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Max Euwe vs Paul Keres
"Paul Vault" (game of the day Jul-07-2015)
Euwe - Keres (1939/40), Rotterdam NED, rd 9, Jan-05
Queen's Indian Defense: Classical. Traditional Variation Main Line (E19)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 4 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jul-07-15  FairyPromotion: An addotional note: This game is featured in both "The Mammoth Book of The World's Greatest Chess Games" by Nunn, Burgess, and Emms (with a score of 9/15,) and the "The 100 Best Chess Games, of the 20th Century" by Soltis (ranked at #55).

I personally think that Keres has 3 games that are top 100 all-time('ish'), but I would give this game the nod over the other two (Keres vs Szabo, 1955 & Hort vs Keres, 1961.)

Sep-19-15  kishore4u: Fantastic game!!
Mar-04-16  peterh99: Keres is often called the strongest player never to have been world champion. Some say he was required to lose games to Botvinnik, the only player he had trouble with. Botvinnik was the poster boy for Soviet Chess, while Keres as an Estonian was suspected of anti-Soviet tendencies.
Mar-04-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: Keres would be amused to learn that Botvinnik he was the only player he had trouble with.
Mar-04-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Didn't Keres score +10 -0 =0 against Fischer and make similar clean scores against every other top player he faced?

Even Kasparov went 0-5 against Gulko!

Um, okay, that is a revisionist view.

Mar-04-16  Absentee: <peterh99: Keres is often called the strongest player never to have been world champion. Some say he was required to lose games to Botvinnik, the only player he had trouble with. Botvinnik was the poster boy for Soviet Chess, while Keres as an Estonian was suspected of anti-Soviet tendencies.>

Some say the Queen of England is a reptilian.

Mar-04-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  diceman: <peterh99: Keres is often called the strongest player never to have been world champion.>

I think he and others (Korchnoi, Reshevsky) were just unlucky to have so many strong players around.

...too many legends to contend with.

Dec-14-16  bcokugras: If white goes on playing 35. Ke4, then?
Dec-14-16  JimNorCal: After 35. Ke4 then Re8+ wins, no?
Kd3 Bf5+ gets the Q.
Kd5 Bf3 gets the K
Dec-29-18  HarryP: At one time years ago I considered calling this the greatest game ever played.
Dec-29-18  sudoplatov: I wouldn't say that Lasker ducked many opponents per se. Pre WWI he played Marshall, Tarrasch, Janowski, and Schlecter who generally rated in the top 5 or 6. The only ones missing (though significant) and probably through lack of money were Maroczy, Rubinstein, Duras, Bernstein, and Teichmann. (This probably goes on a Lasker thread.) ALekhine seems to have ducked Capablanca (our of either fear or pique) but Bogolyubov and Euwe weren't that weak.
Jul-29-19  pdvossen: This match is classic Keres. Attacking and moving forward with a thriving attack. Many would just try to muddy up the matches they played with Paul, or just make it not very interesting, that way seeing Keres at times just grab a draw. Or, making curious moves that would become blunders in an attempt to move the match forward.
Feb-27-20  Walter Glattke: Ah, 35.Ke4 Re8+ 36.Kd5 Bf3# or 36.Kd3 Bf5+ and BxQ nice
Feb-27-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: Very, and the position after 37...♗xe4 is pretty
Feb-27-20  rogl: <Walter Glattke: Ah, 35.Ke4 Re8+ 36.Kd5 Bf3# or 36.Kd3 Bf5+ and BxQ nice> Bf5 is actually mate as well.
Feb-27-20  eblunt: <Walter Glattke>: 36.♔d3 ♗f5 mate Isn't it ?
Feb-27-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  agb2002: Black has a rook, the bishop pair and a pawn for the queen and a knight.

Black can further expose the white king with 31... Rf3+ 32.Kg2 Rxf4:

A) 33.gxf4 Rg8+

A.1) 34.Kf3 Bg4+ 35.Ke4 (35.Kg2(3) Bf5+ 36.Kf3 Bxb1 wins decisive material) 35... Re8+ 36.Kd5 (36.Kd3 Bf5#) 36... Bf3+ 37.Qe4 Bxe4#.

