Paul Keres

"The Crown Prince of Chess." Won AVRO 1938 to earn the right to challenge Alekhine. World War II cancelled the match. After the war, finished second in the Candidates seven consecutive times. The greatest player never to challenge for the World Championship.

AVRO 1938: The Victory That Meant Nothing

Paul Petrovich Keres was born on January 7, 1916, in Narva, Estonia. By the late 1930s, he was one of the strongest players in the world, winning major tournaments across Europe. His victory at the AVRO 1938 tournament in the Netherlands was the pinnacle of his career: he won the strongest tournament ever assembled, ahead of Alekhine, Capablanca, Botvinnik, Euwe, Reshevsky, Fine, and Flohr. The prize was the right to challenge Alekhine for the World Championship.

Then Germany invaded Poland. World War II consumed Europe, and the championship match was never played. Keres spent the war in Estonia, which was occupied successively by the Soviet Union, Germany, and the Soviet Union again. His survival through these occupations may have required compromises that later haunted him.

The Eternal Second

After the war, Keres was incorporated into the Soviet chess system. He was allowed to compete but never to win the Candidates tournament. From 1948 to 1971, he finished second in the Candidates an astonishing seven consecutive times, always qualifying for the next Candidates but never winning the right to challenge for the title. Whether this was due to Soviet pressure to favor Botvinnik, simple misfortune, or a psychological block, the result was the same: the player many considered the most talented of his generation never got his shot at the throne.

"I was unlucky, like my homeland." — Paul Keres

Over 100,000 people attended his funeral in Tallinn in 1975, the largest public gathering in Estonian history. His portrait appears on the Estonian five-kroon banknote. He remains Estonia's greatest sportsman and one of the most beloved figures in chess history.