Keres Memorial in Tallinn – what happened?

The Keres Memorial Rapid chess tournament took place in Tallinn, Estonia, from January 6th-9th January 2006. It consisted of a number of parallel tournaments: Men's A and B, Women's A and B, Open and Seniors. The official web site (link at the bottom of the page) gives all results and a certain number of games. We have so far received no pictures and no explanation for Alexei Shirov's incredible breakdown. We will supply these when they arrive.

Paul Keres, 1916 – 1975 Paul Keres was born in Narva on 7 January 1916. At the University of Tartu, he studied mathematics from 1938 to 1941. In 1935, he became Estonian chess champion for the first time. Paul Keres first appeared in the international chess arena in the mid-1930s, and remained a prominent figure there for years. By the end of 1950s, he was one of the strongest chess players in the world. In 1975, the great Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres died suddenly at the age of 59.

A life-sized wax figure of Paul Keres was unveiled in the Museum of the Paul Keres Chess House.

Like with so many such figures, one wonders if anyone who knew the Keres would spontaneously recognize him in the sculpted wax image.

Final standings

Round by round results

Results and statistics of the Men's A tournament

We really have no idea what happened in Tallinn: one draw out of nine games for a world class player like Alexei Shirov? A performance of 2139?? We cannot recall a similar breakdown in modern times and have asked people who were present at the event to explain (if news comes in we will add it to this report). Playing through the games shows us that Shirov got into trouble in virtually every game, and sometimes committed blunders that are completely outside his rating slot. Here are three examples.

White has just played 33.Qc2-a4, not fearing the knight fork on b6 because of QxR+. But after 33...Ree7 the move 34.Bf1?? is an incredible blunder, since 34...Nb6 is now deadly. The game continued 35.Bf4 e5 36.dxe5 fxe5 37.Bxe5 Rxe5 38.Qf4 Nxc8 39.Nxe5 Nf7 40.Qf5 Qxe5 41.Qxc8+ Kg7 and with a rook for two pawns Black had no problems winning the game. 0-1.

Karpov sacrificed a pawn to keep the black king in the center and get a big attack. But Shirov has been holding out well, until he now suddenly throws away the game with 29...Na5?? 30.Bb5 1-0. The threat is Bxd7#, and in case of 30...Nc6 31.Bxc6 Bxc6 White has 32.Rd8# (30...Bxb5 is of course mate in one: 31.Rd8#).

White has got himself into a bit of trouble and tries to get out of it with 31.Qxc5. The point is that Black cannot well take on e1 because of 32.Ne4 threatening Nf6#. But Black simply plays 31...Rc8 and all White's chances dissipate. The game ended 32.Qa5 Nxe1 33.Ne4 Qd4 34.Qxe1 d2 35.Qxd2 Qxe4 36.Qg5 Qb4 0-1.

Results and statistics of the Women's A tournament

Links

• Official web site
• All games in PGN
• ChessBase: Keres Memorial 2005
• ChessBase: Remembering Paul Keres