Paul Keres (January 7, 1916 — June 5, 1975), was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s.

Keres narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five occasions. He won the 1938 AVRO tournament, which led to negotiations for a World Championship match against champion Alexander Alekhine, but the match never took place due to World War II. Then after the war he was runner-up in the Candidates' Tournament on four consecutive occasions.

Due to these and other strong results, many chess historians consider Keres the strongest player never to become World Chess Champion. He was nicknamed "The Crown Prince of Chess". Keres was the only player in chess history to defeat nine undisputed world champions.

Early Life more less

Pre-war Years more less

Keres achieved a very good result at age 17 in a Master tournament at Tallinn 1933 with 5/7 (+5 =0 -2), tied 3rd-4th, half a point behind joint winners Paul Felix Schmidt and V. Kappe. Keres became champion of Estonia for the first time in 1935. He tied for first (+5 =1 ?2) with Gunnar Friedemann in the tournament, then defeated him (+2 =0 ?1) in the playoff match. In April 1935, Keres defeated Feliks Kibbermann, one of Tartu's leading masters, in a training match, by (+3 =0 ?1).

Keres played on top board for Estonia in the 6th Chess Olympiad at Warsaw 1935, and was regarded as the new star, admired for his dashing style. His success there gave him the confidence to venture onto the international circuit.

At Helsinki 1935, he placed 2nd behind Paulin Frydman with 6.5/8 (+6 =1 ?1). He won at Tallinn 1936 with 9/10 (+8 =2 ?0). Keres' first major international success against top-level competition came at Bad Nauheim 1936, where he tied for first with Alexander Alekhine at 6.5/9 (+4 =5 ?0). He struggled at Dresden 1936, placing only 8th—9th with (+2 =3 ?4), but wrote that he learned an important lesson from this setback. Keres recovered at Zandvoort 1936 with a shared 3rd—4th place (+5 =3 -3). He then defended his Estonian title in 1936 by drawing a challenge match against Paul Felix Schmidt with (+3 =1 ?3).

Keres had a series of successes in 1937. He won in Tallinn with 7.5/9 (+6 =3 -0), then shared 1st—2nd at Margate with Reuben Fine at 7.5/9 (+6 =3 ?0), 1.5 points ahead of Alekhine. In Ostend, he tied 1st—3rd places with Fine and Henry Grob at 6/9 (+5 =2 -2). Keres dominated in Prague to claim first with 10/11 (+9 =2 -0). He then won a theme tournament in Vienna with 4.5/6 (+4 =1 ?1); the tournament saw all games commence with the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Ne4, known as the Dory Defence. He tied for 4th—5th places at Kemeri with 11.5/17 (+8 =7 ?2), as Salo Flohr, Vladimirs Petrovs and Samuel Reshevsky won. Then he tied 2nd—4th in Pärnu with 4.5/7 (+3 =3 ?1).

This successful string earned him an invitation to the tournament at Semmering-Baden 1937, which he won with 9/14 (+6 =6 ?2), ahead of Fine, José Raúl Capablanca, Reshevsky, and Erich Eliskases. Keres, in his autobiographical games collection, refers to this major event as a 'Candidates' Tournament', and claimed that he was recognized as a Grandmaster after winning it, although its parallel connection with later FIDE-organized Candidates' tournaments (from 1950 onwards) is not exact, and the Grandmaster title was not formalized by FIDE until 1950.

Keres tied for second at Hastings 1937—38 with 6.5/9 (+4 =5 ?0) (half a point behind Reshevsky), and at Noordwijk 1938 (behind Eliskases) with 6.5/9 (+4 =5 ?0). Keres drew an exhibition match at Stockholm 1938 with Gideon Ståhlberg on 4—4 (+2 =4 ?2).

He continued to represent Estonia with success in Olympiad play. His detailed results for Estonia follow. Of note was the team bronze medal attained by Estonia in 1939; this was exceptional for a country with a population of less than two million people.

Warsaw 1935, Estonia board 1, 12.5/19 (+11 =3 -5);
Munich 1936 (unofficial Olympiad), Estonia board 1, 15.5/20 (+12 =7 -1), board gold medal;
Stockholm 1937, Estonia board 1, 11/15 (+9 =4 -2), board silver medal;
Buenos Aires 1939, Estonia board 1, 14.5/19 (+12 =5 -2), team bronze medal.

