Apr-15-05
 | | Honza Cervenka: In final position black King will escape from checks of white Queen, for example 44.Qh8+ Ke7 45.Qg7+ Kd8 46.Qh8+ Kc7 47.Qg7+ Kc8 48.Qg8+ Kb7 49.Qg7+ (49.Rb1+ Nb6 50.Qg7+ Ka6  ) 49...Nc7 50.Rb1+ Ka6 with mate or 50.Rxf2 Qxf2 51.Qxg6 Qxh4+ |
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| Jun-23-07 | | DrGridlock: 28 Qh2 seems to be a curious move from Tal. The Queen gets shoved into a corner, and White's c and f pawns fall within 5 moves. Fritz prefers Qb2 for White on move 28, with Re3 and Nd4 following leaving an even position. Any conjectures on what about Qh2 might have appealed to Tal? |
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| Sep-15-08 | | whiteshark: Tal spielte das "dritte Damenbrett". :D |
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| Sep-15-08 | | zev22407: Kres wrote in his book that Tal played Q-h2 to allow 29)N-g3 and now if Rxf3
30)Rxf3 Qxf3 31)R-e1and white has consolidate his position. |
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| Jun-12-15 | | ToTheDeath: First meeting bw these two heavyweights, and it does not disappoint. Keres was in some ways a better attacker than Tal, a pity he never took the title as he more than deserved it. |
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| Oct-04-21 | | RookFile: Keres was a great player, no doubt. Trying to figure out when he deserved the title. Does he beat Alekhine in a Keres vs. Alekhine match? Anything is possible, but I would think Alekhine would be the favorite. Don't get me started about the 1948 tournament, when Botvinnik put up a ridiculous plus against Keres. Was it 1953, when Smyslov won all his games against Keres? In short, when did Keres "deserve" the title? |
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Oct-04-21
 | | Williebob: <RookFile>, I think a strong case could be made for Keres instead of Tal in 1960, though of course Tal earned his Championship fair and square.
Tal and Keres both outdistanced the rest of the field in the '59 Bled/Zagreb Candidates by a large margin - and Keres beat Tal in their mini-match - but interestingly it was Fischer's crumbling against Tal that would seem to be the deciding factor, as the rest of the field put up more similar resistance to the two front-runners. |
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| Oct-04-21 | | Petrosianic: Keres might easily have earned a title match that year, but he never did particularly well against Botvinnik, even not counting the 1948 Tournament that so many people think is fishy. That's not to say he COULDN'T have won it. Maybe he would. But I wouldn't consider him the favorite. And his reputation wouldn't be as good now if he had played and lost in 1960. |
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Oct-04-21
| | Williebob: <Petrosianic> Good points. |
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Oct-04-21
| | Williebob: Probably the best pathway for Keres to the world title would have required 1) Denying Botvinnik the rematch with Tal, then 2) Keres fighting Petrosian in Curacao 1962 rather than agreeing to draws, leading to Tal-Keres 1963, which would have been a real popcorn-popper. |
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| Oct-04-21 | | Petrosianic: That's assuming that Botvinnik didn't win or didn't play at Curacao (he would have been seeded). |
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| Oct-04-21 | | RookFile: Keres would be a good opponent for Tal in a world championship match (bluffs don't work with Keres) but the stars would have to align perfectly for this to happen. They didn't. |
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| Feb-15-24 | | tympsa: Tal was only 18 y.o. here and it shows. He was very good even back then, but not good enough to beat strongest grandmasters in the world and Keres was one of them.
3 years later he won USSR championship and FIDE made historical decision : even though Tal did not have enough international tournament wins to qualify Grandmaster title, FIDE awarded him GM title anyway . It was very rare back then . As for Keres, I think his best shot to play World Championship match was in 1962 Curacao . If he beat Benko there in penultimate game, he would have won the tournament. He had 7-0 score against Benko before it , but this most important game he lost. And Fischer was too tough to beat in last round, so Petrosjan won the tournament and year later beat Botvinnik too in championship match. I think Petrosjan and Keres were equally strong back then, but Petrosjan had better nerves under pressure. |
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| Feb-15-24 | | sudoplatov: Tal wasn't Tal yet and Keres was still Keres. |
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Feb-15-24
 | | Sally Simpson: <As for Keres, I think his best shot to play World Championship match was in 1962 Curacao .> He was given his best chance in 1948 without having to hack through any qualifying rounds. Win that tournament and he is the World Champion. After that it was the path to the title match where is slipped up. In 1948 he was there. |
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| Feb-15-24 | | Olavi: <Sally Simpson> <As for Keres, I think his best shot to play World Championship match was in 1962 Curacao .>
<He was given his best chance in 1948> No. Botvinnik was unplayable then. in 1959 Keres may have been the best player, although getting the better of Tal in a tournament of such composition was a tall order. In 1962 Petrosian was clearly best, he could and should have won it more comfortably; but he would have beaten Keres in a tie break match. |
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Feb-15-24
| | Sally Simpson: Agree Botvinnik was the better player, but as far chances go that was his best. He was in the final, He never got a better chance than that to win the title. Thanks to Smyslov, Tal and Petrosian he never got into another chance. |
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| Feb-21-24 | | Olavi: <Sally Simpson> I rephrase: I'm convinced that the the chance of winning the candidates in 1959 and match in 1960, combined, was much better than winning the tournament in 1948. |
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Feb-21-24
| | Sally Simpson: Hi Olavi,
I respect your opinion and I'd not be surprised if Keres thought so as well. I was coming in from a cold mathematical angle. Irrespective of the opposition he was 20 games away from the title in 1948. He played more games than in 1962 (27) and 1959 (28) and if he had qualified, then another, at the very least 13 games, in the final. By the by. I was reading BCM December 1975 and there is a tribute to Keres by Jimmy Adams. In it he mentions a letter Paul wrote to A.R.B. Thomas (pun honoured in Fischer vs Reshevsky, 1961) in the spring of 1975 expressing doubts that the Fischer - Karpov match would ever take place. Mr. Thomas does not elaborate on the reasons Keres gave. |
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