On Devos
“Le maître belge Paul Devos est décédé le 14 juin 1981, Il était né le mars 1911 en Roumanie, de parents belges. Il fut trois fois champion de Belgique: 1937, ex aequo avec O’Kelly, 1941 devant O’Kelly et Van Seters et en 1945 devant Barzin. Sur le plan international, Paul Devos participa notamment au tournoi de Hastings 1945/46 gagné par Tartacover. Il fit aussi partie de l’équipe belge aux olympiades de Folkestone 1933 et Dubrovnik 1950. Il abandonna toute compétition au début des années cinquante.”
(G. Guillaume, Europe Échecs No.275)
Devos’ victories
| Dates | Event | Site | + | = | – | # | ||
| 01/08/1936- 16/08/1936 |
International GJEB championship | Brussels | ? | ? | ? | 5 | 7/8 | 2½ before O’Kelly de Galway |
| 11/09/1937- 21/09/1937 |
Belgian championship | Brussels | 7 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 7½/10 | shared with O’Kelly de Galway, 1 before Dunkelblum |
| 1937 | Belgian championship, play-off | Brussels | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1½/3 | shared with O’Kelly de Galway |
| 1941 | Belgian championship | Brussels | ? | ? | ? | 10 | 7/9 | ½ before Van Seters & O’Kelly de Galway |
| 1945 | FBE championship | Brussels | 5 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 7/9 | ½ before Soultanbeieff |
| 15/09/1945- 23/09/1945 |
Belgian championship | Ghent | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6½/9 | ½ before Barzin, Lemaire and Van Lennep |
| 1946 | Match Devos vs. Soultanbeieff | ? | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3½/6 | 1 before Soultanbeieff |
| 1947 | CRÉB championship | Brussels | ? | ? | ? | 11 | 8½/10 | ½ before Capart |
| 04/09/1948- 11/09/1948 |
Belgian championship | Bruges | ? | ? | ? | 10 | 7/9 | ½ before Dunkelblum |
| 11/1948 | Master tournament | Brussels | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1½/3 | shared with O’Kelly de Galway, Van Seters & Dunkelblum |
| 1950 | CÉ Colle championship, play-off match | Brussels | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2½/4 | 1 before Lemaire |
| 04/1950 | Easter tournament | Brussels | ? | ? | ? | 4 | 2/3 | shared with Cortlever, ½ before Soultanbeieff |
Devos’ rivals
This is a list of Devos’ results against some of his main rivals in tournament play. To be put on the list, a player has to have played Devos at least six times in at least three events and have a chessmetrics rating. The last column below gives the highest chessmetrics rating of the player. Obviously, this last is based on the information I have and is probably not complete. Players against whom Devos has a positive result, are put in boldface.
| + | = | – | # | T | Player’s name | FED | TCR |
| 1 | 4 | 8 | 13 | GM | O’Kelly de Galway, Albéric | BEL | 2644 |
| 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 | NM | Soultanbeieff, Victor Ivanovich | RUS/BEL | 2512 |
| 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 | NM | Van Seters, Frits | NED/BEL | 2497 |
| 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | IM | Dunkelblum, Arthur | POL/BEL | 2515 |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | NM | Lemaire, Robert | BEL | 2384 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | NM | Dyner, Boruch | POL/BEL/ISL | 2473 |