World Championship Match Denied more less

World War II more less

At the outbreak of World War II, Keres was in Buenos Aires at the Olympiad. He stayed on to play in a Buenos Aires International tournament after the Olympiad, and tied for first place with Miguel Najdorf with 8.5/11 (+7 =3 -1).

His next event was a 14-game match with former World Champion Max Euwe in the Netherlands, held from December 1939 —- January 1940. Keres managed to win a hard-fought struggle by 7.5—6.5 (+6 =3 -5). This was a superb achievement, because not only was Euwe a former World Champion, but he had enormous experience at match play, far more than Keres.

With the Nazi-Soviet Pact having been concluded on August 23, 1939, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union on August 6, 1940. Keres played in his first Soviet Championship at Moscow 1940 (URS-ch12), placing fourth (+9 =6 -4) in an exceptionally strong field. This was ahead of the defending champion Mikhail Botvinnik, however. The Soviet Chess Federation organized the "Absolute Championship of the USSR" in 1941, with the top six finishers from the 1940 championship meeting each other four times; it was split between Leningrad and Moscow. Botvinnik won this super-strong tournament, one of the strongest ever organized, with 13.5/20, and Keres placed second with 11/20, ahead of Vasily Smyslov, Isaac Boleslavsky, Andor Lilienthal, and Igor Bondarevsky.

With the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Estonia came under German control soon afterwards. During 1942 and 1943, Keres and Alekhine both played in four tournaments organized by Ehrhardt Post, a President of Nazi Grossdeutscher Schachbund. Alekhine won at the Salzburg 1942 chess tournament (Six Grandmasters' Tournament) in June 1942, at Munich (European Individual Chess Championship) in September 1942, and at Prague (International Tournament) in April 1943, always ahead of Keres, who placed second in all three of those tournaments. They tied for first at Salzburg (Six Grandmasters' Tournament) in June 1943, with 7.5/10.

During World War II, Keres played in several more chess tournaments. He won all 15 games at Tallinn 1942 (EST-ch), and swept all five games at Posen 1943. He also won at Tallinn 1943 (EST-ch), and Madrid 1944 (13/14, +12 =2 -0). He was second, behind Stig Lundholm, at Lidköping 1944 (playing hors concours in the Swedish Championship). Keres won a match with Folke Ekström at Stockholm in 1944 by 5—1 (+4 =2 -0).

Dangerous Circumstances more less

World Championship Candidate (1948—65) more less

Although he participated in the 1948 World Championship tournament, arranged to determine the world champion after Alekhine's death in 1946, his performance was far from his best. Held jointly in The Hague and Moscow, the tournament was limited to five participants: Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Keres, Samuel Reshevsky, and Max Euwe. (Reuben Fine had also been invited but declined.) The event was played as a quintuple round robin. Keres finished joint third, with 10.5 out of 20 points. In his individual match with the winner, Botvinnik, he lost four of five games, winning only in the last round when the tournament's result was already determined.

Since Keres lost his first four games against Botvinnik in the 1948 tournament, suspicions are sometimes raised that Keres was forced to "throw" games to allow Botvinnik to win the championship. Chess historian Taylor Kingston investigated all the available evidence and arguments, and concluded that: Soviet chess officials gave Keres strong hints that he should not hinder Botvinnik's attempt to win the World Championship; Botvinnik only discovered this about half-way though the tournament and protested so strongly that he angered Soviet officials; Keres probably did not deliberately lose games to Botvinnik or anyone else in the tournament.

Keres finished second or equal second in four straight Candidates' tournaments (1953, 1956, 1959, 1962), making him the player with the most runner-up finishes in that event. (He was therefore occasionally nicknamed "Paul II".) Keres participated in a total of six Candidates' Tournaments:

