On 7th January, the Bank of Estonia issued a 2 euro commemorative coin, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Paul Keres. 

These commemorative coins are to be legal tender throughout the euro area.

Paul Keres (January 7, 1916 – June 5, 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s.

Keres narrowly missed a chance at a world championship match on five occasions. He won the 1938 AVRO tournament, which led to negotiations for a title match against champion Alexander Alekhine, but the match never took place due to World War II. After the war Keres was runner-up in the Candidates' Tournament on four consecutive occasions.

Due to these and other strong results, many chess historians consider Keres the strongest player never to become world champion and one of the greatest players in history. He was nicknamed "Paul the Second", "The Eternal Second" and "The Crown Prince of Chess". Keres, along with Viktor Korchnoi and Alexander Beliavsky, defeated nine undisputed world champions—more than anyone else in history.

The Estonian commemorative 2 euro coins Paul Keres, were minted at the UAB Lithuanian Mint. The mintage of the coin is 500,000, including 5,000 of a higher (BU) quality in a numismatic package.

Weight: 8.50 g; diameter: 25.75 mm; width of edge: 2.20 mm

Metal: alloy of different metals (outer ring of copper-nickel alloy, in silver colour; central field in three layers of nickel-brass alloy, nickel and nickel-brass, in gold color)

Source of information: Bank of Estonia www.bankofestonia.info