyaz: weakness of the f2 was glaring since move 18, but the imaginative queen sac was as good as it can get!
Jul-22-12  sevenseaman: Its a thumping good game. Black is full of hubris; I didn't expect such high quality fare.
Jul-22-12  erimiro1: Are we not men? He is DEVO! Nice pun
Jul-22-12  LoveThatJoker: Awesome game! 25...Nxh2+ followed by 26...Nfg4+ also mates.

LTJ

PS. If you appreciate Thin Lizzy and Devo, then you'll love this pic:

http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=phil+...

Jul-22-12  KingV93: Crack That Whip! for a Kings Indian player this is about as good as it gets, Qsac and mate with the DSB.
Jul-22-12  tonsillolith: Why not <20. Rxd7 Qxd7 21. Nxe5>?
Jul-22-12  zakkzheng: A beautiful game played by black
Jul-22-12  5hrsolver: Interesting how the king is pushed back to g1.
Jul-22-12  master of defence: I think that 11.Bxh3 was better than 11. Bh1.
Jul-22-12  Chessmensch: Knights to Remember.
Jul-22-12  master of defence: <Chessmensch> Two bishops for never forget is best.
Jul-22-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  eternaloptimist: Wow! Devos did a brilliant job of setting up a mating net! The only 2 moves that he played that didn't have any value to them (IMO) are 7...♘a6 (even though it's a book move) b/c after 16.♙b5 it had to retreat back to the b8 square w/o having done anything & 11...♙h5 (didn't serve any purpose). The ♕ sac 21...♕xf2+!! & the decoy 23...♙e4+! helped make this a very enjoyable game for me!! I don't remember ever playing over a Devos game before but it definitely won't be the last time that I play over 1 of his games!! It's a tragedy for chess fans that his games aren't more well known.
Jul-23-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: Funny chase,the king into the open and then back to his castling lair.
Jul-23-12  tonsillolith: Would <20. Rxd7 Qxd7 21. Nxe5> have been better?
Feb-24-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: Devos' "Immortal game".
Mar-25-19  Garech: Great attack!
Mar-26-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: Duplicate of O'Kelly vs P Devos, 1937. Correction slip submitted.

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