Budapest 1950, 4th, behind David Bronstein and Isaac Boleslavsky, with 9.5/18 (+3 =13 -2).
Zürich 1953, tied 2nd—4th, along with David Bronstein and Reshevsky, two points behind Smyslov, with 16/28 (+8 =16 -4).
Amsterdam 1956, 2nd, 1.5 points behind Smyslov, with 10/18 (+3 =14 -1).
Yugoslavia 1959, 2nd, 1.5 points behind Mikhail Tal, with 18.5/28 (+15 =7 -6). He had positive or equal scores against all the competitors, including 3—1 against Tal, but this was not enough, since Tal scored 14.5/16 against the bottom four finishers.
Curaçao 1962, tied 2nd—3rd, with Efim Geller, half a point behind Tigran Petrosian, with 17/27 (+9 =16 -2). This event is discussed further at World Chess Championship 1963. Keres won a match at Moscow 1962 against Geller, for an exempt place in the 1965 Candidates, by 4.5 — 3.5 (+2 =5 -1).
Riga 1965, lost his quarter-final match to eventual Candidates' winner Boris Spassky by 6 — 4 (+2 =4 -4). This was the only match loss of Keres' long career.

Keres' run of four successive 2nd places in Candidates' tournaments (1953, 1956, 1959, 1962) has prompted suspicions that he was under orders not to win these events. Taylor Kingston concludes that: there was probably no pressure from Soviet officials, since from 1954 onwards, Keres was rehabilitated and Botvinnik was no longer in favor with officials; at Curaçao in 1962 there was an unofficial conspiracy by Petrosian, Geller and Keres, and this worked out to Keres' disadvantage, since he may have been slightly stronger than both Petrosian and Geller at this stage.Bronstein, in his final book, published just after his death in late 2006, wrote that the Soviet chess leadership favoured Smyslov to win Zurich 1953, and pressured several of the other top Soviets to arrange this outcome, which did in fact occur. Bronstein wrote that Keres was ordered to draw his second cycle game with Smyslov, to conserve Smyslov's fading physical strength; Keres, who still had his own hopes of winning the event, tried as White to win an attacking game, but instead lost because of Smyslov's excellent play.

Three-time Soviet Champion, Career Peak more less

Unmatched International Team Successes more less

After being forced to become a Soviet citizen, Keres represented the Soviet Union in seven consecutive Olympiads, winning seven consecutive team gold medals, five board gold medals, and one bronze board medal. Of note was his appearance on board one for the USSR in 1952, when the Soviets entered the event for the first time; Keres was the only Soviet team member with Olympiad experience (from his previous appearances for Estonia), and world champion Mikhail Botvinnik was not on the Soviet team. His four straight board gold medals from 1954-1960 is an Olympiad record. Although not selected after 1964, Keres served successfully as a team trainer with Soviet international teams for the next decade. Altogether, in 11 Olympiads, playing for the USSR and Estonia(counting the unofficial Munich 1936 event), and in 161 games, Keres accumulated a brilliant total of (+97 =51 -13), for 76.7%. His detailed Soviet Olympiad results are:

Helsinki 1952, USSR board 1, 6.5/12, team gold;
Amsterdam 1954, USSR board 4, 13.5/14 (+13 =1 -0), team gold, board gold, best overall score;
Moscow 1956, USSR board 3, 9.5/12 (+7 =5 -0), team gold, board gold;
Munich 1958, USSR board 3, 9.5/12 (+7 =5 -0), team gold, board gold;
Leipzig 1960, USSR board 3, 10.5/13 (+8 =5 -0), team gold, board gold;

Varna 1962, USSR board 4, 9.5/13 (+6 =7 -0), team gold, board bronze;
Tel Aviv 1964, USSR board 4, 10/12 (+9 =2 -1), team gold, board gold.

Keres also appeared three times for the Soviet Union in the European Team Championships, winning team and individual gold medals on all three occasions. He scored 14/18 (+10 =8 -0), for 77.8%. His detailed Euroteams results are:

Vienna 1957, USSR board 2, 3/5 (+1 =4 -0), team gold, board gold;
Oberhausen 1961, USSR board 3, 6/8 (+4 =4 -0), team gold, board gold;
Kapfenberg 1970, USSR board 8, 5/5 (+5 =0 -0), team gold, board gold.

Keres also represented the USSR in many international team matches, in Europe and the Americas, with great success. He represented Estonia on top board with distinction in Soviet team championships, contested between regions.

Later Career more less

Beginning with the Pärnu 1947 tournament, Keres made some significant contributions as a chess organizer in Estonia; this is an often overlooked aspect of his career.

