Paul Keres
| Paul Keres | |
|---|---|
Keres in 1969
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| Full name | Paul Keres |
| Country |
Estonia Soviet Union |
| Born |
January 7, 1916 Narva, Russian empire |
| Died | June 5, 1975 (aged 59) Helsinki, Finland |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| Peak rating | 2615 (July 1971) |
Paul Keres ([ˈpɑu̯l ˈkeres]; January 7, 1916 – June 5, 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s.
Keres narrowly missed a chance at a world championship match on five occasions. He won the 1938 AVRO tournament, which led to negotiations for a title match against champion Alexander Alekhine, but the match never took place due to World War II. After the war Keres was runner-up in the Candidates' Tournament on four consecutive occasions.
Due to these and other strong results, many chess historians consider Keres the strongest player never to become world champion and one of the greatest players in history. He was nicknamed "Paul the Second", "The Eternal Second" and "The Crown Prince of Chess". Keres, along with Viktor Korchnoi and Alexander Beliavsky, defeated nine undisputed world champions—more than anyone else in history.
Paul Keres was born in Narva (then under supremacy of Russian Empire, now Estonia).
Keres first learned about chess from his father and his older brother Harald (afterwards a prominent physicist, who later told friendly jokes to his students: "I am not Paul's brother; Paul is my brother."). With the scarcity of chess literature in his small town, he learned about chess notation from the chess puzzles in the daily newspaper, and compiled a handwritten collection of almost 1000 games. In his early days, he was known for a brilliant and sharp attacking style.
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