MARK RUBERY CHESS

The O’Sullivan Memorial Tournament used to be held every May as an annual tribute to the twins Michael and Kevin O’Sullivan who were prematurely taken from us-Kevin in 1988 and Michael in 1996. This speed event began in 1988 and continued to 2005 and featured many of the best players of that era Both players were immensely talented and were from a young age particularly accomplished in the endgame- one example saw Kevin confidently outplay the visiting IM David Levy in that phase of the game during the Uitkyk International 1978. Both twins specialised in a few opening systems which they passed on to their pupils thus the French Defence Goring Gambit and Max Lange Attack became quite fashionable on the SA circuit during the 1980s.

Here are some examples of the twin’s prowess over the board…

Korostenski,Frank (2240) - O’Sullivan,Michael (2130) [A25]

Holiday Inn Open ch Johannesburg, 1980 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.e3 f5 4.d4 e4 5.f3 Nf6 6.d5 Ne5 7.fxe4 Nxe4 8.Qd4 Qf6! (Offering a pawn this White is unwise to accept) 9.Nxe4 fxe4 10.Qxe4?! Bb4+ 11.Bd2 Bxd2+ 12.Kxd2 0–0 13.Rd1 d6 14.Be2 Bf5 15.Qd4 Rae8 16.Nh3? (White can continue to resist after 16 Nf3. Now the game ends suddenly)… Bxh3 17.gxh3 Qf2! 0–1 (As the threat of …Nf3+ cannot be met)

Rubery,Mark - O’Sullivan,Kevin [C19] SA Closed Tollman Towers Johannesburg, 1979

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Nf3 Ne7 8.a4 Nbc6 9.Be2 Bd7 10.0–0 f6 11.Ba3? (Quite ineffectual when Black has not yet played… c4 instead 11 Re1 is to be preferred. The rest is a compelling advert for the French Winawer)…fxe5 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.dxe5 b6 14.Re1 0–0 15.c4 Bc6 16.cxd5 Nxd5 17.Bd3 Qf7 18.Qd2 Nf4 19.Be4 Rad8 20.Qe3 Bxe4 21.Qxe4 21…Nh3+! 0–1 (22 gxh3 Qxf2+ 23 Kh1 Rd2)

The spread of secondary and latterly of tertiary education has created a large population of people, often with well-developed literary and scholarly tastes, who have been educated far beyond their capacity to undertake analytic thought. – Peter Medawar