Keres continued to play exceptionally well on the international circuit. He tied 1st—2nd at Hastings 1954—55 with Smyslov on 7/9 (+6 =2 -1). He dominated an internal Soviet training tournament at Pärnu 1955 with 9.5/10. Keres placed 2nd at the 1955 Göteborg Interzonal, behind David Bronstein, with 13.5/20. Keres defeated Wolfgang Unzicker in a 1956 exhibition match at Hamburg by 6—2 (+4 =4 -0). He tied 2nd—3rd in the USSR Championship, Moscow 1957 (URS-ch24) with 13.5/21 (+8 =11 -2), along with Bronstein, behind Mikhail Tal. Keres won Mar del Plata 1957 (15/17, ahead of Miguel Najdorf), and Santiago 1957 with 6/7, ahead of Alexander Kotov. He won Hastings 1957—58 (7.5/9, ahead of Svetozar Gligori?). He was tied 3rd—4th at Zürich 1959, at 10.5/15, along with Bobby Fischer, behind Tal and Gligoric. He placed tied 7th—8th in the USSR Championship, Tbilisi 1959 (URS-ch26) with 10.5/19, as Petrosian won. Keres was third at Stockholm 1959—60 with 7/9. He won at Pärnu 1960 with 12/15. He was the champion at Zürich 1961 (9/11, ahead of Petrosian). At the elite Bled 1961 event, Keres shared 3rd—5th places, on 12.5/19 (+7 =11 -1), behind only Mikhail Tal and Bobby Fischer. In the USSR Championship, Baku 1961 (URS-ch29), Keres scored 11/20 for a shared 8—11th place, as Boris Spassky won. Keres shared first with World Champion Tigran Petrosian at the very strong 1963 Piatigorsky Cup in Los Angeles with 8.5/14.

Further tournament championships followed. He won Beverwijk 1964, with 11.5/15, tied with Iivo Nei. He shared first place with World Champion Tigran Petrosian at Buenos Aires 1964, with 12.5/17.He won at Hastings 1964—65 with 8/9. He shared 1st—2nd places at Marianske Lazne 1965 on 11/15 with Vlastimil Hort. In the USSR Championship at Tallinn 1965 (URS-ch33), he scored 11/19 for 6th place, as Leonid Stein won. He won at Stockholm 1966—67 with 7/9. At Winnipeg 1967, he shared 3rd—4th places on 5.5/9 as Bent Larsen and Klaus Darga won.

At Bamberg 1968, he won with 12/15, two points ahead of World Champion Tigran Petrosian. He was 2nd at Luhacovice 1969 with 10.5/15, behind Viktor Korchnoi. At Tallinn 1969, he shared 2nd—3rd places on 9/13 as Stein won. At Wijk aan Zee 1969, he shared 3rd—4th places on 10.5/15, as Geller and Botvinnik won. He won Budapest 1970 with 10/15, ahead of Laszlo Szabo. Also in 1970, Keres's 3:1 win over Ivkov on the tenth board gave victory to the Soviet team in the match vs Rest of the World. He shared 1st—2nd at Tallinn 1971 with Mikhail Tal on 11.5/15. He shared 2nd—3rd at Parnu 1971, on 9.5/13, as Stein won. He shared 2nd—4th at Amsterdam 1971 with 9/13, as Smyslov won. He shared 3rd—5th places at Sarajevo 1972 on 9.5/15, as Szabo won. He placed 5th at San Antonio 1972 on 9.5/15, as Petrosian, Lajos Portisch, and Anatoly Karpov won.

At Tallinn 1973, he shared 3rd—6th places on 9/15, as Mikhail Tal won. His last Interzonal was Petropolis 1973, where he scored 8/17 for a shared 12th—13th place, as Henrique Mecking won. That same year, he made his last Soviet Championship appearance,at Moscow for URS-ch41, scoring 8/17 for a shared 9th—12th place, as Boris Spassky won.

Death more less

Chess Legacy and Writings more less

The unofficial Chessmetrics system places Keres in the top 10 players in the world between approximately 1936 and 1965, and overall he had one of the highest winning percentages of all grandmasters in history. He has the seventh highest Chessmetrics 20-year average, from 1944 to 1963.

