The perfect score: Keres wins Tallinn 1942 with 15.0/15

by Johannes Fischer
1/11/2022 – Paul Keres (January 7, 1916 – June 5, 1975) was the clear favourite in the 1942 Estonian Championship in Tallinn. At the time he was considered a possible challenger to World Champion Alexander Alekhine and was the only world-class player in the field. Nevertheless, it is astonishing how clearly Keres dominated the tournament: he won all 15 games without conceding a single draw. | Photo: Valter Heuer (Archive)
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Keres himself, however, did not seem to attach too much importance to this perfect score. In his book with a selection of his best games he writes with typical sober restraint: "My chess activity [in 1942] began with my participation in the Estonian Championship in Tallinn ... where I managed to win all 15 games." But he onsidered none of his 15 wins good enough to include it into his book.

He was also generally critical of his play in 1942: "It was obvious that the difficult war years had had a very unfavourable effect on my play. The games I played lacked freshness and inventiveness, and there were several gross inaccuracies in the technical part of the game."

Paul Keres 1943 | Photo: ESM F 203:463/B 1834, Estonian Sports Museum, Quelle: Joosep Grents, Paul Keres IV: The War Years

Perhaps Keres had top tournaments with strong opponents in mind when he made this rather self-critical evaluation of his play, but in the 1942 Estonian Championship Keres played confidently and won his games almost at will. He crushed his opponents with calm or violent attacking play, he outplayed them positionally or defeated them in the endgame. Keres' play in Tallinn in 1942 is straightforward and strong and provides a whole series of good examples of how a top player defeats weaker opponents without risk.

Here is an example of a textbook attack:

 
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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Bd3 Ngf6 7.Qe2 c5 8.Nxc5 Nxc5 9.dxc5 Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Qxc5 11.0-0-0 0-0 The opening went well for White. He has more space, attacking chances on the kingside and Black still has to develop all his pieces. 12.Ne5 Rd8 13.g4 Nd7 14.f4 Nf8 15.g5 Bd7 16.Rhg1 Be8 17.Rg3 White's attack develops harmoniously. Rac8 18.Kb1 Bb5?! A cheap attempt to trick White tactically. More careful was 18...Ng6 though White is still better. 19.c4 Of course, White cannot take the bishop: 19.Bxb5?? Qxc2+ 20.Ka1 Rxd2! and Black wins because White is mated after 21.Qxd2 Qxd2 22.Rxd2 Rc1# 19...Be8 20.Bc3 b5 21.Rf1 bxc4 22.Bxc4?! The engines recommend 22.Bc2 with a strong attack and a clear advantage for White. 22...Bd6 23.b3 a5? Black has no time for such a move. Better was 23...Ng6 to exchange the strong knight on e5. 24.f5 Bxe5 25.Bxe5 exf5 26.Rxf5 Ng6 27.Rgf3 Nxe5 28.Rxe5 Qc7 29.g6! More precise than 29.Re7 Qc5 after which White is clearly better but still has some work to do. 29...hxg6 30.Re7 Qc6 31.Rexf7! White has a crushing mating attack. Bxf7 32.Bxf7+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Keres,P-Turn,J-1–01942C10EST-ch3

And here's an example how Keres wins an equal ending:

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 d6 4.d4 Bg4 5.Bb5 exd4 6.Qxd4 Nge7 7.Nd5 a6 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.Nxe7 Qxe7 10.Qc4 Qd7 11.Nd4 c5 12.Ne2 Qb5 13.Qxb5+ axb5 After the opening Black has no trouble at all. In fact, the bishops give him a slight advantage. However, White's position is solid and compact and one should not overestimate Black's position. 14.b3 Be7 15.Bb2 0-0 16.f3 Bd7 17.Ng3 Bh4 18.0-0 g6 19.a3 Rfe8 20.Rad1 Bc6 21.Rfe1 Bg5 22.Nf1 Bf4 23.Ne3 Be5 Black exchanges the bishops to play against White's weakness on a3. 24.Bxe5 Rxe5 25.Ra1 Ra7 26.Kf2 Re8 27.Ra2 Rea8 28.Rea1 Kf8 29.Nd1 Ke7 30.Ke3 Ke6 31.Nc3 f5 32.a4 bxa4 33.exf5+ Kxf5 34.Nxa4 d5 35.g4+ Ke5 36.f4+ Kd6 37.Kf2 d4 38.Kg3 c4 39.Kh4 cxb3 40.cxb3 Black is clearly better and the passed pawn on d3 gives him good winning chances. Bd5 41.Rd2 c5 42.Rc1 Rxa4?! However, this exchange sacrifice might be a bit too optimistic. Possible was the less risky 42...Ra5 43.Nb6 Ra2 44.Nc4+ Kc6 with a clear advantage for Black. 43.bxa4 Rxa4 44.Kg5 Ra3 45.f5 gxf5 46.gxf5 Rf3 47.Rdc2 d3 48.Rxc5 d2 49.Rxd5+ Kxd5 50.Rd1 Rf2 51.f6 Ke4 52.h4 Rf5+ 53.Kh6 Rxf6+ 54.Kxh7 Rd6 55.h5? This move gives the draw away. 55.Kg7 holds the draw, e.g. Kf5 56.Kf7 Rd4 57.h5 Rd7+ 58.Ke8 Rd6 59.Ke7 Rd3 60.h6 Kg6 61.Ke6 Kxh6 62.Kf5 and White's king is in time. 55...Kf5 56.Kg7 Kg5 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Laurine,L-Keres,P-0–11942C62EST-ch12

