45 Facts About Paul Keres

Paul Keres was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer.

Paul Keres 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.

Paul 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.

Paul Keres was born in the town of Narva, then Petrograd Governorate of the Russian Empire.

Paul Keres was two years old when Estonia became an independent country in 1918.

Paul Keres was a three-time schoolboy champion of the country, in 1930,1932, and 1933.

Paul Keres's playing matured after playing correspondence chess extensively while in high school.

Paul Keres probably played about 500 correspondence games, and at one stage had 150 correspondence games going simultaneously.

Paul Keres became champion of Estonia for the first time in 1935.

Paul Keres tied for first with Gunnar Friedemann in the tournament, then defeated him in the playoff match.

Paul Keres played on for Estonia in the 6th Chess Olympiad at Warsaw 1935, and was regarded as the new star, admired for his dashing style.

Paul Keres then defended his Estonian title in 1936 by drawing a challenge match against Paul Felix Schmidt with.

Paul Keres continued to represent Estonia with success in Olympiad play.

Paul Keres had begun his university studies in 1937, and this played a role in the failure to set up a match.

At the outbreak of WWII in 1939, Paul Keres was in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the Olympiad.

Paul Keres played in his first Soviet Championship at Moscow 1940, placing fourth in an exceptionally strong field, placing him ahead of the defending champion Mikhail Botvinnik, among others.

Alekhine won at the Salzburg 1942 chess tournament in June 1942, at Munich in September 1942, and at Prague in April 1943, always ahead of Paul Keres, who placed second in all three of those tournaments.

Paul Keres won all 15 games at Tallinn 1942, and swept all five games at Posen 1943.

Paul Keres won the Estonian title event held at Tallinn 1943, and Madrid 1944.

Paul Keres was second, behind Stig Lundholm, at Lidkoping 1944.

Paul Keres returned to international play in 1946 in the Soviet radio match against Great Britain, and continued his excellent playing form that year and the next year.

Since Paul Keres lost his first four games against Botvinnik in the 1948 tournament, suspicions have sometimes been raised that Paul Keres was forced to "throw" games to allow Botvinnik to win the championship.

Paul Keres finished second or equal second in four straight Candidates' tournaments, making him the player with the most runner-up finishes in that event.

Paul Keres' run of four successive second places in Candidates' tournaments 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, Paul Keres was rehabilitated and Botvinnik was no longer in favour with officials.

Bronstein wrote that Paul Keres was ordered to draw his second cycle game with Smyslov, to conserve Smyslov's fading physical strength; Paul 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.

In several other post-war events Paul Keres dominated the field.

Paul Keres won the exceptionally strong USSR Chess Championship three times.

Paul Keres represented the Soviet Union in seven consecutive Olympiads, winning seven consecutive team gold medals, five board gold medals, and one bronze board medal.

Paul Keres appeared three times for the Soviet Union in the European Team Championships, winning team and individual gold medals on all three occasions.

Paul Keres represented the USSR in many international team matches, in Europe and the Americas, with great success.

Paul Keres represented Estonia on top board with distinction in Soviet team championships, contested between regions.

Paul Keres continued to play exceptionally well on the international circuit.

Paul Keres's health declined the next year, and he did not play any major events in 1974.

Paul Keres died of a heart attack in Helsinki, Finland, at the age of 59.

Paul Keres's death occurred while returning to Estonia from a tournament in Vancouver, which he had won.

In 2000, Paul Keres was elected the Estonian Sportsman of the Century.

Paul Keres has the seventh highest Chessmetrics 20-year average, from 1944 to 1963, behind five World Champions and Victor Korchnoi.

Paul Keres was one of few players to have plus records against Capablanca, Euwe and Tal, and he had equal records against Smyslov, Petrosian and Anatoly Karpov.

Paul Keres won at least one game against all from Capablanca to Bobby Fischer, making him one of only three players to beat nine undisputed world champions.

Paul Keres wrote chess books that included a well-regarded, deeply annotated collection of his best games, Grandmaster of Chess.

Paul Keres wrote several tournament books, including an account of the 1948 World Championship Match Tournament.

Paul Keres published 180 problems and 30 studies, including a rook ending that won a first prize in 1947.

Paul 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.

Paul Keres is one of the nicest people that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.