In February 1975 Paul Keres came home to Tallinn and won. At 59, against a field led by Boris Spassky and Friðrik Ólafsson, he took clear first. It was the last major tournament win of his career, and by many accounts one of his best, only months before his death.
A champion's homecoming
The biennial Tallinn International returned to the Estonian capital, and its most famous son answered. Keres — long the 'Crown Prince of Chess', runner-up in four consecutive Candidates tournaments but never quite world champion — had shared the 1971 Tallinn title with Mikhail Tal. In 1975 he won it outright, scoring 10½ from 15 to finish a full point ahead of Spassky and Ólafsson, who tied for second on 9½.
The chasing group was strong in its own right: Vlastimil Hort and David Bronstein on 9, then Mark Taimanov and Aivars Gipslis, with Iivo Nei, William Lombardy and Dražen Marović among the rest of the sixteen players.
Some of the best chess of his career
Keres had suffered a heart attack two years earlier and had been advised by doctors to give up international competition. He entered Tallinn anyway, and produced what commentators judged some of the finest chess of his life to hold off two of the world's elite. It was a victory won on home soil, before the Estonian public who revered him.
That resolve carried a cost. His exertions in Tallinn — and at a subsequent event in Vancouver, which he also won that May — are believed to have taxed a heart already under strain.
“His last major tournament win was Tallinn 1975, ahead of Spassky and Friðrik Ólafsson, just a few months before his death.”
A final bow
On 5 June 1975, returning to Estonia from the Vancouver tournament, Keres died of a heart attack during a stopover in Helsinki. He was 59. More than 100,000 mourners are said to have attended his funeral in Tallinn — a measure of what the player meant to his nation.
From 1977 the biennial Tallinn tournament was renamed the Paul Keres Memorial Tournament, so that the event he had crowned with his last great win became a permanent tribute to him.
Final standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keres, Paul | 10½/15 | +6 -0 =9 | games |
| =2 | Olafsson, Fridrik | 9½/15 | +5 -1 =9 | games |
| =2 | Spassky, Boris Vasilievich | 9½/15 | +5 -1 =9 | games |
| =4 | Hort, Vlastimil | 9/15 | +5 -2 =8 | games |
| =4 | Bronstein, David Ionovich | 9/15 | +4 -1 =10 | games |
| =6 | Taimanov, Mark E | 8½/15 | +4 -2 =9 | games |
| =6 | Gipslis, Aivars P | 8½/15 | +3 -1 =11 | games |
| =8 | Nei, Iivo | 8/15 | +4 -3 =8 | games |
| =8 | Lombardy, William James | 8/15 | +3 -2 =10 | games |
| =8 | Marovic, Drazen | 8/15 | +3 -2 =10 | games |
| 11 | Espig, Lutz | 7½/15 | +4 -4 =7 | games |
| 12 | Rytov, Boris | 5½/15 | +1 -5 =9 | games |
| =13 | Rantanen, Yrjo A | 5/15 | +3 -8 =4 | games |
| =13 | Karner, Hillar | 5/15 | +2 -7 =6 | games |
| 15 | Lengyel, Levente | 4½/15 | +1 -7 =7 | games |
| 16 | Hernandez Onna, Roman | 4/15 | +1 -8 =6 | games |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keres, Paul | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 2 | Olafsson, Fridrik | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 3 | Spassky, Boris Vasilievich | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 4 | Hort, Vlastimil | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | Bronstein, David Ionovich | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 6 | Taimanov, Mark E | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 7 | Gipslis, Aivars P | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | Nei, Iivo | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 9 | Lombardy, William James | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | |
| 10 | Marovic, Drazen | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 11 | Espig, Lutz | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 | Rytov, Boris | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | |
| 13 | Rantanen, Yrjo A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 14 | Karner, Hillar | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 15 | Lengyel, Levente | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
| 16 | Hernandez Onna, Roman | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ |
Each cell shows the row player's recorded results against the column player. ● = same player.