Susan Polgar has an item on her blog, 79 and still going strong, taken from a Spanish language post, about IM Joaquin Durao. Born on 25 October 1930 in Lisbon, Portugal, Durao actually won't be 79 for a few more months, but the point is that he's still active at an advanced age.
According to Jeremy Gaige's Chess Personalia, he was awarded the international master title in 1975. Although his rating has gradually fallen to the low 2100s, in the mid 1970s, when Durao was in his forties, it stood around 2350.
In 1956 Durao played in the Hoogovens-B tournament in Beverwijk. This was the lower master group of what is now the very strong Corus tournament, the latest interation just concluded a couple of weeks ago. Today the tournament is strong indeed, with a C group added. The players in all three groups, except for several IMs in C, I believe, were grandmasters. In 1956 things were much different--but again, grandmasters did not litter the chess landscape then as they do today. Nor did players have computer assistants in those days.
In 1956 Diemer also played in Group B in Beverwijk. In fact he won it, with a score of 6.5 out of 9, a half point ahead of his nearest rival. Here's his short little game with Durao from the sixth round:E. J. Diemer - J. Durao Hoogovens-B, Beverwijk, 1956 Hübsch Gambit
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e4 Nxe4 4. Nxe4 dxe4 5. Bf4
