Paul Keres and the Tragedy of a Forgotten Pattern!
Recently I was browsing through the book "Paul Keres: The Quest for Perfection", by Paul Keres and John Nunn. It covers Keres' career from the years 1950 to his death in 1975. The first part of the book, which contains games played and annotated by Keres, covers until 1961. After that, the rest of the games are annotated by Nunn.
It is an excellent book! Keres has always had a special attraction for me. His style is brilliant. It is full of great fireworks!
The book only contains games that Keres won. However, as is the case with any chess player, many times the games we win we should have lost! At the critical moment, for reasons not fully understood, the opponent loses the thread, or fails to see a particular possibility, or fails to understand fully a detail in the position, which can be critical.
On Nov. 8, 1951, in the 4th round of the USSR Chess Championship, Keres had the Black pieces against Geller. In a Chigorin Ruy Lopez, Keres chooses an unusual continuation. At first, Geller plays well, but in a critical moment he misses an important piece sacrifice which would have given him a winning attack! Geller went on to lose this game in 31 moves.
This was indicated by Keres in his annotations to the game, and he is absolutely right!
What is amazing is that, in 1955, playing Black against Bronstein, Keres allows a similar sacrifice, and Bronstein does not miss it! Keres loses the game in 39 moves.....in the Gothenburg Interzonal!
The only difference is that one game was Ruy Lopez, while the other one was a Nimzo-Indian...
let us see!
Game 1 (1951)
A very sharp game! Now we move forward 4 years, to the Gothenburg Interzonal, 1955. Bronstein has White, and Keres somehow goes after some pawns....
Amazing! in two different games Keres, playing Black, allows a decisive sacrifice with the same theme! He wins the game in which Geller does not see it, and loses the game with Bronstein, who did see it!
Yes, even the great ones forget something crucial! Next time you lose a game, or make that big blunder, pat yourself on the head and say, "I played like a pro!"
For ease of view, here are the two positions, where you can see clearly the similarity:
