Education
The next year O'Kelly de Galway finished first at São Paulo ahead of Eliskases and Rossetto.
The next year O'Kelly de Galway finished first at São Paulo ahead of Eliskases and Rossetto.
He was also a chess writer. 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.
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.
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 spoke French, Dutch, German, English, Spanish, and Russian well, and also some Italian.
He published many books and articles, often in languages other than French. The O'Kelly Variation in the Sicilian Defence: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 is named after him. Alberic O'Kelly de Galway vs Arnold Denker, Mar del Plata 1948, Spanish Game: Schliemann Defense, Dyckhoff Variation (C63), 1–0
Christian Poulsen vs Alberic O'Kelly de Galway, Dubrovnik olm 1950, Sicilian Defense: O'Kelly Variation.
Normal System (B28), 0–1
Alberic O'Kelly de Galway vs Jonathan Penrose, Olympiad 1962, Sicilian Defense: Paulsen, Bastrikov Variation (B47), ½–½
Robert James Fischer vs Alberic O'Kelly de Galway Havana CAP 1965, Spanish Game: Marshall Attack, Modern Variation (C89), ½–½.