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Akiba Rubinstein
Rubinstein 
 

Number of games in database: 1,038
Years covered: 1897 to 1948
Overall record: +468 -163 =293 (66.5%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 114 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Queen's Pawn Game (121) 
    D02 A46 D05 D00 A40
 Orthodox Defense (51) 
    D63 D61 D55 D65 D50
 Nimzo Indian (39) 
    E34 E38 E46 E20 E40
 Tarrasch Defense (33) 
    D33 D32 D34
 Queen's Gambit Declined (33) 
    D37 D30 D31 D35
 King's Gambit Declined (26) 
    C30 C31 C32
With the Black pieces:
 Ruy Lopez (101) 
    C79 C77 C98 C84 C68
 Orthodox Defense (51) 
    D63 D60 D52 D61 D51
 Queen's Pawn Game (45) 
    D02 D00 D04 D05 A46
 Four Knights (43) 
    C48 C49 C47
 French Defense (42) 
    C01 C11 C10 C00 C09
 Queen's Gambit Declined (33) 
    D31 D30 D37 D06
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Rotlewi vs Rubinstein, 1907 0-1
   Rubinstein vs Lasker, 1909 1-0
   Rubinstein vs Salwe, 1908 1-0
   Rubinstein vs Hromadka, 1923 1-0
   Rubinstein vs Capablanca, 1911 1-0
   Rubinstein vs Duras, 1908 1-0
   Rubinstein vs Schlechter, 1912 1-0
   Alekhine vs Rubinstein, 1912 0-1
   Rubinstein vs Maroczy, 1920 1-0
   E Cohn vs Rubinstein, 1909 0-1

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Karlsbad (1907)
   Ostend Masters (1907)
   St. Petersburg (1909)
   Bad Pistyan (1912)
   BCF Major Open (1924)
   Hamburg Olympiad (1930)
   Polish Championship (1927)
   Rogaska Slatina (1929)
   Barmen Hauptturnier-A (1905)
   18th DSB Congress, Breslau (1912)
   Karlsbad (1911)
   Baden-Baden (1925)
   Vienna (1908)
   3rd All-Russian Masters, Kiev (1903)
   Ostend (1906)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   3 Carl Schlechter and Akiba Rubinstein Games Rob by fredthebear
   Carl Schlechter and Akiba Rubinstein Games by lobsters
   Akiba the Great by BAJones
   Akiba the Great by nbabcox
   Dry Rubinstein by Gottschalk
   19z Dry Rub by Littlejohn
   Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces by Karpova
   Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces by Okavango
   Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces by yesthatwasasac
   Veliki majstori saha 11 RUBINSTEIN (Petrovic) by Chessdreamer
   Akiba Rubinstein's Best Games by dwesturner9580
   Rubinstein vs World Champions Decisive Games by Okavango
   Akiba Rubinstein's Best Games by Okavango
   Akiba Rubinstein's Best Games by Retarf

GAMES ANNOTATED BY RUBINSTEIN: [what is this?]
   O Bernstein vs Rubinstein, 1912
   Spielmann vs Rubinstein, 1920
   Salwe vs Rubinstein, 1907
   Rubinstein vs Loman / Van Gelder, 1920


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AKIBA RUBINSTEIN
(born Dec-01-1880, died Mar-15-1961, 80 years old) Poland (federation/nationality Belgium)

[what is this?]

