The Games of Neil McKelvie

McKelvie, 1967 in Chess Life magazine

The December Inside Story recounts the life and playing career of Neil McKelvie, a New York master with attacking flair.

As part of our editorial work for this piece, ably written by Joshua Anderson, we were able to find a total of 79 games (pgn) by played by McKelvie across a 40-year span. With just 17 of his games available in MegaBase 2024, this represents a significant increase in our knowledge of McKelvie's style and oeuvre.

So where did these "new" games come from? We found some in back issues of Chess Life and Chess Review, available at the US Chess Digital Archive, in BritBase, and at chessgames.com. Others came from Al Horowitz's column in the New York Times, which is a goldmine for those interested in NYC-area chess through the years. We also received critical assistance from Andy Ansel, and our thanks go to him for his help here and on so many other projects.

We are also looking for more games to add to this collection. If you have some, please reach out to John Hartmann with a pgn file and a description of where / when the games were played. We will update this page, along with the Lichess studies, periodically with new games as they arrive.

The Games of Neil McKelvie, Part I

[pgn][Event "Hastings 5051 Reserves B"][Site "Hastings"][Date "1950.12.??"][Round "?"][White "Hawes, Stephen ON"][Black "McKelvie, Neil"][Result "1-0"][ECO "C85"][PlyCount "81"][EventDate "1950.12.28"][EventType "tourn"][EventRounds "9"][EventCountry "ENG"][SourceTitle "Britbase"][SourceDate "2023.08.01"][SourceVersion "1"][SourceVersionDate "2023.08.01"][SourceQuality "1"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d3 Nd7 8.Nbd2 O-O 9. Nc4 Bf6 10. Be3 Re8 11. Qd2 Qe7 12. h3 b6 13. Nh2 Nf8 14. Ng4 Bxg415. hxg4 Ne6 16. g3 g6 17. f4 exf4 18. gxf4 Bd4 19. f5 Bxe3+ 20. Qxe3 gxf5 21.gxf5 Qg5+ 22. Kf2 Qxe3+ 23. Kxe3 Nc5 24. Rg1+ Kh8 25. Kf4 f6 26. Ne3 Nd7 27.Ng4 Re7 28. Rh1 Rae8 29. Rag1 Rg7 30. d4 Reg8 31. Rh4 c5 32. e5 cxd4 33. e6 Nf834. Rgh1 Re7 35. Nxf6 Rg2 36. R4h2 Rxh2 37. Rxh2 Kg7 38. Ke5 c5 39. Rg2+ Ng6+40. fxg6 hxg6 41. Nd5 {Source: CHESS, Jan 1951, p85} 1-0[/pgn]