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Re: 2016 – Year of Paul Keres
2016 – Year of Paul Keres
June 2, 2017
Vlastimil Hort has a memoir in ChessBase News today entitled Remembering Paul Keres.
http://en.chessbase.com/post/vlastim...ing-paul-keres
Some extracts:
Paul Keres, born 7th January 1916 – died 5th June 1975. A capricorn!
The talent of Keres was great and it soon was noticed. Here's a report by International Master Vladas Mikenas: "In 1928 I visited Pärnu where I played a simul. During the simul a dark-haired, 12-year old boy demanded my whole attention. I always had to stop at his board for a long time to think. But in vain, all my attempts to save the game failed. The boy received the deserved applause and asked me modestly whether we could play some blitz games. I left Pärnu with the firm conviction that I had played with a player who would once be a star among the very best."
"I learnt chess quite early. I was not yet five years old when my brother and I were allowed to watch how my father played chess against the service personnel. We did not know yet that you can write games down. After we had discovered chess in magazines and books I acquired a thick notebook in which I kept my notes to openings and hundreds of master games. At this time I started with correspondence chess, and sometimes played 150 correspondence games simultaneously. In 1929, when I was about 13 years old, I won the Estonian Junior Championship." Paul Keres
_________
While writing I admiringly read Keres' collection of selected games, "The Road to the Top" and "The Quest for Perfection". Keres had an enormous number of games he could choose from. Statistics tell us that he played 1,328 tournament games (+952, =188, -188) in his career. A fascinatingly low drawing percentage. But he did not only play, he was also a renowned composer of studies. In the Soviet Union his "100 Selected Games" were published in 1966 but it also appeared in Estonian and German, and I gradually start to understand that Keres, the perennial second and six-time candidate, had been a much better chess ace than I had thought. His notes to his 100 selected games are simply World Champion level!
I feel flattered because Keres included the game Hort-Keres – European Championship, Oberhausen, 1961 (No 91) into his collection of games. I remember that my opponent was dressed like a fashion model. He was shaved to perfection, fragranced and was wearing a classic suit with tie and tie-pin. His German was perfect. He calmly wrote down the moves in elegant handwriting and long notation. When I was in time-trouble he remained a gentleman and did not hammer the clock like mad.
After returning from Oberhausen my buddies in Prague greeted me with mischievous smiles. Why? Grandmaster Ludek Pachmann had mentioned the game in the Czechoslovakian sports paper, writing that "… after Keres' queen sacrifice the talented Hort fell from his chair". This sentence quickly spread in the chess scene of Prague. Which gives you an idea how successful chess anecdotes come into being.
But what happened really? Keres sacrificed his queen on move 35. After 40 moves the game was adjourned, as was common at that time. While I was thinking what move to adjourn, no less than 45 minutes, I was swinging back and forth on my chair, oblivious to time and space. Suddenly I lost my balance and crashed to the floor. As it later turned out my 41st move was losing. Keres received the brilliancy prize for this game.
The game can be played over at:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess...056959&kpage=1
According to V. Jansa, who was playing next board against Petrosian, Keres was down to 10 minutes after his 34th move. He used 8 of them on Qc1!!. The result? Hort literally fell off his chair when Keres sacrificed his Q!
European Championship
Oberhausen, Germany
Round 3, June 23, 1961
Hort, Vlastimil – Keres, Paul
C71 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 b5 6.Bb3 Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4 8.Bd5 Rb8 9.Bc6+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Qxd7 11.Qxd4 Nf6 12.O-O Be7 13.Nc3 O-O 14.a4 Rfe8 15.Qd3 b4 16.Nd5 a5 17.b3 Nxd5 18.exd5 Bf6 19.Rb1 c5 20.Bf4 Be5 21.Be3 Rbc8 22.Qc4 Qf5 23.Qb5 Qxc2 24.Qxa5 f5 25.f3 Bb2 26.Qa6 Qxb3 27.Bf2 c4 28.Qb7 Rb8 29.Qa7 Ra8 30.Qb7 Reb8 31.Qd7 Qc2 32.Qxd6 b3 33.Qe6+ Kh8 34.d6 Bf6 35.Rfc1 Qxc1+ 36.Rxc1 b2 37.Rb1 c3 38.Qe2 Rxa4 39.d7 h6 40.Qe8+ Kh7 41.d8=Q Rxd8 42.Qxa4 Rd2 43.Rxb2 cxb2 44.Qb3 Rd8 45.Qc2 Rb8 46.Qb1 g6 47.g4 Ra8 48.Kg2 Ra1 49.Qc2 b1=Q 50.Qc7+ Bg7 51.Bd4 Qf1+ 52.Kg3 f4+ 53.Kxf4 Qc1+ 0-1
________
Recently, Robert Hübner, who appreciates the culinary skills and literary ambitions of my wife, was visiting us. During coffee we talked about Keres' book. Hübner owns a bad German and a good Estonian translation of this book and he also thinks that Keres' comments are among the best in chess literature.
