The chess games of Paul Keres

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Paul Keres

Keres

Paul Keres at Hastings, © December 1964.

Number of games in database: 2,039
Years covered: 1929 to 1975

Overall record: +1017 -205 =805 (70.0%)*
* Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 12 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS

With the White pieces:

Ruy Lopez (185)
    C86 C78 C83 C97 C87
Sicilian (180)
    B20 B50 B36 B43 B62
French Defense (94)
    C02 C07 C05 C10 C15
Ruy Lopez, Closed (88)
    C86 C97 C87 C88 C93
Caro-Kann (62)
    B10 B14 B18 B11 B13
English (45)
    A14 A15 A16 A13 A10

With the Black pieces:

Ruy Lopez (228)
    C72 C92 C99 C79 C77
Nimzo Indian (125)
    E32 E43 E41 E53 E20
Ruy Lopez, Closed (107)
    C92 C99 C97 C96 C91
Queen's Pawn Game (81)
    A46 E00 D02 E10 A45
Queen's Indian (65)
    E15 E19 E12 E17 E14
English, 1 c4 e5 (41)
    A23 A28 A22 A29 A20

Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Keres vs Szabo, 1955 1-0
   Euwe vs Keres, 1940 0-1
   Keres vs W Winter, 1935 1-0
   Keres vs Geller, 1962 1-0
   Keres vs Verbac, 1933 1-0
   Keres vs Alekhine, 1937 1-0
   Keres vs Spassky, 1955 1-0
   A Karu vs Keres, 1931 0-1
   Keres vs Kotov, 1950 1-0
   Keres vs Capablanca, 1938 1-0

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: [what is this?]
   FIDE World Championship Tournament (1948)

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   non-FIDE Munich Olympiad (1936)
   Madrid (1943)
   USSR Championship (1947)
   Przepiorka Memorial (1950)
   USSR Championship (1951)
   Budapest (1952)
   Estonian Championship (1953)
   Buenos Aires (1964)
   Mar del Plata (1957)
   Bamberg (1968)
   Warsaw Olympiad (1935)
   Gothenburg Interzonal (1955)
   Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959)
   Curacao Candidates (1962)
   Stockholm Olympiad (1937)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Match Keres! by amadeus
   Keres' Whirligigs made of chocobonbon for FTB by fredthebear
   Keres' Whirligigs by chocobonbon
   Challenger of 48 Keres_125 by Gottschalk
   The Road to the Top & The Quest for Perfection by Bidibulle
   Veliki majstori saha 20 KERES (1916-1975) by Chessdreamer
   Paul Keres "Valitud Partiid" by Legend
   Keres vs World & Almost Champions Decisive Games by Okavango
   Keres vs World & Almost Champions Decisive Games by visayanbraindoctor
   Paul Keres by Legend
   Chess in the USSR 1945 - 72, Part 2 (Leach) by Chessdreamer
   The Quest for Perfection by Edwin Meijer
   Chess in the USSR 1945 - 72, Part 1 (Leach) by Chessdreamer
   Quest for Perfection (Keres) by Qindarka

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Paul Keres
Search Google for Paul Keres

PAUL KERES (born Jan-07-1916, died Jun-05-1975, 59 years old) Estonia	PRONUNCIATION:		[what is this?]
Paul Keres was born in Narva, Estonia, where he would reside his entire life. He was very active in correspondence chess throughout his youth, and soon began to make a name for himself at over-the-board play as well with a series of tournament victories culminating with a tie for first at AVRO (1938). Keres was thrice Soviet Champion, in 1947 [rusbase-1], 1950 [rusbase-2], and 1951 [rusbase-3]. In 1948, Keres participated in the World Championship tournament to determine a successor to Alexander Alekhine, finishing joint third. This would turn out to be the only opportunity Keres would ever have to play for the world title--he finished second ex aequo or outright four times in the five Candidates' tournaments, from 1950 to 1962 inclusive, but never won. Keres scored 13½/14 at the 11th Olympiad in Amsterdam 1954 (1) and in 1963, he won at Los Angeles http://www.worldchesslinks.net/eziq... (sharing first place with Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian). Keres suffered a fatal heart attack in Helsinki on the way home from a tournament in Vancouver in 1975, at the age of fifty-nine. Keres is the player who has defeated the largest number of world champions, no fewer than nine: Capablanca (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Alekhine http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Euwe http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Botvinnik http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Smyslov http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Tal http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Petrosian http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Spassky http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... and Fischer http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... With his five second-place finishes in Candidates events and his results against world champions, Keres was often known as "Paul, the Second" and "The Uncrowned King". A list of books about Keres can be found at http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... References: (1) Wikipedia article: World records in chess , (2) Wikipedia article: Paul Keres

