KERES - FINE 1937

Keres - Fine 1937

The game Keres - Fine 1937 is said to be Paul Keres’s first outstanding chessgame.

Of course, the game contains several mistakes.

Since then, the opening theory has evolved, and Black’s defence has been improved, for example, by Kramnik.

Keres himself admitted, in his book Valitud partiid [= “Selected Games”], Tallinn 1961, that his maneuver Re1-e3 and Rd1-e1 was clumsy.

Fine had several options to make a prophylactic move h7-h6. He also missed the opportunity to play 20...b5xa4!, attracting White’s bishop from the active position on the diagonal a2-g8.

Fine allowed Keres to start a combination. Suddenly, it turned out that White’s first rank was weak, and Fine seemed to get a counterplay.

After the move 27...d5-d4, the position was critical. White’s rook on e3 - the defender of the rook on the first rank - was attacked and had no good retreating squares.

However, Keres had calculated that the move 27...d5-d4 also opened a diagonal a2-g8 to White’s bishop.

White attacked first and won.

Below, I have tried to make some short comments on that game.