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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 →
Szabo, Laszlo vs Keres, Paul
1-0
Budapest 1952 E19
Keres, Paul vs Pilnik, Herman
1-0
Budapest 1952 C79
Keres, Paul vs O'Kelly de Galway, Alberic
1-0
Budapest 1952 E31
Keres, Paul vs Simagin, Vladimir
1/2-1/2
URS-ch20 1952 D44
Keres, Paul vs Konstantinopolsky, Alexander
1-0
URS-ch20 1952 B16
Byvshev, Vasily Mikhailovich vs Keres, Paul
1-0
URS-ch20 1952 C99
Tsiknopoulos, C. vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Helsinki olm 1952 C86
Keres, Paul vs Benko, Pal C
1/2-1/2
Budapest 1952 D78
Troianescu, Octavio vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Budapest 1952 C85
Keres, Paul vs Kortschnoj, Viktor
1-0
URS-ch20 1952 A89
Aronin, Lev Solomonovich vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
URS-ch20 1952 C65
Keres, Paul vs Kasparian, Genrikh
1/2-1/2
URS-ch20 1952 B18
Keres, Paul vs Platz, Hans
1-0
Budapest 1952 E03
Szabo, Laszlo vs Keres, Paul
1-0
Helsinki olm 1952 E51
Boleslavsky, Isaak vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
URS-ch20 1952 C87
Tolush, Alexander V vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
URS-ch20 1952 E39
Keres, Paul vs Stahlberg, Gideon
1/2-1/2
Budapest 1952 C07
Keres, Paul vs Filip, Miroslav
1/2-1/2
Helsinki olm 1952 B20
Barcza, Gedeon vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Budapest 1952 D28
Keres, Paul vs Tarnowski, Alfred
1-0
Helsinki olm 1952 C86
Van Scheltinga, Theo D vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Helsinki olm 1952 E14
Teschner, Rudolf vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Helsinki olm 1952 C84
Sliwa, Bogdan vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Budapest 1952 A49
Keres, Paul vs Book, Eero
1-0
Helsinki olm 1952 B83
Keres, Paul vs Suetin, Alexey S
1-0
URS-ch20 1952 D63
Szily, Jozsef vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Budapest 1952 C99
Keres, Paul vs Moiseev, Oleg L
1/2-1/2
URS-ch20 1952 D61
Gligoric, Svetozar vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Helsinki olm 1952 C99
Keres, Paul vs Czerniak, Moshe
1/2-1/2
Helsinki olm 1952 C05
Keres, Paul vs Taimanov, Mark E
1/2-1/2
URS-ch20 1952 B65
Keres, Paul vs Bondarevsky, Igor
1/2-1/2
URS-ch19 1951 B26
Keres, Paul vs Terpugov, Evgeny
1-0
URS-ch19 1951 D07
Kotov, Alexander vs Keres, Paul
1-0
URS-ch19 1951 E42
Keres, Paul vs Simagin, Vladimir
1-0
URS-ch19 1951 A97
Keres, Paul vs Novotelnov, Nikolay Alexandrovi
1-0
URS-ch19 1951 E17
Keres, Paul vs Aronin, Lev Solomonovich
1-0
URS-ch19 1951 B62
Keres, Paul vs Lipnitsky, Isaak
1-0
URS-ch19 1951 E51
Kopylov, Nikolai G vs Keres, Paul
1-0
URS-ch19 1951 B32
Keres, Paul vs Averbakh, Yuri L
1/2-1/2
URS-ch19 1951 C83
Moiseev, Oleg L vs Keres, Paul
0-1
URS-ch19 1951 E47
Keres, Paul vs Flohr, Salo
1/2-1/2
URS-ch19 1951 B10
Keres, Paul vs Taimanov, Mark E
1-0
URS-ch19 1951 E14
Simagin, Vladimir vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Szcawno Zdroj 1950 C73
Keres, Paul vs Averbakh, Yuri L
1/2-1/2
Szcawno Zdroj 1950 B74
Keres, Paul vs Zita, Frantisek
1/2-1/2
Szcawno Zdroj 1950 B10
Keres, Paul vs Arlamowski, Edward
1-0
Szcawno Zdroj 1950 B10
Boleslavsky, Isaak vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Candidats Tournament 1950 C99
Tarnowski, Alfred vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Szcawno Zdroj 1950 C71
Stahlberg, Gideon vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Candidats Tournament 1950 A14
Keres, Paul vs Koberl, Ferenc
1-0
Szcawno Zdroj 1950 C07
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