Last updated: 2017-09-10 14:57:50

page 1 of 82; games 1-25 of 2,041

Game		Result	Moves	Year	Event/Locale	Opening
1. Keres vs I Raud		0-1	40	1929	Parnu, Parnu-Viljandi	C54 Giuoco Piano
2. I Raud vs Keres		½-½	54	1929	Parnu, Parnu-Viljandi	E10 Queen's Pawn Game
3. A Karu vs Keres		0-1	27	1931	corr	D08 Queen's Gambit Declined, Albin Counter Gambit
4. M Villemson vs Keres		0-1	51	1931	Deutsche Schachzeitung 133-A corr	A15 English
5. Keres vs Molder		1-0	24	1931	Tartu, Est jr ch	C33 King's Gambit Accepted
6. L Norvid vs Keres		0-1	25	1931	Tartu, Est jr ch	C12 French, McCutcheon
7. Keres vs R Pruun		1-0	43	1931	ChJ	B12 Caro-Kann Defense
8. Keres vs I Raud		1-0	29	1931	Tartu, Est jr ch	B25 Sicilian, Closed
9. R Pruun vs Keres		0-1	24	1931	Tartu, Est jr ch	E60 King's Indian Defense
10. M Seibold vs Keres		0-1	39	1932	Deutsche Schachzeitung 1932/33 corr	C12 French, McCutcheon
11. Keres vs G Menke		1-0	62	1932	corr	C33 King's Gambit Accepted
12. Keres vs Faltweber		1-0	18	1932	corr	A06 Reti Opening
13. Von Feilitzsch vs Keres		0-1	32	1932	corr	C22 Center Game
14. Keres vs Beskov		1-0	43	1932	corr	C50 Giuoco Piano
15. Keres vs E Verbak		1-0	17	1932	corr	C00 French Defense
16. Keres vs M Villemson		½-½	47	1932	Deutsche Schachzeitung 133-A corr	D30 Queen's Gambit Declined
17. E Kiiver vs Keres		0-1	58	1932	Tartu, Est jr ch	E20 Nimzo-Indian
18. A Remmelgas vs Keres		0-1	55	1932	Tartu, Est jr ch	D02 Queen's Pawn Game
19. Keres vs L Peterson		1-0	29	1932	Tartu, Est jr ch	B01 Scandinavian
20. Keres vs Tuul		1-0	33	1932	Tartu, Est jr ch	C33 King's Gambit Accepted
21. J Vilkins vs Keres		1-0	38	1932	2nd Match Vilkins - Keres	C12 French, McCutcheon
22. Keres vs J Vilkins		½-½	45	1932	1st Match Vilkins - Keres	C25 Vienna
23. A Peet vs Keres		0-1	29	1932	Moisakula Moisak-Parnu	D02 Queen's Pawn Game
24. Keres vs A Peet		1-0	19	1932	Moisakula Moisak-Parnu	C25 Vienna
25. Keres vs J Siitam		1-0	21	1932	Parnu, Est jr ch	C25 Vienna


page 1 of 82; games 1-25 of 2,041

REFINE SEARCH: White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Keres wins | Keres loses

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 46 OF 46 · Later Kibitzing>
Feb-07-20		ewan14: While living in the USSR I do not think Korchnoi's life was in danger. Post war Keres' was. Since they are both legends their head to head games should count towards GOAT never to have won the world championship

Feb-07-20		ewan14: Unfortunately I do not think Keres would have beaten Petrosian in a title match

Jun-05-20		MissScarlett: 45th anniversary of Keres's death; funeral footage (no sound): https://twitter.com/olimpiuurcan/st...

Jun-18-20		technical draw: When I first heard of Keres around 1965 I would pronounce his name as Keers. It took a while to change it to Ké-res. Even now I'm not quite sure that's correct. Please put up the correct pronunciation on this great Grandmaster.

Jan-07-21		Chessmusings: Happy Birthday Paul Keres https://dailychessmusings.com/2021/...

Mar-06-21		Stonehenge: Documentary: http://www.eha.ee/fa/public//index....

Apr-04-21		Caissanist: Joosep Grents, whoever he is, quotes Eduard Tubin, whoever he was, as saying that Keres narrowly escaped being shot by a German firing squad during WWII, in an article for Chess24.com written on the centennial of Keres's birth. I have no idea how much credence to give to that, or to the many other striking stories that Grents/Tubin tells: https://chess24.com/en/read/news/pa... .

