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Keres, Paul

classical era

Paul Keres (1916-1975) was an Estonian grandmaster known as the "Crown Prince of Chess" for being arguably the strongest player never to become World Champion, finishing runner-up in the Candidates Tournament four consecutive times from 1953-1962. After winning the prestigious AVRO 1938 tournament ahead of future world champions, his title chances were derailed by World War II, beginning a career-long pattern of near-misses at the ultimate prize.

Total Games

1570

Wins

696

Draws

708

Losses

166

44.3% wins45.1% draws10.6% losses

Most Played Openings

C86 - Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack26E14 - Queen's Indian Defense: Spassky System25C84 - Ruy Lopez: Closed23C99 - Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense, Panov System22C87 - Ruy Lopez: Closed, Averbakh Variation22D41 - Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense21C71 - Ruy Lopez: Noah's Ark Trap21C73 - Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense19C92 - Ruy Lopez: Closed18E19 - Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Main Line17

Most Faced Opponents

Smyslov, Vassily40 gamesGeller, Efim P34 gamesPetrosian, Tigran V32 gamesEuwe, Max27 gamesStahlberg, Gideon26 gamesTal, Mihail26 gamesSpassky, Boris V25 gamesGligoric, Svetozar25 gamesBronstein, David I25 gamesFlohr, Salo21 games

Featured Games

FCGFCG
0-1

Reshevsky, Samuel Herman vs Keres, Paul

World Championship 18th

1948

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FCGFCG
0-1

Keres, Paul vs Botvinnik, Mikhail

World Championship 18th

1948

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FCGFCG
0-1

Keres, Paul vs Botvinnik, Mikhail

World Championship 18th

1948

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FCGFCG
1-0

Reshevsky, Samuel Herman vs Keres, Paul

World Championship 18th

1948

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FCGFCG
0-1

Euwe, Max vs Keres, Paul

World Championship 18th

1948

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FCGFCG
1-0

Keres, Paul vs Najdorf, Miguel

Gothenburg Interzonal

1955

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FCGFCG
1-0

Smyslov, Vassily vs Keres, Paul

World Championship 18th

1948

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FCGFCG
1-0

Keres, Paul vs Botvinnik, Mikhail

World Championship 18th

1948

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FCGFCG
1-0

Portisch, Lajos vs Keres, Paul

Petropolis Interzonal

1973

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FCGFCG
0-1

Smyslov, Vassily vs Keres, Paul

World Championship 18th

1948

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Games (1570)

Search & Filter All Games →
Keres, Paul vs Benko, Pal C
1-0
Piatigorsky Cup 1963 C07
Olafsson, Fridrik vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Piatigorsky Cup 1963 A11
Keres, Paul vs Padevsky, Nikola
1/2-1/2
Alekhine mem 1963 B71
Hort, Vlastimil vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Alekhine mem 1963 C46
Keres, Paul vs Kortschnoj, Viktor
1/2-1/2
URS-chT 1963 A30
Bagirov, Vladimir vs Keres, Paul
0-1
URS-chT 1963 C46
Filip, Miroslav vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Candidats Tournament 1962 E51
Benko, Pal C vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Candidats Tournament 1962 C26
Ojanen, Kaarle Sakari vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
FIN-EST m 1962 A28
Keres, Paul vs Benko, Pal C
1-0
Candidats Tournament 1962 B35
Troeger, Paul vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Varna olm 1962 D04
Zwaig, Arne vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Varna olm 1962 A04
Kortschnoj, Viktor vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Candidats Tournament 1962 A23
Keres, Paul vs Johansson, M.
1/2-1/2
Stockholm training 1962 B99
Filip, Miroslav vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Candidats Tournament 1962 D29
Keres, Paul vs Bouwmeester, Hans
1/2-1/2
NLD-URS m 1962 B07
Kortschnoj, Viktor vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Candidats Tournament 1962 D34
Keres, Paul vs Akakinci
1-0
Varna olm 1962 A55
Keres, Paul vs Filip, Miroslav
1/2-1/2
Candidats Tournament 1962 B49
Boleslavsky, Isaak vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
URS-chT 1962 C41
Malich, Burkhard vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Varna olm 1962 E13
Bouwmeester, Hans vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Varna olm 1962 A07
Keres, Paul vs Mikenas, Vladas
1-0
URS-chT 1962 D94
Boey, Josef vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Varna olm 1962 B00
Keres, Paul vs Ojanen, Kaarle Sakari
1-0
FIN-EST m 1962 B94
Keres, Paul vs Filip, Miroslav
1-0
Candidats Tournament 1962 B42
Keres, Paul vs Kortschnoj, Viktor
1-0
Candidats Tournament 1962 B48
Keres, Paul vs Shofman, Mikhail
1-0
URS-chT 1962 A85
Keres, Paul vs Malich, Burkhard
1-0
Varna olm 1962 D94
Keres, Paul vs Minev, Nikolay N
1-0
Varna olm 1962 C11
Benko, Pal C vs Keres, Paul
1-0
Candidats Tournament 1962 A07
Keres, Paul vs Szabo, Laszlo
1/2-1/2
Varna olm 1962 E14
Keres, Paul vs Blatny, Frantisek
1-0
Varna olm 1962 C93
Hecht, Hans Joachim vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Varna olm 1962 C73
Bouwmeester, Hans vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
NLD-URS m 1962 A11
Bolbochan, Julio vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Varna olm 1962 E15
Keres, Paul vs Benko, Pal C
1-0
Candidats Tournament 1962 B43
Keres, Paul vs Gheorghiu, Florin
1/2-1/2
Varna olm 1962 A48
Keres, Paul vs Kortschnoj, Viktor
1/2-1/2
Candidats Tournament 1962 E03
Keres, Paul vs Stahlberg, Gideon
1/2-1/2
Stockholm 1961 B45
Keres, Paul vs Darga, Klaus
1/2-1/2
Bled 1961 E14
Keres, Paul vs Johannessen, Svein
1-0
Stockholm 1961 E14
Keres, Paul vs Donner, Jan Hein
1-0
Bled 1961 D42
Keres, Paul vs Shianovsky, Vladislav I
1-0
URS-ch29 1961 C71
Kupper, Josef vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Zuerich 1961 C73
Keres, Paul vs Nilsson, Zandor
1-0
Stockholm 1961 C67
Keres, Paul vs Gipslis, Aivars
1/2-1/2
URS-ch29 1961 A48
Keres, Paul vs Teschner, Rudolf
1-0
EU-chT 1961 C82
Keres, Paul vs Trifunovic, Petar
1/2-1/2
EU-chT 1961 D67
Filip, Miroslav vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
EU-chT 1961 E18
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