2016 – Year of Paul Keres
June 2, 2017
Vlastimil Hort has a memoir in ChessBase News today entitled Remembering Paul Keres.
http://en.chessbase.com/post/vlastim...ing-paul-keres
Some extracts:
Paul Keres, born 7th January 1916 – died 5th June 1975. A capricorn!
The talent of Keres was great and it soon was noticed. Here's a report by International Master Vladas Mikenas: "In 1928 I visited Pärnu where I played a simul. During the simul a dark-haired, 12-year old boy demanded my whole attention. I always had to stop at his board for a long time to think. But in vain, all my attempts to save the game failed. The boy received the deserved applause and asked me modestly whether we could play some blitz games. I left Pärnu with the firm conviction that I had played with a player who would once be a star among the very best."
"I learnt chess quite early. I was not yet five years old when my brother and I were allowed to watch how my father played chess against the service personnel. We did not know yet that you can write games down. After we had discovered chess in magazines and books I acquired a thick notebook in which I kept my notes to openings and hundreds of master games. At this time I started with correspondence chess, and sometimes played 150 correspondence games simultaneously. In 1929, when I was about 13 years old, I won the Estonian Junior Championship." Paul Keres
_________
While writing I admiringly read Keres' collection of selected games, "The Road to the Top" and "The Quest for Perfection". Keres had an enormous number of games he could choose from. Statistics tell us that he played 1,328 tournament games (+952, =188, -188) in his career. A fascinatingly low drawing percentage. But he did not only play, he was also a renowned composer of studies. In the Soviet Union his "100 Selected Games" were published in 1966 but it also appeared in Estonian and German, and I gradually start to understand that Keres, the perennial second and six-time candidate, had been a much better chess ace than I had thought. His notes to his 100 selected games are simply World Champion level!
I feel flattered because Keres included the game Hort-Keres – European Championship, Oberhausen, 1961 (No 91) into his collection of games. I remember that my opponent was dressed like a fashion model. He was shaved to perfection, fragranced and was wearing a classic suit with tie and tie-pin. His German was perfect. He calmly wrote down the moves in elegant handwriting and long notation. When I was in time-trouble he remained a gentleman and did not hammer the clock like mad.
After returning from Oberhausen my buddies in Prague greeted me with mischievous smiles. Why? Grandmaster Ludek Pachmann had mentioned the game in the Czechoslovakian sports paper, writing that "… after Keres' queen sacrifice the talented Hort fell from his chair". This sentence quickly spread in the chess scene of Prague. Which gives you an idea how successful chess anecdotes come into being.
But what happened really? Keres sacrificed his queen on move 35. After 40 moves the game was adjourned, as was common at that time. While I was thinking what move to adjourn, no less than 45 minutes, I was swinging back and forth on my chair, oblivious to time and space. Suddenly I lost my balance and crashed to the floor. As it later turned out my 41st move was losing. Keres received the brilliancy prize for this game.
The game can be played over at:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess...056959&kpage=1
According to V. Jansa, who was playing next board against Petrosian, Keres was down to 10 minutes after his 34th move. He used 8 of them on Qc1!!. The result? Hort literally fell off his chair when Keres sacrificed his Q!
European Championship
Oberhausen, Germany
Round 3, June 23, 1961
Hort, Vlastimil – Keres, Paul
C71 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 b5 6.Bb3 Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4 8.Bd5 Rb8 9.Bc6+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Qxd7 11.Qxd4 Nf6 12.O-O Be7 13.Nc3 O-O 14.a4 Rfe8 15.Qd3 b4 16.Nd5 a5 17.b3 Nxd5 18.exd5 Bf6 19.Rb1 c5 20.Bf4 Be5 21.Be3 Rbc8 22.Qc4 Qf5 23.Qb5 Qxc2 24.Qxa5 f5 25.f3 Bb2 26.Qa6 Qxb3 27.Bf2 c4 28.Qb7 Rb8 29.Qa7 Ra8 30.Qb7 Reb8 31.Qd7 Qc2 32.Qxd6 b3 33.Qe6+ Kh8 34.d6 Bf6 35.Rfc1 Qxc1+ 36.Rxc1 b2 37.Rb1 c3 38.Qe2 Rxa4 39.d7 h6 40.Qe8+ Kh7 41.d8=Q Rxd8 42.Qxa4 Rd2 43.Rxb2 cxb2 44.Qb3 Rd8 45.Qc2 Rb8 46.Qb1 g6 47.g4 Ra8 48.Kg2 Ra1 49.Qc2 b1=Q 50.Qc7+ Bg7 51.Bd4 Qf1+ 52.Kg3 f4+ 53.Kxf4 Qc1+ 0-1
________
Recently, Robert Hübner, who appreciates the culinary skills and literary ambitions of my wife, was visiting us. During coffee we talked about Keres' book. Hübner owns a bad German and a good Estonian translation of this book and he also thinks that Keres' comments are among the best in chess literature.
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