Jun-07-21		login: Bio Tubin https://aviolinslife.org/eduard-tub... Twitter Grents (inactive) https://twitter.com/joosepgrents Credence 9/10 (Tubin is dead, Grents is a secondary source) What I understand his elaborations were 'inspired' by a Kivine Paavo book on Keres (including letter correspondence between the close friends Keres/Tubin, reproduced interviews of Tubin's son). http://etbl.teatriliit.ee/artikkel/... This Estonian acticle 'Tundmatu Keres ehk Miks malesuurusel ei lubatud maailmameistriks saada' https://epl.delfi.ee/artikkel/72884... with comments (behind a paywall, but fortunately unlockable when fed into specific translators) by Andres Vaher, 2015 on 'Eesti Päevaleht'-Online was quite informative. Again it's up to each the (Estonian) reader to judge the writing style of the book if he/she believes the stories. Gents [who has been awarded a Rector's Prize for his outstanding study results and an exceptional bachelor thesis, see below] does not strike me as a character selling an English audience bogus stories for attention. Still somehow he seems to have moved on. Did this site not have Estonian 'experts' around here before ... Keres playing chess in Tartu 1944/45 https://www.herder-institut.de/such... The Complexities of Hybrid Warfare: A study in ContemporaryMilitary History https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/ha... On a different topic Browne vs Keres, 1975 (kibitz #22) expanding a bit on tympsa's great posting The Real Coodabeen Champion '.. It has long been speculated in Estonia that Keres was required to throw his games to eventual winner Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1948 World Championship tournament, though no documentary evidence to support this has ever been produced and neither player ever ‘confessed’. There is no doubt that Keres was never completely trusted by the Soviet authorities, as shown by the cancellation of his Australian tour in the late 1960s. The day before Keres was to board his plane to Sydney, he was told that permission to travel had been cancelled, apparently for fear of establishing links with Australia’s largely anti-communist Estonian community. (Relations between Australia and the USSR had already foundered earlier in the decade after Australia refused to extradite an Estonian immigrant, Ervin Viks, for war crimes during WWII. A 1987 Australian inquiry, after Viks had died, found that Viks was responsible for the death of at least 18,000 people.) ..' https://gardinerchess.com.au/gm-rog... from 'Gardiner Chess' website by Ian Rogers War crimes trials in Soviet Estonia [1960s] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_c... Unrelated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1d...

Sep-16-21		sudoplatov: Somewhere I read that playing the Sicilian Defense against Keres was nicknamed "Sicilianicide." Quick scan of Keres as White vs Sicilian. Wins 89 Draws 77 Losses 12 Percentage: 71.6 (wins 1, draws 1/2, losses 0) Excluding Draws (all, not just GM) 88%

Jan-07-22		technical draw: Keres once beat the 16 year old Bobby Fischer. This saddened Fischer so much that Keres had to console him by saying, "Bobby, I can win a game too!" And who could doubt that the great Keres, who was named greatest player to not be world champion, could win a game. I certainly don't.

Jan-07-22		Cysticcandy2: Hi Mr. Technical draw! I'm a huge fan. You're very funny and been on here for a long time !

Jan-08-22		technical draw: Why thank you <Cysticcandy2>. You've just made 2022 a great year for me. I don't always get fan mail, but when I do it's from nice guys like you!

Jan-12-22		Albertan: The Perfect Score:Keres wins Tallinn 1942 with 15/15: https://en.chessbase.com/post/the-p... I wonder how many tournaments in the history of Chess the winner scored a perfect score?

Jan-12-22		MissScarlett: A lot, so it would be useful to impose some restrictions.

Jan-12-22		perfidious: <Albertan>, one obvious example which comes to mind was Fischer's demolition of the field of the 1963-64 US championship; a lesser-known version was Belyavsky making a clean sweep in a South American tourney in the late 1970s (possibly held in Bogota).

Jan-15-22		Albertan: Perfidious thanks for your response.

Jan-15-22		perfidious: <Albertan>, another perfect result was that of Alekhine in Caracas, 1939.

Jan-15-22		keypusher: 19th century: Atkins won all his games at DCA Congress 27th (1899) and Lasker won all his games at the Impromptu Tournament in New York in 1893. Neumann went 34-0-0 in some event.

Jan-15-22		keypusher: Impromptu game collection: Game Collection: New York 1893, The Impromtu Tournament plus Rice 1913 CC tournament, which Capablanca swept: Game Collection: Rice CC Summer Masters Tourn. (New York 1913) Would be nice to have tournament pages for these two events, but reading Phony Benoni's writeup of the chaotic Rice event, God help anyone who tries.

Jan-15-22		jessicafischerqueen: <keypusher> That is some impressive research you've done, especially on Game Collection: Rice CC Summer Masters Tourn. (New York 1913) . It's exactly the kind of work that should be listed in the Tournament Index

Jan-15-22		keypusher: <JFQ> I'm just a MOOCHER! The Impromtu was <Calli>'s doing, and New York 1913 was <Phony B>, assisted by <crawfb5> and <Calli>. Agree it would be nice to have those tournaments in the index.

Jan-16-22		Phony Benoni: <jfq> <keypusher> It's been nearly a decade since I worked seriously on Game Collection: Rice CC Summer Masters Tourn. (New York 1913). I think most of the information is there, and it's just a little mater of cleaning the Augean Stables. My Herculean days are probably over, but I'll ltake another shot. If Ijust can't do it, I'll let you know.

Oct-07-22		gezafan: If you want to win playing the black side of the Ruy Lopez it's a good idea to study the games of Paul Keres. He had a high winning rate in it. Keres played the Chigorin. He often played 11...Nd7 (the Keres variation) or 12...cxd4. He won a lot of games playing this way.

Oct-27-22		Chessius the Messius: In Italian, but lots of pics: https://www.scacchierando.it/sala-d... https://www.scacchierando.it/sala-d...

Oct-27-22		moronovich: Thanks for the pictures <Chessius the Messius>!

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