Paul Keres Born This Day A Century Ago

The legendary Estonian chess master Paul Keres never had the opportunity to play for the World Chess Championship. He is said to have been the strongest player to never be champion. Here are two of his games that are well worth playing through. The first is against Alekhine at Margate in 1937 and the second is against then World Champion Botvinnik in Moscow, 1956. Enjoy!!

[Event "Margate"]
[Site "Margate"]
[Date "1937.??.??"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Keres, Paul"]
[Black "Alekhine, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C71"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "1937.04.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.07.01"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c4 Bd7 6. Nc3 g6 7. d4 Bg7 8. Be3
Nf6 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Bc5 Nh5 11. Nd5 Nf4 12. Nxf4 exf4 13. e5 g5 14. Qd5 Bf8
15. Bxf8 Rxf8 16. O-O-O Qe7 17. Bxc6 Bxc6 18. Qd3 Bd7 19. Nxg5 O-O-O 20. Nf3 f6
21. exf6 Rxf6 22. Rhe1 Qb4 23. Qxd7+ 1-0

[Event "Alekhine Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1956.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Keres, Paul"]
[Black "Botvinnik, Mikhail"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B63"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "1956.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.07.01"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 h6 8.
Bxf6 gxf6 9. O-O-O a6 10. f4 h5 11. Kb1 Bd7 12. Be2 Qb6 13. Nb3 O-O-O 14. Rhf1
Na5 15. Rf3 Nxb3 16. axb3 Kb8 17. Na4 Qa7 18. f5 Be7 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. Rxf6 Rh7
21. Rg6 b5 22. Nc3 Qc5 23. Na2 Ka7 24. Nb4 Rf8 25. Bf3 h4 26. h3 Bc8 27. Nd3
Qc7 28. Nf4 Rf6 29. Bg4 Rxg6 30. Nxg6 Bb7 31. Bxe6 Bd8 32. Bd5 Bxd5 33. Qxd5
Rf7 34. e5 1-0