A.2) 34.Kf1 Rg1+ 35.Ke2 Rxb1 - + [2b+p].

A.3) 34.Kh1 Bb7+ and mate in two.

B) 33.Rxd4 Rxd4 - + [2r+b+p vs Q].

C) 33.h3 Bb7+ 34.Kh2 Rf2+ (already wins a piece) 35.Rxf2 Bxf2 36.Qf5 (36.Qf1 Re1 37.Qxf2 Rh1#) 36... Bd4 with the triple threat Re2+, Re1 and Bxb2.

D) 33.h4 Re4 - + [r+2b+p vs Q].

Feb-27-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  chrisowen: Now put!
Feb-27-20  TheaN: This is a beautiful combination. Someone of Euwe's caliber could have probably only enjoyed experiencing this (at least I do if my opponents play something brilliantly).

Even though the combination started eight(!) moves earlier, Keres finishes in style with <31....Rf3+ 32.Kg2 Rxf4!>. There isn't much analysis needed for anything else but taking Rf4 as White's down a queen for three raging pieces: both bishops and both rooks dominate the White pieces completely. However, <33.gxf4 Rg8+ 34.Kf3 (Kf1 Rg1+ -+) Bg4+ 35.Ke4 (else Bf5+ -+) Re8+ 36.Kd3 (Kd5 best by definition but Bf3+ 37.Qe4 Bxe4#) Bf5#> ends this game in style. To some extend I'm disappointed Euwe didn't allow the Kd3 line to appear on the board, as that's how I would allow myself to be mated in this situation (the Kd5 line is by length the best defense but alas).

Feb-27-20  Walter Glattke: I play too quick, Kd3 mate as well.
Feb-27-20  Everett: <
memberMar-04-16 keypusher: Keres would be amused to learn that Botvinnik he was the only player he had trouble with.>

Bronstein was no easy opponent for anyone, though Spassky seemed to make him look bad on at least three occasions. But Keres did not find Bronstein easy at all, with two classic losses against the ‘51 WC contender

Feb-27-20  cormier: 13. d5? 13.exf5 exf5 14.Be3 c5 15.Rd1 Qc7 16.Nd3 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 ⩲ +0.75 (29 ply)
Feb-27-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  PawnSac: < Dionysius1: Does 10 Qc2 threaten 11 Ng5 with double attack on h7 and b7? Not just preparing e4. And 10...f5 defends against both the tactical and the strategic threat? >

yes that is correct. White threatens to win the exchange as the rook is stuck in the corner. This is the old main line to the queens indian. CG has some 260+ games with this opening. The line after 11. Ne1 is good for black. I prefer 11. d5

Feb-28-20  RandomVisitor: After 12...Nd7, as cormier points out, 13.exf5 is better


click for larger view

Stockfish_20021515_x64_modern:

<61/90 16:32:14 +0.73 13.exf5 Bxg2 14.Nxg2 Rxf5 15.Qe4> Nf8 16.b3 c6 17.Bb2 d5 18.Qd3 Rf7 19.Ne3 Qa6 20.Ng4 Bd6 21.Rfe1 Rc8 22.a4 h6 23.h4 Rcc7 24.Qc2 Qa5 25.Bc3 Qa6 26.Bd2 c5 27.dxc5 Bxc5 28.Bf4 Rc8 29.Qe2 Qb7 30.Rac1 a5 31.Be3 Rfc7 32.Bxc5 bxc5 33.Rc3 Qb4 34.Rec1 dxc4 35.Rxc4 Qxb3 36.Ne5 Rd8 37.h5 Qb6 38.R4c3 Qb4 39.Qc2 c4 40.Rb1 Qd6 41.Rxc4 Rxc4 42.Nxc4 Qc5

Jan-04-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Williebob: "Beat Euwe's Ninth".

Inspired by the sentence in the excellent introduction to this excellent match which noted the news reports calling this game, ninth of the match, the "Ninth Symphony."

Pun only works - if it works at all - if you pronounce Euwe's name correctly ("erfa" is close enough.)

The original pun works just fine, too. Beautiful game.
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