Paul Keres

At 59 years old, Paul Keres physical status not available right now. We will update Paul Keres's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Keres won the 1938 chess tournament, which culminated in talks for a title match against champion Alexander Alekhine, but the match didn't take place due to World War II. Between 1953 and 1962, he was runner-up in the Candidates' Tournament on four separate occasions.

Many chess historians believe Kerees is one of the best players in history and the most consistent contenders for the World Championship, and Keres is the best player to ever play for the United States. He was dubbed "Paul the Second," "The Eternal Second," and "The Crown Prince of Chess."

Early life

Keres was born in Narva, Estonia, during the time of the Russian Empire; he was two years old when Estonia became a republic in 1918. Keress first learned about chess from his father and his elder brother Harald (who later told his children, "I am not Paul's brother." He learned about chess notation from the chess puzzles in the daily newspaper and compiled a handwritten collection of nearly 1000 games in response to the scarcity of chess literature in his home town. He was known for his superb and striking style in his early days.

In 1930, 1932, and 1933, Keres was the country's three-time schoolboy champion. Since playing correspondence chess extensively in high school, his playing matured. He may have played about 500 correspondence games, and there were 150 correspondence games running at one time. He won the Internationaler Fernschachbund (IFSB) international correspondence chess championship in 1935. He studied mathematics at the University of Tartu and participated in numerous interuniversity tournaments from 1937 to 1941.

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Three-time Soviet champion, career peak

Keres dominated the field in several other postwar events, but not so much. He has won the USSR Chess Championship three times. He won at Leningrad, URS-ch15, with 14/19 (+10+1)), and the field included every top Soviet player except Botvinnik. In 1950, he won at Moscow, URS-ch18, with 1112/17 (+8=7) against a field that was only marginally smaller than 1947. With 12/17 (+92=6), he defeated Moscow, URS-ch19, Efim Geller, Petrosian, Smyslov, Botvinnik, Yuri Averbakh, David Bronstein, Mark Taimanov, Lev Aronin, Salo Flohr, Igor Bondarevsky, and Alexander Kotov, who led the opposition in 1951, defeating him again.

Keres won Pärnu 1947 by 91.13 (7.01=5), Szczawno-Zdrój (141—1=7), and Budapest 1952 (1212=5), the former world champion Botvinnik, and an all-star field featuring Geller, Smyslov, Gideon Sthlberg, László Szabo, and Petrosian. The Budapest win, which snapped a string of four first-class victories over a two-year period, may have been the pinnacle of his career. "In his book on Keres, Hungary master and writer Egon Varnusz writes that "the best player in the world was Paul Keres."

Later career

Keres made some notable contributions as a chess organ in Estonia, beginning with the Pärnu 1947 tournament; this is an often ignored aspect of his career.

Kerees continued to perform well on the international stage. He finished 1st-2nd at Hastings, 1954–55, with Smyslov on 7/9 (+61=2). With 91.2/10, he won an internal Soviet training tournament at Pärnu 1954. Keres came in second place at the 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal, behind David Bronstein with 1312/20. In a 1956 exhibition match in Hamburg, Keres defeated Wolfgang Unzicker 6–2 (+40=4). With 131-211 (+8:2=11), he tied for 2nd-third in the USSR Championship, Moscow, 1957 (URS-ch24), and Bronstein, second behind Mikhail Tal, tied for second place (URS-ch24). Keres won Mar del Plata 1957 (before Miguel Najdorf), and Santiago 1957 with 6/7, ahead of Alexander Kotov. He won Hastings 1957–58 (712–9), just shy of Svetozar Gligori. At 1012/15, he tied for 3rd-fourth at Zürich, a pair of Tal and Gligori. In the USSR Championship, he finished 7th-8th (URS-ch26), as Petrosian triumphs. Keres was third in Stockholm 1959-60 with 7/9. He won with 12/15 at Pärnu 1960. At Zürich 1961 (9/11), he was the champion (ahead of Petrosian). Keres shared 3rd-5th positions at the elite Bled 1961 festival, behind Mikhail Tal and Bobby Fischer. Boris Spassky won in the USSR Championship in Baku 1961 (URS-ch29). At the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup in Los Angeles, Keres finished first with World Champion Tigran Petrosian, who finished first with 81/12.

Following the tournament championships, there will be two more. He won Beverwijk 1964, a tie with Ivo Nei. With 121–217, he tied for first place with World Champion Tigran Petrosian at Buenos Aires 1964. He won with 8/9 at Hastings, 1964-65. On 11/15 with Vlastimil Hort, he took 1st-second positions at Marianske Lazne, 1965. Leonid Stein won the USSR Championship in Tallinn, 1965 (URS-ch33). He won with 7/9 at Stockholm in 1966-1967. When Bent Larsen and Klaus Darga won, he took 3rd–4th places on 512/9.

He won with 12/15 at Bamberg, two points ahead of World Champion Tigran Petrosian Tigran Petrosian. Viktor Korchnoi was 2nd at Luhacovice, 1969, with 101:2/15, down from Viktor Korchnoi. He took 2nd-threerd places at Tallinn in 1969 as Stein won. On 1012/15, Geller and Botvinnik took the top places in Wijk aan Zee 1969, when he took 3rd–4th positions. He won Budapest 1970 with 10/15, a few points ahead of Laszlo Szabo. Keres' win over Ivkov on the tenth board in 1970 gave the Soviet team the victory over Rest of the World. With Mikhail Tal on 111&2/15, he took 1st-second at Tallinn 1971. He came in 2nd-3rd at Pärnu, 1971, on 91/13, as Stein defeated. With 9/13, Smyslov took second place in Amsterdam 1971, he finished 2nd-fourth as Smyslov won. On 91/12/15, Szabo won the Sarajevo Grand Prix for the third time as he claimed the 3rd-5th places. On 91&2/15, Petrosian, Lajos Portich, and Anatoly Karpov placed 5th, beating San Antonio 1972.

On 9/15, he shared 3rd–6th places as Mikhail Tal defeated at Tallinn 1973. Henrique Mecking won his last Interzonal in 1973, scoring 8/17 for a shared 12th position. Boris Spassky won his last Soviet Championship appearance in Moscow, earning 8/17 for a shared 9-12th rank.

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