Akiba (Akiva, Akiwa) Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1) was born on 1 December 1880 (2) in Stawiski, Poland.(3) He was the youngest of 12 children of a family of rabbis and scholars living in extreme poverty.(4) Ten of his siblings died of tuberculosis in infancy, and his father also died a few weeks before Akiba was born.(4) Akiba was raised by his grandparents to become a rabbi and went to the Cheder,(UK, p. 15) where he got acquainted with chess at the age of 14.(5) At age 16, he became interested in chess theory (5) and decided to become a chess professional instead of a rabbi.(6) Around the turn of the century, Rubinstein moved to Bialystok, Poland and left his family.(7) He soon became too strong for G G Bartoszkiewicz, the best player of Bialystok and Rubinstein's first nemesis.(8)

Early Chess Career

Rubinstein moved to Lódz, Poland in 1902 (AS, page CV) where he faced Georg Salwe. They played a match in 1903 to qualify for the 3rd All-Russian Championship in Kiev, 1903 (UK, pp. 19-20) (TLY, p. 390). The match ended drawn at 7.0-7.0 (UK, p. 20) and both chessplayers competed in the Championship later that year.(9) In 1904, Rubinstein and Salwe played a second match and Rubinstein emerged as the winner (TLY, pp. 390-391). He crowned his international debut at the Barmen 1905 Hauptturnier by sharing first place with Oldrich Duras, and became recognized as a master.(10) In the fall of 1905, Rubinstein beat Jacques Mieses in a match by the score of 3.0-0.0 (included in Rubinstein - Mieses (1909)).

Rubinstein continued to improve in 1906, sharing second place at the 4th All-Russian Championship in St. Petersburg behind Salwe,(11) and winning Lódz 1906 ahead of Mikhail Chigorin. (12) At Ostende 1906, a 5-stage 36-player tournament won by Carl Schlechter, Rubinstein achieved an excellent third place (UK, pp. 58-73). He was also successful in local events in Lódz.

Ascending to the Top

Rubinstein shared first place together with Ossip Bernstein at Ostende B 1907,(13) before he had his final breakthrough by winning Karlsbad (1907). (14) Rubinstein was also successful in his last match against Salwe, winning 16.0-6.0 (TLY, pp. 395-402). The year 1907 concluded with Rubinstein's win at the 5th All-Russian Championship 1907-1908 in Lódz,(15) where he played probably his most famous game Rotlewi vs Rubinstein, 1907.

The year 1908 was a bit disappointing, as he managed only 4th place at both Vienna (1908) and Prague (1908). He won two matches, one against Richard Teichmann (16) and Rubinstein - Marshall (1908). He also won Lodz (1908).

A contender for the title

At St. Petersburg (1909), Rubinstein shared first place with world champion Emanuel Lasker and beat him in their individual encounter. He went on to win Rubinstein - Mieses (1909) and was successful in smaller events. A match against Jose Raul Capablanca was planned in 1909, but never took place for reasons unknown (UK, pp. 207-208).

In 1910, a quiet year for the chess world, Rubinstein moved to Warsaw, Poland (AS, page CV). The Warsaw championship 1910 ended with a surprise, since Alexander Flamberg won ahead of Rubinstein (UK, p. 210). Soon afterwards, the two masters played a match which Rubinstein won 4.5-0.5 (UK, pp. 213-214). Rubinstein did not participate in Hamburg (1910) with respect to his health.(17) A planned match against Bernstein, which was to start in December 1910 and consist of 16 games, was postponed several times and, in the end, never took place (UK, pp. 215-216).

Rubinstein beat Capablanca in their individual encounter and remained unbeaten at San Sebastian (1911), but he still had to share second place behind the young Cuban. He also had to be content with a shared second place at Karlsbad (1911), Teichmann's great triumph. The year concluded with Rubinstein winning the strong Warsaw championship.(18)

The year 1912 was Rubinstein's magical year. He won four consecutive major tournaments: San Sebastian (1912), Bad Pistyan (1912), the 18th DSB Kongress (1912) and Vilnius All-Russian Masters (1912).

