Answers.Body: <p>Investigating a bit further, we find that A. Karu wasn't quite an &quot;ordinary Joe&quot;, he was actually one of Estonia's strongest correspondence players at the time.</p>
  <p>He finished shared 6.-7. place at the Estonian correspondence chess championship in 1935/36: <a href="http://www.eestimale.ee/kirimale-arhiiv/voistlused/eesti_i_kirimale_meistriv.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">table</a>.</p>
  <p>He was also, together with Keres, part of the Estonian national correspondence chess team during the 1935-1939 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Correspondence_Chess_Federation#IFSB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">IFSB</a> European Olympiad: <a href="https://kszgk.com/iccf/?page_id=564" rel="nofollow noreferrer">see table at the bottom of the page</a>.</p>
  <p>He lived in the small village of Haaslava, and he took part in a correspondence tournament organized by the Deutsche Schachzeitung: <a href="https://dea.digar.ee/cgi-bin/dea?a=d&amp;d=uuseesti19360216.2.68" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Uus Eesti 16 veebruar 1936</a>.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-22T17:15:23.177Z
Answers.Text: If someone wants to maintain that he was actually a she and played in the 1997 women championship, they need to provide better evidence.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Dag Oskar Madsen
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Dag Oskar Madsen
Answers.Body: <p>The best sources I can find reference a <a href="http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1073519" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Aivi Karu</a>, who Keres played in correspondence chess.</p>
  
  <p>Take note (from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Keres#Early_life" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>):</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>[Keres] played about 500 correspondence games, and at one stage had 150 correspondence games going simultaneously.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>It is likely this was a person he played in correspondence, but we may never know who he/she actually was.</p>
  
  <p>Also worthy of note, Keres was only <em>fifteen</em> years old when he played this game!</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
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Answers.UserDisplayName: PenumbraBrah
Body: <p>The first game in Paul Keres' book "The Complete Games of Paul Keres" is a correspondence game against "A. Karu" who is otherwise unidentified. I could find no entry for him in Chess Personalia by Jeremy Gaige.</p>
  
  <p>Who was he? </p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-03-18T22:20:53.437Z
Comments.Text: First name is Aivi, it seems.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Dag Oskar Madsen
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-03-18T22:36:48.023Z
Comments.Text: Or maybe not. Aivi seems to be a feminine name, so it would be strange to refer to the person as "him".
Comments.UserDisplayName: Dag Oskar Madsen
Tags: <history><famous-players>
Title: Who was A. Karu? (played Paul Keres)
ThreadText: # Who was A. Karu? (played Paul Keres)
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-03-18)
  
  The first game in Paul Keres' book "The Complete Games of Paul Keres" is a correspondence game against "A. Karu" who is otherwise unidentified. I could find no entry for him in Chess Personalia by Jeremy Gaige.
  
  Who was he?
  
  **Tags:** history, famous-players
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: First name is Aivi, it seems.  
  > **username_1**: Or maybe not. Aivi seems to be a feminine name, so it would be strange to refer to the person as "him".  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2020-06-22. Score: 3 | Accepted answer
  
  Investigating a bit further, we find that A. Karu wasn't quite an "ordinary Joe", he was actually one of Estonia's strongest correspondence players at the time.
  
  He finished shared 6.-7. place at the Estonian correspondence chess championship in 1935/36: [table](http://www.eestimale.ee/kirimale-arhiiv/voistlused/eesti_i_kirimale_meistriv.htm).
  
  He was also, together with Keres, part of the Estonian national correspondence chess team during the 1935-1939 [IFSB](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Correspondence_Chess_Federation#IFSB) European Olympiad: [see table at the bottom of the page](https://kszgk.com/iccf/?page_id=564).
  
  He lived in the small village of Haaslava, and he took part in a correspondence tournament organized by the Deutsche Schachzeitung: [Uus Eesti 16 veebruar 1936](https://dea.digar.ee/cgi-bin/dea?a=d&d=uuseesti19360216.2.68).
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: If someone wants to maintain that he was actually a she and played in the 1997 women championship, they need to provide better evidence.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2017-05-30. Score: 2
  
  The best sources I can find reference a [Aivi Karu](http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1073519), who Keres played in correspondence chess.
  
  Take note (from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Keres#Early_life)):
  
  > [Keres] played about 500 correspondence games, and at one stage had 150 correspondence games going simultaneously.
  
  It is likely this was a person he played in correspondence, but we may never know who he/she actually was.
  
  Also worthy of note, Keres was only *fifteen* years old when he played this game!
  
  
  ---
  
  