He was one of the very few players who had a plus record against Capablanca. He also had plus records against World Champions Euwe and Tal, and equal records against Smyslov, Petrosian and Anatoly Karpov. In his long career, he played no fewer than ten world champions. He beat every world champion from Capablanca through Bobby Fischer (his two games with Karpov were drawn), making him the only player ever to beat nine undisputed world champions. Other notable grandmasters against whom he had plus records include Fine, Flohr, Viktor Korchnoi, Efim Geller, Savielly Tartakower, Mark Taimanov, Milan Vidmar, Svetozar Gligori?, Isaac Boleslavsky, Efim Bogoljubov and Bent Larsen.

He wrote a number of chess books, including a well-regarded, deeply annotated collection of his best games, Grandmaster of Chess ISBN 0-668-02645-6, The Art of the Middle Game (with Alexander Kotov) ISBN 0-486-26154-9, and Practical Chess Endings ISBN 0-7134-4210-7. All three books are still considered among the best of their kind for aspiring masters and experts. He also wrote several tournament books, including an important account of the 1948 World Championship Match Tournament. He authored several openings treatises, often originally in the German language, as listed by the Hungarian writer Egon Varnusz: Spanisch bis Franzosisch, Dreispringer bis Konigsgambit, and Vierspringer bis Spanisch. He contributed to the first volume, 'C', of the first edition of the Yugoslav-published Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO), which appeared in 1974, just before his death the next year. Keres also co-founded the Riga magazine Shakhmaty.

Keres made many important contributions to opening theory. Perhaps best-known is the Keres Attack against the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defence (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.g4), which was successfully introduced against Efim Bogolyubov at Salzburg 1943, and today remains a topical and important line. An original system on the Black side of the Closed Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7) was introduced by Keres at the 1962 Candidates' tournament, and it had a run of popularity for several years. He also popularized the Keres Defence (1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+). Another important system on the Black side of the English Opening was worked out by him; it runs 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 c6.

The Hungarian writer Egon Varnusz wrote that Keres "published 180 problems and 30 studies. One of his rook endings won first prize in 1947."

Keres won top-class tournaments from the mid-1930s into the mid-1970s, a span of 40 years, and won major events in western Europe, eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, South America, and North America. Botvinnik, by contrast, never competed in the Americas during his career.

His rival Samuel Reshevsky, while paying tribute to Keres' talent, tried to pinpoint why Keres never became world champion, and also complimented his friendly personality. "Well, I believe that Keres failed in this respect because he lacked the killer instinct. He was too mild a person to give his all in order to defeat his opponents. He took everything, including his chess, philosophically. Keres is one of the nicest people that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. With his friendly and sincere smile, he makes friends easily. He is goodnatured and kind. Yes, he loves chess, but being a human being is his first consideration. In addition to chess, Keres is interested in tennis, Ping-Pong, swimming, and bridge."

Acknowledgements more less

Notable Chess Games more less

Quotes more less

"At Amsterdam in 1954 he scored 96.4% on fourth board and won another game so brilliant against ?ajtar of Czechoslovakia that the Soviet non-playing captain, Kotov, told to me that it was 'a true Soviet game.' I told this to Keres who, with the nearest approach to acerbity I ever saw him show, said: 'No, it was a true Estonian game.'" — Grandmaster Harry Golombek
"At the Warsaw team tournament in 1935, the most surprising discovery was a gangling, shy, 19-year-old Estonian. Some had never heard of his country before, nobody had ever heard of Keres. But his play at top board was a wonder to behold. Not merely because he performed creditably in his first serious encounters with the world's greatest; others have done that too. It was his originality, verve, and brilliance which astounded and delighted the chess world." — Grandmaster Reuben Fine
"I loved Paul Petrovitch with a kind of special, filial feeling. Honesty, correctness, discipline, diligence, astonishing modesty — these were the characteristics that caught the eye of the people who came into contact with Keres during his lifetime. But there was also something mysterious about him. I had an acute feeling that Keres was carrying some kind of a heavy burden all through his life. Now I understand that this burden was the infinite love for the land of his ancestors, an attempt to endure all the ordeals, to have full responsibility for his every step. I have never met a person with an equal sense of responsibility. This man with internally free and independent character was at the same time a very well disciplined person. Back then I did not realise that it is discipline that largely determines internal freedom. For me, Paul Keres was the last Mohican, the carrier of the best traditions of classical chess and — if I could put it this way — the Pope of chess. Why did he not become the champion? I know it from personal experience that in order to reach the top, a person is thinking solely of the goal, he has to forget everything else in this world, toss aside everything unnecessary — or else you are doomed. How could Keres forget everything else?" — Former World Champion Boris Spassky
"I was unlucky, like my country." — Paul Keres, on why he never became world champion.

