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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)

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Kunsztowicz, Uwe vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
FRG-ch International 1973 E31
Savon, Vladimir A vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
URS-ch41 1973 D37
Dvorietzky, Mark I vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Moscow-3teams 1973 A07
Keres, Paul vs Pribyl, Josef
1/2-1/2
Tallinn 1973 B36
Keene, Raymond D vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
FRG-ch International 1973 A11
Keres, Paul vs Tukmakov, Vladimir B
1/2-1/2
URS-ch41 1973 B50
Keres, Paul vs Hecht, Hans Joachim
1/2-1/2
FRG-ch International 1973 C06
Balashov, Yuri S vs Keres, Paul
1-0
Tallinn 1973 C92
Keres, Paul vs Taimanov, Mark E
1/2-1/2
URS-ch41 1973 A48
Marovic, Drazen vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
FRG-ch International 1973 D34
Keres, Paul vs Andersson, Ulf
1/2-1/2
Tallinn 1973 E14
Keres, Paul vs Popov, Luben
0-1
FRG-ch International 1973 B47
Suess, Alois vs Keres, Paul
0-1
FRG-ch International 1973 C73
Keres, Paul vs Westerinen, Heikki MJ
1-0
Tallinn 1973 B06
Saidy, Anthony Fred vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Tallinn 1973 A22
Pfleger, Helmut vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Tallinn 1973 C45
Keres, Paul vs Vukic, Milan
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 B10
Keres, Paul vs Byrne, Donald
1-0
San Antonio 1972 D94
Keres, Paul vs Kosanski, Stanko
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 B08
Keres, Paul vs Browne, Walter S
1/2-1/2
San Antonio 1972 A43
Keres, Paul vs Bukal, Vladimir Sr
1-0
Sarajevo 1972 B42
Matulovic, Milan vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 C79
Keres, Paul vs Bagirov, Vladimir
1-0
URS-chT Moscow 1972 D19
Keres, Paul vs Campos Lopez, Mario
1-0
San Antonio 1972 C87
Hort, Vlastimil vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 D56
Keres, Paul vs Minic, Dragoljub
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 D94
Keres, Paul vs Basagic, Zlatko
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 C65
Gasic, Bozidar vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Sarajevo 1972 D04
Szabo, Laszlo vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 D36
Bogdanovic, Rajko vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Sarajevo 1972 C79
Kaplan, Julio P vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
San Antonio 1972 C79
Keres, Paul vs Rajkovic, Dusan
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 A79
Keres, Paul vs Hort, Vlastimil
1-0
San Antonio 1972 E14
Butnorius, Algimantas vs Keres, Paul
0-1
URS-chT Moscow 1972 A07
Keres, Paul vs Gligoric, Svetozar
1/2-1/2
San Antonio 1972 C95
Keres, Paul vs Smith, Kenneth R
1/2-1/2
San Antonio 1972 A16
Saidy, Anthony Fred vs Keres, Paul
0-1
San Antonio 1972 D02
Tatai, Stefano vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 C01
Keres, Paul vs Jansa, Vlastimil
1/2-1/2
Sarajevo 1972 B46
Ivanovic, Bozidar vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Sarajevo 1972 C96
Keres, Paul vs Mecking, Henrique
1-0
San Antonio 1972 D26
Evans, Larry Melvyn vs Keres, Paul
1-0
San Antonio 1972 E42
Suttles, Duncan vs Keres, Paul
1/2-1/2
San Antonio 1972 A13
Etruk, Rein T vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Parnu 1971 A11
Vark, K. vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Parnu 1971 A84
Keres, Paul vs Stein, Leonid
1/2-1/2
Tallinn 1971 E66
Parma, Bruno vs Keres, Paul
0-1
URS-JUG 1971 C79
Keres, Paul vs Saidy, Anthony Fred
1-0
Tallinn 1971 D27
Keres, Paul vs Smejkal, Jan
1-0
Tallinn 1971 C84
Daskalov, Georgi vs Keres, Paul
0-1
Tallinn 1971 C73
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