Raymond Keene

Pauline conversion | 23 March 2017

Paul Keres is the only chess player to have appeared on the euro currency, his face adorning the two-euro piece in Estonia, where he remains a national hero. Keres has a powerful claim to be regarded as the strongest player never to have won the World Championship. His scalps included Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky and Fischer.
 
This week’s game, with notes based on those by Zenon Franco in Keres: Move by Move (Everyman Chess) is a crushing victory against another grandmaster who also has claims to be seen as the strongest ever non-world champion.
 
Korchnoi-Keres: Tallinn 1965; Torre Attack
 
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 Bg5 h6 4 Bxf6 Qxf6 5 e4 b6 6 a3 The idea of this is to be able to play Nc3 without fearing … Bb4, and then castle queenside. 6 … Bb7 7 Nc3 d6 8 Qd2 Nd7 9 0-0-0 g5 (diagram 1) This caused some astonishment at the time, although with the passing of the years this idea no longer comes as a surprise in such positions. It prepares … Bg7, but White must also must be on his guard against the … g4 thrust. 10 Nb5 Kd8 Giving up the right to castle and thus quickly coordinate his pieces, but it is almost forced and is not easy for White to exploit it. 11 h4 g4 12 e5 Seeking to open lines to try to exploit the situation of the black king. 12 … Qg7 13 Ne1 a6 14 Nc3 d5 15 f4 f5 16 exf6 This opens the position for Black’s bishops, but also exposes Black’s weaknesses on e6, e5, etc. 16 … Qxf6 17 h5 c5 18 dxc5 bxc5 19 g3 Bc6 20 Rh4 Rg8 21 Nd3 Rb8 White wants to capture the g4-pawn and Black is preparing his counterplay against the white king.





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