World Championship Challenger

During San Sebastian 1912, Rubinstein wrote to Lasker that he wanted to play a title match against him. Lasker was still bound by the ill-fated negotiations with Capablanca.(19) Rubinstein officially challenged Lasker in August 1912, and the world champion accepted. The negotiations and the arrangement of the world championship took place mainly in 1912 and 1913.(20) The match was to take place in autumn 1914 in Europe, mainly in Germany and Russia. Rubinstein doesn't seem to have played serious chess in 1913, but probably prepared for the match. He spend a few months in Bad Reichenhall, a popular health resort in Germany.(21)

1914 - The end of a dream, but not of all hopes

Rubinstein only scored 50% at St. Petersburg (1914) and was eliminated in the preliminary tournament.(22) This had no influence on the planned world championship match, and Lasker went on with the arrangements for the match.(23) The outbreak of the First World War was the force majeure that forced the cancellation of the title match (UK, p. 304).

The First World War

From 1914 to 1917, Rubinstein was confined to Poland, a major battleground. He could only compete in events in Warsaw and Lódz and did so with success (UK, pp. 304-311). There were also good moments, as Akiba married Eugenie Lew in 1917 and their son Jonas Jacob was born on 24 January 1918 in Szczuczyn, Poland (AS, page Family Tree) (TLY, p. 26). He was able to travel to Berlin in early 1918 (UK, p. 311) and competed in several events. His play became uneven and very good performances took turns with very bad results. First, he won the Rubinstein - Schlechter (1918) match in January, and then came in last at Berlin Four Masters (1918). He followed up with a second place, unbeaten behind world champion Lasker, at Berlin Grandmasters (1918).

The post-war era

In late 1919, the Rubinstein family moved to Sweden where they lived until 1921 (UK, p. 323) (AS, page CV). He came in second in the Stockholm quadrangular tournament in December 1919 (behind Rudolf Spielmann, ahead of Efim Bogoljubov and Richard Reti) (UK, pp. 327-333). At the beginning of 1920, Rubinstein beat Bogoljubov in a match.(24) During a Simul tour through the Netherlands (20 March 1920), Rubinstein spoke about the world championship (UK, p. 370), since Capablanca had emerged as Lasker's main rival. He reminded the public of still having a contract with Lasker, yet did not deny Lasker's and Capablanca's right to play for the title. He thought that an official body should administer the world championship and also suggested a triangular match between Lasker, Capablanca and himself. However, Rubinstein had lost his financial basis in post-war Europe and couldn't raise the necessary funds. Capablanca met Lasker in The Hague in January 1920 and they drew up a draft agreement for a title match, not to begin before 1 January 1921.(25) Capablanca had already declared in August 1919 that Lasker, Rubinstein and he himself were considered the strongest chessplayers in the world and that he would accept a challenge from Rubinstein, if he won the title from Lasker.(26) Rubinstein ended the year with a good second place at Gothenburg (1920) and then won the small Göteborg Winter tournament, which extended from 1920 to 1921, in convincing fashion (TLY, pp. 29-34).

At The Hague (1921), Rubinstein came in third behind Alexander Alekhine and Savielly Tartakower. Rubinstein co-authored the Lärobok i Schack, one of the most important contemporaneous works on opening theory.(27) He went on to win the strong Triberg tournament, December 1921, ahead of Bogoljubov and Spielmann (TLY, pp. 44-52). Alekhine wanted to challenge the new world champion Capablanca already after The Hague (1921), but the Cuban granted Rubinstein the right of a first challenge. He had already accepted Rubinstein's challenge on 7 September 1921. Dutch chess officials suggested a candidates match between Rubinstein and Alekhine. Both masters agreed to the match. The winner would receive 1,000 Guilders, the loser 500 Guilders. The match was to take place not earlier than March 1922. In the end, Alekhine avoided the match.(28)

At London (1922), Rubinstein came in fourth and Capablanca drew up the London Rules.(29) Capablanca granted Rubinstein some time to meet the high financial demands, setting the deadline for 31 December 1923, but Rubinstein couldn't raise the funds.(30) After a second place at Hastings (1922), he came in fifth at Teplitz-Schönau, October 1922, but won 4 Brilliancy prizes (TLY, pp. 72-83). At the end of the year, he had one of his greatest successes at Vienna (1922). Rubinstein, who had to support his family and raise money for the title match, suffered a severe financial set-back when Austrian frontier officials impounded his prize money (TLY, p. 84). In 1922, the Rubinstein family moved to Germany, where they stayed until 1926 (AS, page CV). After winning Hastings 1922/1923 (TLY, pp. 96-100), Rubinstein had very disappointing performances at Karlsbad (1923) and Maehrisch-Ostrau (1923).

