With the scarcity of chess literature in his small town, he learned about chess notation from the chess puzzles in the daily newspaper, and compiled a handwritten collection of almost 1000 games.
In his early days, he was known for a brilliant and sharp attacking style.
Keres won the Estonian schoolboy championship three times: in 1930, 1932 and 1933. His play matured after playing correspondence chess extensively while in high school. It's estimated that he possibly played about 500 correspondence games and at one stage had 150 correspondence games going simultaneously. In 1935, he won the Internationaler Fernschachbund (IFSB) international correspondence championship.
In his youth Keres produced a plethora of games and almost all of them featured gambits, attacks and sacrifices. When a great master makes a sacrifice it's probably best to decline it, but in those early days when a virtually unknown like Keres made a sacrifice his opponents weren't intimidated by reputation and the proffered material was usually seized with glee, usually to their detriment.
After almost 90 years the following game, which is one of Keres' best known postal games, is still worth looking at.
Matthaeus Seibold - Paul Keres
Result: 0-1
Site: Deutsche Schachzietung Correspondence
Date: 1932-33
French Defense, McCutcheon Variation
[...] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.♗g5 ♗b4 The French was a favorite of Keres' even in his later years. Here it was his desire to make the game as violent as possible from the very first moves. 5.e5 h6 6.♗d2 ♗xc3 7.♗xc3 Keres noted that between 1932-36 the two players had several games with the usual 7.bxc3 but this time Seibold wanted a change. 7...♘e4 8.♕g4 ♔f8 At the time, in such positions Keres always preferred this move, which is not bad, to the alternative 8...g6
9...♘xc3 10.bxc3 c5 11.h4 At the time this game was played Keres deemed the text-move as not good and recommended 11. Qd1 which would have lead to a quieter, equal position, whereas after the text-move the game becomes interesting and quite exciting. 11...♕a5 Immediately attacking white's Achilles heel. the c-Pawns and forcing white to give up a P. 12.♔d2 Best.
8...♕g5 9.♕xg5 ♘xg5 10.h4 ♘h7 11.♘h3 b6 12.b4 c6 13.a4 O-O Ianovsky,A (2248)-Galinsky,T (2416)/ Kiev 2004 is slightly in white's favor.
8...g6 9.♗b4 c5 10.dxc5 ♘d7 11.♗b5 ♕c7 12.♘f3 a6 13.♗xd7+ ♗xd7 14.O-O ♘xc5 15.♗xc5 ♕xc5 16.♘d4 O-O With equal chances. Gelemerov,Y (2024)-Dyakov,M (2030)/Sofia 2017
9.♗d3
9.♗b4+ c5 10.♗xc5+ ♘xc5 11.dxc5 ♘d7
11...♕c7 recovers the P, but after 12.♘f3 ♕xc5 13.♗d3 white is slightly better.
12.♘f3 ♕c7 black has equalized. 12.♘e2 is met by 12...c4 13.♗g6 fxg6 14.♕xg6 ♕d8 and black is better.
12...♘c6 13.♘f3 cxd4 14.♘xd4 ♘xe5 15.♕g3 White has a lead in development, but unless he can figure out a way to utilize it, it's insufficient compensation for his P minus. 15...♘xd3
15...f6 Fred Reinfeld suggested this as being more accurate because after 16.f4 Reinfeld 16...♘xd3 17.cxd3 ♗d7 black has gained time for development and white's Q has no inroads into black's position.
16.♕d6+ ♔e8 The reason for this move is that it enables him to develop his B, but a deep positional analysis with engines suggests that 16...Kg8 would have been more accurate. 17.cxd3 ♗d7 18.♖he1 ♖c8 Neither side is in any great danger here. Positionally black has the better P-structure, but his bad B is a disadvantage and with his K in the center and his Rs disconnected his position is somewhat uncomfortable at the moment. 19.♖ac1 ♕c5
19...♕xa2+ doesn't lead to anything. After 20.♖c2 ♕a6 21.♘f5 ♕xd6 22.♘xd6+ ♔e7 23.♘xc8+ ♖xc8 And in this unbalanced position the chances are about equal.