Books more less

Tournament and Match Record more less

Keres' tournament and match record:. Reprinted in

Tournaments

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-! Year !! Tournament !! Place !! class="unsortable" | Notes|-| 1935 || Warsaw || — || +11?5=3 on first board for Estonia|-| 1935 || Helsinki || 2 || Frydman won|-| 1936 || Nauheim || 1—2 || shared 1—2 with Alekhine|-| 1936 || Dresden || 8—9 || Alekhine won|-| 1936 || Zandvoort || 3—4 || Fine won|-| 1937 || Margate || 1—2 || shared 1—2 with Fine|-| 1937 || Ostend || 1—3 || shared 1—3 with Grob and Fine|-| 1937 || Prague || 1 || ahead of Zinner|-| 1937 || Vienna || 1 || Quadrangular|-| 1937 || Kemeri || 4—5 || Reshevsky, Flohr, and Petrovs shared 1st—3rd|-| 1937 || Pärnu || 2—4 || Schmidt won|-| 1937 || Stockholm || — || individual silver (+9?2=4) on first board for Estonia|-| 1937 || Semmering/Baden || 1 || ahead of Fine|-| 1937/38 || Hastings || 2—3 || Reshevsky won|-| 1938 || Noordwijk || 2 || Eliskases won|-| 1938 || AVRO || 1—2 || shared 1—2 with Fine, ahead of Botvinnik|-| 1939 || Leningrad-Moscow || 12—13 || Flohr won|-| 1939 || Margate || 1 || ahead of Capablanca and Flohr|-| 1939 || Buenos Aires || — || +12?2=5 on first board for bronze medal winning Estonia|-| 1939 || Buenos Aires || 1—2 || shared 1—2 with Najdorf|-| 1940 || || 4 || Lilienthal and Bondarevsky won|-| 1941 || || 2 || behind Botvinnik|-| 1942 || Tallinn || 1 || Estonian Championship +15?0=0|-| 1942 || Salzburg || 2 || behind Alekhine|-| 1942 || Munich || 2 || "European Championship", behind Alekhine|-| 1943 || Prague || 2 || behind Alekhine|-| 1943 || Pozna? || 1 || ahead of Grünfeld|-| 1943 || Salzburg || 1—2 || shared 1—2 with Alekhine|-| 1943 || Tallinn || 1 || Estonian Championship +6?1=4|-| 1943 || Madrid || 1 |||-| 1944 || Lidköping || 2 || Swedish Championship|-| 1944/45 || Riga || 1 || Baltic Championship|-| 1946 || Tbilisi || 1 || Georgian Championship|-| 1947 || Pärnu || 1 |||-| 1947 || || 1 |||-| 1947 || Moscow || 6—7 |||-| 1948 || World Championship Tournament || 3—4 || Botvinnik 1st, Smyslov 2nd|-| 1949 || || 8 |||-| 1950 || Budapest || 4 || Candidates Tournament, Bronstein and Boleslavsky 1st—2nd, Smyslov 3rd|-| 1950 || Szczawno-Zdrój || 1 |||-| 1950 || || 1 |||-| 1951 || || 1 |||-| 1952 || || 10—11 || Botvinnik won|-| 1952 || Budapest || 1 |||-| 1952 || Helsinki || — || +3?2=7 on first board for gold medal USSR team|-| 1953 || Zürich || 2—4 || Candidates Tournament, Smyslov 1st|-| 1954 || Amsterdam || — || individual gold (+13?0=1) on fourth board for gold medal USSR team|-| 1954/55 || Hastings || 1—2 || shared 1—2 with Smyslov|-| 1955 || || 7—8 || Geller won|-| 1955 || Göteborg || 2 || Interzonal, Bronstein won|-| 1956 || Amsterdam || 2 || Candidates Tournament, Smyslov won|-| 1956 || Moscow || — || individual gold (+7?0=5) on third board for gold medal USSR team|-| 1956 || Moscow || 7—8 |||-| 1957 || || 2—3 || Tal won|-| 1957 || Mar del Plata || 1 |||-| 1957 || Santiago || 1 |||-| 1957/58 || Hastings || 1 |||-| 1958 || Munich || — || individual gold (+7?0=5) on third board for gold medal USSR team|-| 1959 || || 7—8 || Petrosian won|-| 1959 || Zürich || 3—4 || Tal won|-| 1959 || Bled/Belgrade/Zagreb || 2 || Candidates Tournament, Tal won|-| 1959/60 || Stockholm || 3 |||-| 1960 || Leipzig || — || individual gold (+8?0=5) on third board for gold medal USSR team|-| 1961 || Zürich || 1 |||-| 1961 || Bled || 3—5 || Tal won|-| 1961 || || 8—11 |||-| 1962 || Curaçao || 2—3 || 1962 Candidates Tournament, Petrosian won|-| 1962 || Varna || ? || individual bronze (+6?0=7) on fourth board on gold medal USSR team|-| 1963 || Los Angeles || 1—2 || 1st Piatigorsky Cup, tied with Petrosian for first|-| 1964 || Beverwijk || 1—2 || Hoogovens tournament, shared 1—2 with Nei|-| 1964 || Buenos Aires || 1—2 || shared 1—2 with Petrosian|-| 1964 || Tel Aviv || ? || individual gold (+9?1=2) on fourth board for gold medal USSR team|-| 1964/65 || Hastings || 1 |||-| 1965 || Mariánské Lázn? || 1—2 || shared 1—2 with Hort|-| 1965 || || 6 || Stein won|-| 1966/67 || Stockholm || 1 |||-| 1967 || Moscow || 9—12 |||-| 1967 || Winnipeg || 3—4 |||-| 1968 || Bamberg || 1 |||-| 1969 || Beverwijk || 3—4 || Hoogovens tournament, behind Botvinnik and Geller|-| 1969 || Tallinn || 2—3 |||-| 1970 || Budapest || 1 |||-| 1971 || Amsterdam || 2—4 |||-| 1971 || Pärnu || 2—3 |||-| 1971 || Tallinn || 3—6 |||-| 1972 || Sarajevo || 3—5 |||-| 1972 || San Antonio || 5 || Karpov, Petrosian, and Portisch shared 1st—3rd|-| 1973 || Tallinn || 3—6 |||-| 1973 || Dortmund || 6—7 |||-| 1973 || Petropolis || 12—13 || Interzonal, Mecking 1st; Geller, Polugaevsky, and Portisch 2nd—4th|-| 1973 || || 9—12 || Spassky won|-| 1975 || Tallinn || 1 |||-| 1975 || Vancouver || 1 |||}

