Keres and the Man

Well, shame on me for not noticing until now that January 7th was the 100th birthday of Paul Keres, or that FIDE has declared 2016 the Year of Paul Keres.

Paul Keres was one of the greatest chess players who ever lived.  He was a friend of David Bronstein, and shared many of Bronstein's life dilemmas.  Like Bronstein, Keres was very good, but not the Chosen One of Stalin's chess machine.  But, unlike Bronstein, Keres was also a foreigner, hailing from Estonia, which as every schoolchild knows was full of hooligans, wreckers, and revisionists.  Which partly explains why he is generally regarded as the best player to never play for the World Championship.

"I was unlucky, like my country."

By all accounts he was a fine person, correct in all things.  He was a national hero in Estonia, and remains one to this day.

He almost didn't get the chance.  After World War II, the Soviets did some housecleaning in the Baltic states, including heavy re-education, extensive deportation, and light murder, depending on local conditions and the priorities of the occupation forces at that particular moment.  According to this excellent article on Chessbase, "Keres had participated in German tournaments during the war, and when the Red Army liberated the country, Soviet authorities planned initially to execute him. Botvinnik interceded by talking to Stalin and Keres was spared."

So, I wondered - what was Keres' record against Botvinnik?  Here are the games reported in the chessgames database:

Act 1 - Before the War

• AVRO 1938 - Draw
• AVRO 1938 - Draw
• USSR Championship 1940 - Draw
• USSR Absolute Championship 1941 - Draw
• USSR Absolute Championship 1941 - Draw
• USSR Absolute Championship 1941 - Botvinnik wins
• USSR Absolute Championship 1941 - Draw

Act 2 - After the War

• Moscow 1947 - Botvinnik wins
• FIDE World Championship Tournament 1948 - Botvinnik wins
• FIDE World Championship Tournament 1948 - Botvinnik wins
• FIDE World Championship Tournament 1948 - Botvinnik wins
• FIDE World Championship Tournament 1948 - Keres wins
• FIDE World Championship Tournament 1948 - Botvinnik wins
• USSR Championship 1951 - Draw
• USSR Championship 1952 - Botvinnik wins
• Budapest 1952 - Draw

Act 3 - After the death of Stalin

• USSR Championship 1955 - Keres wins in final round, keeps Botvinnik from winning the tournament
• Alekhine Memorial 1956 - Keres wins in final round, forces Botvinnik to share 1st place with Smyslov
• USSR Team Championship 1966 - Botvinnik wins
• Netherlands 1969 - Draw

So that's 0 wins, 1 loss, and 6 draws in Act 1; 1-6-2 in Act 2; and 2-1-1 in Act 3.

According to Chessmetrics, Keres was a pretty consistent performer throughout his career - there was no big dropoff in his results against anyone else after the war.  

Keres never got to play The Man even and walk away, like Bronstein did in 1951.  But it's nice to know that he did get to slap Botvinnik around a little, once the coast was clear.