Although Rubinstein had to content himself with a third place in Meran, February 1924 he popularized the Meran variation of the Semi-Slav by beating the tournament winner in Gruenfeld vs Rubinstein, 1924. Rubinstein was willing to compete in New York (1924), but this was out of question for the organizers. Bernhard Kagan, responsible for contacting the European masters and trying to help Rubinstein, explained that the number of participants was limited and the Grandmasters who were already in New York had an influential word.(31) He competed in smaller events, before managing a good second place at Baden-Baden (1925). The year 1925 continued to be a successful one with a shared first place at Marienbad (1925). At Breslau (1925), he only shared third place and ended the year with a very disappointing performance in Moscow (1925), his first and only trip to the Soviet Union (TLY, p. 165). While his results improved in 1926, at Semmering (1926), Dresden (1926), Budapest, June-July 1926 (shared third to fifth place) (TLY, pp. 196-203), Hannover (1926) and Berlin (1926), they were not outstanding. The Rubinstein family moved to Belgium in 1926, where Akiba lived until the end of his life (AS, page CV). In the spring of 1927, Rubinstein visited Poland and won the Second Polish Championship in Lódz (TLY, pp. 212-221). On 19 March 1927, his son Samy Rubinstein was born in Antwerp, Belgium (AS, page Family Tree).

In early 1928, Rubinstein visited the USA, gave Simuls and played several exhibition games (TLY, pp. 348-362). An international tournament had originally been planned and then a match against Marshall was suggested in its stead, but neither took place. He shared third place with Max Euwe at Bad Kissingen (1928), but Berlin (1928) was a disappointment. Then came the year 1929, which was one of his best years and stands out among the post-World War I years. First, he scored +3 -0 =4 against the British players in the Scheveningen-style Ramsgate tournament, March-April 1929 (TLY, pp. 238-241). Then followed three large tournaments, where Rubinstein came in fourth at Karlsbad (1929), second at Budapest (1929) and won Rogaška Slatina (today Slovenia), September-October 1929, ahead of Salomon Flohr (TLY, pp. 265-273). Donaldson and Minev on these three tournaments: "Rubinstein's overall result, which included only three losses in forty-nine games, was 34 1/2 - 14 1/2 during the sixty-nine days span."(TLY, p. 238)

The end of his chess career

He reached third place at San Remo (1930). Rubinstein also competed in the Belgian Team Championship in March and beat Johannes Hendrik Otto van den Bosch (3.0-0.0) and Salo Landau (2.5-0.5) in short matches in June (TLY, pp. 282-286). After a third place at Scarborough (1930), Rubinstein played on first board for the Polish team at the Hamburg Chess Olympiad, scoring +13 -0 =4. Rubinstein, together with Savielly Tartakower, David Przepiorka, Kazimierz Makarczyk and Paulino Frydman won the Gold medal.(32) Possibly tired from the Olympiad, which took place in July, Rubinstein disappointed at Liege (1930) in August.

In the spring of 1931, Rubinstein conducted a Simul tour through Palestine. He was the first well-known chess master to do so and the visit had a great, positive and long-lasting influence on chess in Palestine.(33) Then came the Prague Olympiad, July 1931, and Rubinstein played on first board again for the Silver-medal winning Polish team.(34) He was invited to Bled (1931), (35) but did not participate. After a successful Scheveningen-style tournament in Antwerp, July-August 1931 (TLY, pp. 316-318), Rubinstein came in last at Rotterdam, December 1931 (TLY, pp. 318-321) which was followed in January 1932 by a consultation event, which also took place in Rotterdam. Rubinstein scored the most points (TLY, p. 322). This was the last serious chess event he participated in, ending his professional chess career in early 1932.