This game could easily have ended in a draw, but in only one of his 15 games Keres was in serious trouble. After playing the opening carelessly he was a clear pawn down against Feliks Kibbermann. Keres had no adequate compensation for the pawn, but then Kibbermann collapsed and blundered the game away.

 
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1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.d4 Bf5 6.Ne5 c6 7.g4 Be6 8.Bc4 Bxc4 9.Nxc4 Qd8 10.Bf4 e6 11.Be5 Nbd7 12.Qf3 Nb6 13.Nxb6 axb6 14.g5 Nd7 15.Qf4 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Qc7 17.Rd1? This careless move costs an important pawn. The engines recommend 17.0-0-0 with a roughly equal position. 17...Ra5 Now White cannot defend e5 and is clearly worse. 18.Kf1 Qxe5 19.Qd2 Qc7 20.a3 Ra8 21.h4 Rd8 22.Qe2 Rxd1+ 23.Qxd1 Be7 24.Qg4 0-0 25.Rh3 Rd8 26.Rf3 Qe5 27.Ne4!? In a bad position Keres tries to start a swindle and offers Black a second pawn. Rd4 Taking the pawn was also possible, e.g. 27...Qxb2 28.Qf4 Qb5+ 29.Kg2 Qf5 30.Qc7 Qxe4 31.Qxe7 Rf8 and Black is winning. 28.Rf4 Bd6?? An error that loses immediately and is hard to explain. Black had a number of good moves after which he still is winning. Even after the retreat 28...Rd8 White can only hope for a swindle. 29.Nf6+ Of course. Kh8 30.Rxd4 gxf6 31.gxf6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Keres,P-Kibbermann,F-1–01942B01EST-ch9

The game against Kibbermann was played in Round 9, and after that everything went smoothly again and Keres won the tournament with 15 points from 15 games. Of course, the sporting value of this 100% score is not as high as winning a top tournament as Keres' opponents in Tallinn were not particularly strong, but scoring 15 points from 15 games is and remains a remarkable result.

The games of Keres in Tallinn 1942

 
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1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nf3 Bb4 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Bxc4 0-0 9.0-0 Nd7 10.e5 Qe7 11.Ne4 Rd8 12.Rc1 Nf8 13.Bd3 Ba5 14.Nc5 Rb8 15.Be4 c6 16.Qe2 Bd7 17.Nd2 Be8 18.Nc4 Bc7 19.Qe3 f5 20.exf6 Qxf6 21.Ne5 Bxe5 22.dxe5 Qe7 23.b4 b6 24.Nd3 Rbc8 25.Rc3 Bg6 26.Rfc1 Bxe4 27.Qxe4 c5 28.bxc5 bxc5 29.Qe3 Nd7 30.g3 Rc7 31.Nxc5 Nxc5 32.Rxc5 Rcd7 33.Rc8 Rd1+ 34.Rxd1 Rxc8 35.Rd6 Rb8 36.Qd3 Qe8 37.Kg2 h5 38.h4 Qe7 39.Rd7 Qc5 40.Qd6 Qxd6 41.exd6 Rb6 42.Kf3 Ra6 43.Ke4 Rxa2 44.Rc7 Kf8 45.Rc8+ Kf7 46.d7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Keres,P-Kalde,V-1–01942D39EST-ch1
Karring,G-Keres,P-0–11942A57EST-ch2
Keres,P-Turn,J-1–01942C10EST-ch3
Remmelgas,A-Keres,P-0–11942A17EST-ch4
Keres,P-Pruun,R-1–01942C90EST-ch5
Sepp,L-Keres,P-0–11942C49EST-ch6
Keres,P-Arulaid,A-1–01942E33EST-ch7
Renter,R-Keres,P-0–11942E32EST-ch8
Keres,P-Kibbermann,F-1–01942B01EST-ch9
Sinkel,T-Keres,P-0–11942C55EST-ch10
Keres,P-Tepaks,V-1–01942B01EST-ch11
Laurine,L-Keres,P-0–11942C62EST-ch12
Keres,P-Rootare,S-1–01942C29EST-ch13
Keres,P-Soonurm,H-1–01942C37EST-ch14
Trass,V-Keres,P-0–11942C90EST-ch15

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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