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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 →
Yukhtman, Jacob vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
URS-ch26 1959 B31
Keres, Paul vs Benko, Pal C
1-0
Candidats Tournament 1959 C95
Keres, Paul vs Lutikov, Anatoly S
1/2-1/2
URS-ch26 1959 B01
Olafsson, Fridrik vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Candidats Tournament 1959 A09
Keres, Paul vs Ojanen, Kaarle Sakari
1/2-1/2
Tallinn m2 1959 A54
Keres, Paul vs Bagirov, Vladimir
1/2-1/2
URS-chT 1959 B19
Keres, Paul vs Olafsson, Fridrik
0-1
Candidats Tournament 1959 B28
Nikitin, Aleksander S vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
URS-ch26 1959 C98
Keres, Paul vs Kupper, Josef
1-0
Zuerich 1959 A35
Nievergelt, Erwin vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Zuerich 1959 C85
Blau, Max vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Zuerich 1959 C85
Keres, Paul vs Boleslavsky, Isaak
1/2-1/2
URS-chT 1959 A48
Chukaev, Egor vs Keres, Paul
0-1
URS-chT 1959 E70
Gligoric, Svetozar vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Candidats Tournament 1959 E53
Keres, Paul vs Averbakh, Yuri L
1/2-1/2
URS-ch26 1959 B76
Keres, Paul vs Dueckstein, Andreas
1/2-1/2
Zuerich 1959 C17
Keres, Paul vs Gurgenidze, Bukhuti
1/2-1/2
URS-ch26 1959 B36
Gligoric, Svetozar vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Candidats Tournament 1959 E53
Gufeld, Eduard vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
URS-ch26 1959 C84
Keres, Paul vs Gligoric, Svetozar
1-0
Candidats Tournament 1959 C97
Walther, Edgar vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Zuerich 1959 C73
Barcza, Gedeon vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Zuerich 1959 A04
Ojanen, Kaarle Sakari vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Tallinn m2 1959 A28
Keres, Paul vs Olafsson, Fridrik
1-0
Candidats Tournament 1959 B48
Keres, Paul vs Unzicker, Wolfgang
1-0
Zuerich 1959 C83
Keres, Paul vs Gligoric, Svetozar
1/2-1/2
Candidats Tournament 1959 C71
Benko, Pal C vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Candidats Tournament 1959 A29
Keres, Paul vs Krogius, Nikolai V
0-1
URS-ch26 1959 B48
Keres, Paul vs Keller, Dieter
1-0
Zuerich 1959 C42
Keres, Paul vs Minev, Nikolay N
1-0
Munich olm fin-A 1958 C88
Keres, Paul vs Gligoric, Svetozar
1/2-1/2
URS-JUG 1958 C84
Keres, Paul vs Evans, Larry Melvyn
1/2-1/2
Munich olm fin-A 1958 E58
Gligoric, Svetozar vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
URS-JUG 1958 E43
Keres, Paul vs Panno, Oscar
1/2-1/2
Munich olm fin-A 1958 B36
Norcia, Federico vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Munich olm prel 1958 A23
Perez Perez, Francisco Jose vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Munich olm fin-A 1958 C84
Schmid, Lothar vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Munich olm fin-A 1958 C71
Keres, Paul vs Van den Berg, Carel Benjamin
1-0
Munich olm prel 1958 B97
Gligoric, Svetozar vs Keres, Paul
1-0
URS-JUG 1958 E43
Keres, Paul vs Gligoric, Svetozar
1/2-1/2
Munich olm fin-A 1958 C97
Minev, Nikolay N vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Munich olm prel 1958 B34
Keres, Paul vs Reilly, Brian Patrick
1-0
Munich olm prel 1958 B18
Prameshuber, Aleksander vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Munich olm fin-A 1958 C46
Keres, Paul vs Benitez, Francisco
1/2-1/2
Munich olm prel 1958 B71
Keres, Paul vs Gligoric, Svetozar
1-0
URS-JUG 1958 C84
Keres, Paul vs Bertok, Mario
1/2-1/2
URS-JUG 1957 B71
Keres, Paul vs Tarasov, Vitaly Georgievich
1-0
URS-ch24 1957 B92
Rossetto, Hector vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Mar del Plata 1957 C46
Keres, Paul vs Boleslavsky, Isaak
1-0
URS-ch24 1957 B65
Keres, Paul vs Nezhmetdinov, Rashid
1/2-1/2
URS-ch24 1957 C63
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