The later years

The Rubinstein family had moved to Brussels, Belgium in 1931, where his wife Eugenie operated a restaurant (TLY, p. 26). With Akiba retiring from chess in 1932, Eugenie had to feed the family (two children) and the situation became critical. An appeal for help was made in 1932 and the publishing house of the Wiener Schach-Zeitung tried to help by publishing the book Rubinstein gewinnt!, with an introduction by Jacques Hannak and annotations by Hans Kmoch. (36) Akiba stayed for some time in a sanatorium before being reunited with his family (TLY, p. 16). In 1936, Eugenie reported that Akiba's health at least hadn't declined compared to the years before and he still occupied himself with chess, having followed the Alekhine - Euwe World Championship Match (1935) also.(37)

The fact that the Rubinstein family survived the Holocaust seems like a miracle. Sammy spent 1943-1944 in prison but was released. Factors which helped them to survive: They were probably all Belgian citizens by 1940 living in Brussels, and the Germans had no clear plans for Belgium which affected its administration (about 44% of the Jewish population in Belgium perished in the Holocaust), in addition, Akiba hid in a sanatorium (TLY, pp. 18-19).

Rubinstein's last public appearance as a chess player was a Simul he gave in Liège, Belgium in March 1946, scoring +24 -2 =4 (TLY, p. 377). It was reported that he would participate in a tournament in Maastricht soon afterwards, but he withdrew (TLY, p. 19). The financial situation of the Rubinstein family became critical again, and an appeal to help him was made in 1948 (TLY, pp. 17-18). In 1950, FIDE awarded the Grandmaster title to Rubinstein.(38)

Akiba had two students, Paul Devos and the third correspondence chess world champion Alberic O'Kelly de Galway (TLY, p. 19). He was also visited by Daniel Abraham Yanofsky and Miguel Najdorf, who said that Rubinstein won two fantastic games against him, and possibly Euwe.(39)

After his wife Eugenie died in 1954, Akiba moved to a home for old people. Sammy and Jonas remember visiting him and analysing the games of the world championship matches between Mikhail Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov together.(TLY, p. 21) On 15 March 1961, Akiba Rubinstein passed away in Antwerp, Belgium (TLY, p. 21).

Contributions to Opening Theory

Akiba Rubinstein invented and popularized many important opening variations, or turned innovations by others into fully-fledged opening systems. Many opening variations therefore bear his name. Among them are the Rubinstein variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defense (1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘c3 ♗b4 4.e3), the Rubinstein variation of the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 dxe4), the Rubinstein variation of the Symmetrical English (1.c4 c5 2.♘c3 ♘f6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 ♘xd5 5.♗g2 ♘c7), an important variation in the Four Knights Game (1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.♗b5 ♘d4), the important system against the Tarrasch Defence of the Queen's Gambit Declined with 6.g3 (introduced by Schlechter), and the already mentioned Meran variation in the Semi-Slav.

Testimonials

Garry Kasparov "Careful analysis shows that modern chess, proceeding from the Botvinnik era, is very strongly influenced by the games of Rubinstein, who was, essentially, one of the fathers of modern chess history." (40)

Vladimir Kramnik Rubinstein was “...an incredibly talented and fantastic chess player...Why didn't he become a World Champion? That's a mystery to me…” (41)

Boris Gelfand on the question if Rubinstein was his favorite player: "Yes, sure, definitely." (42)

Additional Information

An overview of Rubinstein's individual scores against the strongest players of his time: User: RubinsteinScores

An overview of Rubinstein's matches: User: RubinsteinMatches

An overview of Rubinstein's tournament career: http://www.phileo.demon.co.uk/uk_ar...

User: jessicafischerqueen 's documentary of Rubinstein can be found in three parts at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi3h... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQQO... and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sqG...

