Paul Keres Memorial Tournament


The Paul Keres Memorial Tournament is a chess tournament played in honour of chess grandmaster Paul Keres. It usually takes place in Vancouver, Canada and Tallinn, Estonia.
An annual international chess tournament has been held in Tallinn every other year since 1969. Keres won this tournament in 1971 and 1975. Starting in 1977 after Keres' death, it has been called the Paul Keres Memorial Tournament. From 1991, the tournament has been held yearly and changed into a rapid event. From 1999 this tournament also had a women's section. In the past twenty years, apart from this rapid tournament, several other memorial tournaments have been played in honour of Keres.
In 1975, Keres won a tournament in Vancouver. It was his last tournament he would ever play in, as on his way back to his native Estonia, he died from a heart attack. There has been an annual memorial tournament in Vancouver ever since.

Tallinn

Tallinn International

The Tallinn International has been held every other year from 1969 to 1989. It was named after Keres from 1977.

Tallinn Rapid

From 1991 the Tallinn international has been replaced by an annual rapid tournament. From 1999, the tournament has had a separate women's section.

Keres Memorial Festival

In the 1990s there have been several Keres memorials in Tallinn which were played at regular time control. These tournaments seem to have been held irregularly. At present there is an annual Keres Memorial Festival which started in 2004 with a special rapid tournament, where Viswanathan Anand emerged as a winner, followed by a regular tournament. The winners of the regular tournament for 2004 and subsequent years are listed below. The field of these tournaments has been notably weaker than that of the rapid tournaments.

Vancouver

The tournament in Vancouver has been played ever since Keres won it in 1975. It was Keres' final tournament, as he died shortly thereafter.
#YearWinner
1975Paul Keres
11976James Tarjan
21977John Watson
31978Robert Zuk
41979Peter Biyiasas
John Grefe
James McCormick
51980Viktor Pupols
61981John Donaldson
Ray Fasano
71982John Donaldson
Eric Tangborn
81983John Donaldson
91984Leon Piasetski
Gordon Taylor
Jeremy Silman
Robert Zuk
101985John Donaldson
Lionel Joyner
John Braley
111986Kevin Spraggett
121987Tom O'Donnell
131988Alex Kuznecov
Kevin Spraggett
141989Jüri Vetemaa
151990Jonathan Berry
John Donaldson
161991Ľubomír Ftáčnik
171992Ľubomír Ftáčnik
181993Igor Štohl
191994Jonathan Berry
Jüri Vetemaa
Gary Basanta
201995John Hallam
Jüri Vetemaa
Yan Teplitsky
211996Georgi Orlov
221997Yan Teplitsky
231998Kevin Spraggett
241999Yan Teplitsky
Georgi Orlov
Jack Yoos
252000Vladimir Epishin
262001Georgi Orlov
272002Fanhao Meng
Georgi Orlov
Jack Yoos
Besnik Beqo
282003Georgi Orlov
292004Georgi Orlov
302005Jack Yoos
312006Alfred Pechisker
322007Georgi Orlov
332008Georgi Orlov
Bindi Cheng
342009Jack Yoos
352010Jack Yoos
Georgi Orlov
Katerina Rohonyan
Manuel Rivas Pastor
Roman Jiganchine
362011Georgi Orlov
Maxim Doroshenko
372012Jack Yoos
382013Georgi Orlov
392014Georgi Orlov
402015Jason Cao
412016Tanraj Sohal
422017Tanraj Sohal
432018Tanraj Sohal, Stanislav Kriventsov
442019Georgi Orlov, Raymond Kaufman