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Paul Keres
Keres in 1969
Country
Estonia Soviet Union (1944–75)
Born
(1916-01-07)7 January 1916 Narva, Russian Empire (now Estonia)
Died
5 June 1975(1975-06-05) (aged 59) Helsinki, Finland
Title
Grandmaster (1950)
Peak rating
2615 (July 1971)
Paul Keres ([ˈpɑu̯lˈkeres]; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five occasions. As Estonia was repeatedly invaded and occupied during World War II, Keres was forced by the circumstances to represent the Soviet Union (1940–41, 1944–75) and Nazi Germany (1941–44) in international tournaments.
Keres won the AVRO 1938 chess tournament, which led to negotiations for a title match against the reigning World Champion Alexander Alekhine, but the match never took place due to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Keres was runner-up in the Candidates Tournament on four consecutive occasions in 1953–1962. Due to these and other strong results, many chess historians consider Keres one of the greatest "Super grandmasters"[a] in history, and the strongest player never to become world champion.
Widely considered an Estonian national hero,[1] he was nicknamed "Paul the Second", "The Eternal Second", and "The Crown Prince of Chess".[2]
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^Leonard Barden (29 September 2023), "Leonard Barden on chess: Pride of Estonia: Paul Keres, one of the best to never hold chess world crown", The Guardian
^David Hooper, Ken Whyld, Kenneth Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess, Oxford University Press 1992, page 198
Keres was forced by the circumstances to represent the Soviet Union (1940–41, 1944–75) and Nazi Germany (1941–44) in international tournaments. Keres...
Kering (French: [kɛːʁiŋ]) is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta...
moves: 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ The opening is named after Estonian grandmaster PaulKeres. This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves. This opening...
year since 1969. Keres won this tournament in 1971 and 1975. Starting in 1977 after Keres' death, it has been called the PaulKeres Memorial Tournament...
rating. In total he won 7 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze individual medals. PaulKeres played his first three Olympiads for Estonia, the rest for the Soviet...
Fine tied for first place with PaulKeres in the prestigious AVRO tournament in the Netherlands, scoring 8½/14, with Keres placed first on tiebreak. This...
the Petrosian Variation were developed by grandmasters PaulKeres and Leonid Stein. The Keres Variation arises after 7...Nbd7 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3...
Petrosian, Keres and Geller). Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh, a member of the Soviet delegation at the tournament, confirmed in 2002 that Petrosian, Keres and Geller...
Smyslov, Keres, Botvinnik, and Reshevsky Soviet delegation Botvinnik & Soviet ambassador Valkov Keres & Smyslov at the Kurhaus Hotel Keres vs. Euwe Smyslov...
Botvinnik, 2823 Vladimir Kramnik, 2819 Paul Morphy, 2809 Boris Spassky, 2805 Samuel Reshevsky, 2805 PaulKeres, 2804 Tigran Petrosian, 2803 Wilhelm Steinitz...
World Champion. When told that this was impossible, Fischer asked to play PaulKeres. "Finally, Tigran Petrosian was, on a semi-official basis, summoned to...
with Veselin Topalov), Ter Apel 1997, Monte Carlo 1998, Mérida 2000, PaulKeres Memorial Rapid Tournament in Tallinn (2004, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2013), Canadian...
between the eight strongest players in the world. PaulKeres and Reuben Fine tied for first place, with Keres winning on tiebreak by virtue of his 1½-½ score...
Euwe lost his title to Alekhine; the AVRO tournament in 1938 was won by PaulKeres under a tie-breaking rule, with Reuben Fine placed second and Capablanca...
and placed Botvinnik on second board, with Keres on top board; Botvinnik protested and refused to play. Keres' playing record from 1950 to early 1952 had...
Mikhail Tal (loser of the last World Championship match in 1961) and PaulKeres (runner-up at the 1959 Candidates) in the eight player Candidates Tournament...
Retrieved 27 July 2019. "Keres vs. Euwe, FIDE World Championship tournament, 1948". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 27 July 2019. "Keres vs. Reshevsky, FIDE World...
Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, Alexander Beliavsky Three titles: PaulKeres, Leonid Stein, Anatoly Karpov Women's Soviet Chess Championship Russian...
of famous winners, including Max Euwe, Bent Larsen, Tigran Petrosian, PaulKeres, Lajos Portisch, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Viktor...
Keres (/kəˈriːs/), also Keresan (/ˈkɛrɪsən/), is a Native American language, spoken by the Keres Pueblo people in New Mexico. Depending on the analysis...
(Netherlands) Reuben Fine (USA) Salo Flohr (USSR) Ernst Grünfeld (Austria) PaulKeres (USSR) Boris Kostić (Yugoslavia) Alexander Kotov (USSR) Grigory Levenfish...
1959. Tal showed superior form by winning with 20/28 points, ahead of PaulKeres with 18½, followed by Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, the sixteen-year-old...
Kotov, four volumes, Moscow, 1953–1958. The Art of the Middle Game, by PaulKeres and Alexander Kotov (translated from the Russian by Harry Golombek), London...
masters, but some world-class players have used it including grandmasters PaulKeres and Alexei Shirov. The ECO code for the Baltic Defense is D06. This article...
Judges, including Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, PaulKeres, Yuri Averbakh and Wolfgang Unzicker, though in modern times the title...
rising young stars like PaulKeres, Reuben Fine, and Mikhail Botvinnik threatened his title. Negotiations for a title match with Keres or Botvinnik were halted...
...Be7 followed by kingside castling. In view of this, PaulKeres introduced 6.g4, the Keres Attack, in 1943. White intends to drive away the black knight...
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