Matches

{| class="wikitable"

! Year !! Opponent !! Result|-| 1935 || Gunnar Friedemann || +2 ?1 =0|-| 1935 || Feliks Kibbermann || +3 ?1 =0|-| 1936 || Paul Felix Schmidt || +3 ?3 =1|-| 1938 || Gideon Ståhlberg || +2 ?2 =4|-| 1939/40 || Max Euwe || +6 ?5 =3|-| 1944 || Folke Ekström || +4 ?0 =2|-| 1956 || Wolfgang Unzicker || +4 ?0 =4|-| 1962 || Efim Geller || +2 ?1 =5|-| 1965 || Boris Spassky || +2 ?4 =4|-| 1970 || Borislav Ivkov || +2 ?0 =2|}

Scores against other outstanding Grandmasters

Only official tournament or match games are accounted for.

Alexander Alekhine: +1 ?5 =8
Mikhail Botvinnik: +3 ?8 =9
David Bronstein: +4 ?6 =18
José Raúl Capablanca: +1 ?0 =5

Max Euwe: +11 ?7 =9
Reuben Fine: +3 ?1 =8
Bobby Fischer: +3 ?4 =3
Efim Geller: +8 ?7 =21

Anatoly Karpov: +0 ?0 =2
Viktor Korchnoi: +4 ?1 =12
Bent Larsen: +2 ?0 =4
Tigran Petrosian: +3 ?3 =27

Lajos Portisch: +1 ?4 =3
Vasily Smyslov: +8 ?10 =21
Boris Spassky: +3 ?5 =29
Mikhail Tal: +8 ?4 =20

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Paul Keres", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

Total Books: 24

Chronological List
Alphabetical List
Available Only List

This author currently has no books in our system. Browse for Books

Back to the Top ↑

Search - List of Books by Paul Keres