Pride of Estonia: Paul Keres, one of the best to never hold chess world crown

A top player for a quarter of a century and a national hero immortalised on coins, the fates denied him a world title match

Paul Keres (1916-1975) was one of the greatest players never to become world champion. It was not through want of trying. For a full quarter of a century, starting from his victory at Avro 1938, one of the all-time premier tournaments in chess history, right up to Curaçao 1962, where he missed first place and a world title challenge by a hair’s breadth, Keres was a leading contender.

Keres became a national hero for Estonians, who believed that Soviet officials had coerced him into playing badly against the favoured Russian, Mikhail Botvinnik, in the 1948 world championship tournament. He was voted Estonia’s sportsperson of the year in 1959 and 1962, and later sportsperson of the 20th century. When he died of a heart attack in 1975, 100,000 attended his funeral. In 2016, Estonia’s national bank issued coins with Keres’s name and portrait to commemorate his centenary. His fans admired his modesty, elegance and patriotism as well as emphasising with him over the fates which denied him a match for the world crown.

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