Play Chess Against Paul Keres

Paul Keres (1916-1975), the Estonian who won AVRO 1938 and became the eternal second, sits across the board. Set the strength, clock, color and starting position, then press Start game.

Play Keres now

Portrait of Paul Keres — Paul Keres, 1916-1975.

Black · Paul Keres10:00

Choose the settings, then press Start game.

White · You10:00

Paul Kereshistorical player

Preparing the board.

Set the game on the right. Start unlocks the board and starts the side-to-move clock.

Set up your game against Paul Keres

Paul Keres stays selected. Choose the playing strength, clock, color and starting position.

OpponentPaul KeresStrength1500Clock10+5You playWhite

Opponent

Paul Keres remains selected while you choose the settings for this game.

Paul Keres1916-1975

Playing strength

Legend playing strength100-point steps

1500

1500Keres, 1500 Elo target2600

Time control

The first number is the starting time in minutes. The second is the increment after each completed legal move.

Your color

Starting position optional

All chess legends

Start game locks these settings and begins the selected clock. Change setup unlocks them for a new game.

About Paul Keres

Paul Keres at the 1954 Chess Olympiad in Amsterdam

Paul Keres (1916-1975) was Estonia's greatest player and, by wide agreement, the strongest grandmaster never to play a world championship match. He announced himself by sharing first at AVRO 1938 with Reuben Fine, ahead of every reigning great, but the Second World War swallowed his title shot. After the war he won three Soviet championships and finished second in four consecutive Candidates tournaments, earning the bittersweet nickname Paul the Second. Estonia put his portrait on its banknotes, a tribute few sportsmen anywhere have received.

AVRO 1938 co-winnerShared first with Fine, ahead of Botvinnik, Alekhine, Euwe and Capablanca

4x Candidates runner-upFinished second in four straight Candidates events, from 1953 to 1962

3x USSR championWon the Soviet championship in 1947, 1950 and 1951

The Keres AttackHis 6.g4 lunge against the Scheveningen Sicilian is still a feared main line

1916
Born in Narva
Paul Keres was born on 7 January 1916 in Narva, Estonia, and sharpened his game in hundreds of correspondence games.
1935
Olympiad debut
Played first board for Estonia at the Warsaw Olympiad as a nineteen-year-old.
1937
Semmering winner
Won the elite Semmering tournament ahead of Fine, Capablanca and Reshevsky, announcing himself to the world.
1938
AVRO triumph
Shared first with Reuben Fine at AVRO, the strongest tournament of the era. A title match with Alekhine should have followed; the war came instead.
1940
Narrow loss to Euwe
Lost a hard match to former champion Max Euwe in the Netherlands by a single point.
1947
Soviet champion
Won the USSR championship in Leningrad, the first of three Soviet titles in five years.
1953
The eternal second begins
Finished second to Smyslov at the Zurich Candidates, the first of four consecutive runner-up finishes in the Candidates.
1963
Piatigorsky Cup
Shared first with world champion Petrosian at the Piatigorsky Cup in Los Angeles.
1975
Death in Helsinki
Died of a heart attack on 5 June 1975, on the way home from winning the Vancouver Open. Estonia later put his portrait on the five-kroon banknote.