20.♕e5 ♔f8 21.g4 Both sides advance their Ps in order to open roads leading to the opposing K. 21...b5 22.f4 b4 23.cxb4 ♕xb4+ 24.♔e3
24.♔e2 was more accurate because it would have avoided the stalemate of his Q. 24...♕b2+ 25.♔f3 with about equal chances.
24...f6 Driving black's Q to a bad square where t is out of play. 25.♕h5
25.♖xc8+ and white can resign after 25...♗xc8 26.♕c7 ♕xe1+ 27.♘e2 d4+ 28.♔f3 ♗b7+ 29.♕xb7 ♕h1+
25...e5 This violent move allows white to equalize. Simpler and more forcing was
25...♖xc1 26.♖xc1 ♕b8 27.g5 e5 28.♘e2 exf4+ 29.♔f3 ♕e5 30.♘xf4 ♕xf4+ 31.♔xf4 hxg5+ 32.♕xg5 fxg5+ with a won ending, but at that stage of his career Keres was not interested in playing endings.
26.fxe5
26.♘e2 loses to 26...exf4+ 27.♔f2 ♖xc1 28.♖xc1 g5 with a strong attack.
26...♖e8 27.♖f1 Well played! This move could end up being very dangerous to black. 27...♕b6
27...♕b2 28.♖c2 ♕b6 29.♖f4 ♔g8 30.♖xf6 gxf6 31.♕g6+ ♔f8 32.♖c6 ♗xc6 33.♕xf6+ draws.
27...♔g8 28.♖xf6 Very nice. 28...♕e7 (28...gxf6 29.♕g6+ ♔f8 30.♕xf6+ ♔g8 31.♕g6+ ♔f8 32.♖f1+ mates in 2.) 29.♖a6 ♕xe5+ 30.♕xe5 ♖xe5+ 31.♔f4 ♖e7 32.♖xa7 and white stands better.
28.♖b1 ♕c7 29.♘f3 ♕c5+ 30.d4 This is a mistake that puts his Q in grave danger.
30.♔f4 fxe5+ 31.♘xe5 ♔g8 32.♖be1 keeps up the tension and the results unclear.
30...♕c2 31.♘g5 The only way to stay in the game! (31.♖fe1 g6 traps the Q.) 31...g6 32.♖xf6+ ♔g7 33.♖b7 After this white is clearly lost, but black must still calculate everything very carefully.
33.♕xg6+ offered better chances. 33...♕xg6 34.♖xg6+ ♔xg6 35.♘h3 ♖b8 36.♘f4+ ♔f7 37.♖f1 ♗xg4 38.♘xd5+ ♔g7 39.♔e4 with a difficult ending. Here's how Stockfish scored the point at 17 plies. 39...h5 40.♖g1 ♖b2 41.♘e3 ♖xa2 42.♘xg4 hxg4 43.♖xg4+ ♔f7 44.♖f4+ ♔e7 45.♖g4 ♖a4 46.♔d5 ♖d8+ 47.♔c5 ♔e6 48.♖g6+ ♔f7 49.♖g4 ♖a1 50.d5 ♖a5+ 51.♔b4 ♖axd5 52.♖g3 ♖b8+ 53.♔c3 ♖xe5 and wins.
33...gxh5 34.♖xd7+ ♔g8 35.♖ff7 White's Rs look very menacing, but Keres has calculated things precisely. 35...♕c3+ 36.♔e2 ♖xe5+ 37.dxe5 ♕xe5+ 38.♔d3 hxg5 39.♖f5 ♕e4+
39...♕e4+ 40.♔d2 ♕d4+ 41.♔c1 ♕c4+ 42.♔d2 ♕xa2+ 43.♔c1 ♕c4+ 44.♔d2 ♕b4+ 45.♔c1 gxh4 46.♖g5+ ♔f8 47.♖gxd5 h3 48.♖d1 hxg4 wins.
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