Sources and Footnotes

The most important sources, apart from contemporaneous newspapers, were Donaldson's and Minev's two volumes on Rubinstein and Anita Sikora's website on Rubinstein with a lot of original research. In order to save space, these sources will simply be abbreviated in the text and don't get their own footnotes. The abbreviation "UK" stands for John William Donaldson and Nikolay N Minev, The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein - Volume 1: Uncrowned King, 2nd edition, 2006, Russell Enterprises, Inc., Milford CT USA. The abbreviation "TLY" stands for John William Donaldson and Nikolay N Minev, The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein - Volume 2: The Later Years, 2nd edition, 2011, Russell Enterprises, Inc., Milford CT USA. The abbreviation "AS" stands for Anita Sikora's (User: anyi) website http://rubina.yfw24.de/.

(1) His forename is usually written Akiba with b. In the Hebrew alphabet b, v and w are the same letter and v is the correct transliteration. See the discussion in AS (page CV). Rubinstein himself once used the German transliteration Akiwa (cover of KARL 3/2013). His name is spelled Akiba in the biography because it is the official spelling on chessgames.com. Kiwelowicz is his patronym (other transliterations are Kivelovitch and Kiwelowitsch, see AS, page CV) according to Jeremy Gaige's Chess Personalia (p. 364 of the paperback edition, 2005, McFarland) since Poland was occupied by Russia at that time.

(2) Rubinstein's birthday was unclear for a long time, see the discussion on p. 384 of UK. The earliest sources gave 12 October 1882 (Gregorian calender, converted from 30 September 1882 of the Julian calender), while later sources gave 12 December 1882. It has lately been established that the birthdate on his gravestone, 1 December 1880, is correct, by Elzbieta Kusina and Jan Kusina of the Malopolska Chess Association, Krakow, Poland (19 April 2014, news of the Kenneth Whyld Foundation & Association, http://www.kwabc.org/index.php/17-l...).

(3) Tomasz Lissowski wrote a photo article on Stawiski, Irgendwo im Nirgendwo, KARL 3/2013, pp. 12-17.

(4) Ernst Strouhal, Alles Schöne war geistig..., KARL 3/2013, pp. 12-17. AS, page Family Tree. UK, p. 15. Strouhal notes that rabbis and Jewish scholars usually lived in great poverty in Eastern Europe at that time.

(5) Akiba Rubinstein, Wiener Schach-Zeitung, June 1926, pp. 164-165. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek". Rubinstein was answering Eugen Gömöri's question on how he became a chessmaster.

(6) Ernst Strouhal, Alles Schöne war geistig..., KARL 3/2013, pp. 12-17. Rubinstein's first chess book was Zosints' Instructor, written in Hebrew.

(7) Ernst Strouhal, Alles Schöne war geistig..., KARL 3/2013, pp. 12-17. This decision haunted him throughout his life, see for example TLY, p. 16 where the misunderstood story of the fly is explained. What pestered him was not an actual fly (it's a midrash) but the decision to leave behind his family and Jewish tradition to become a chess professional.

(8) Rubinstein vs G G Bartoszkiewicz, 1897 is Rubinstein's first recorded game. The date of the game is not clear: UK tentatively gives 1897 and played by correspondence (according to S. Postma, Jeugdpartijen van Beroemde Meesters), while Strouhal (see source (7)) has 1901 and played in Steins Café in Bialystok. Lissowski offers 1901 and 1902 as possible dates in Szachowa Vistula Chess Monthly, http://szachowavistula.pl/vistula/b...

(9) Rod Edwards, http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/...

(10) Rod Edwards, http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/.... UK, pp. 33-40. A play-off between Rubinstein and Duras ended 1.0-1.0 (two draws).

(11) Rod Edwards, http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/.... UK, pp. 43-50.

(12) Rod Edwards, http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/.... UK, pp. 51-57.

(13) Rod Edwards, http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/.... UK, pp. 79-88. Walter John criticized the Ostend (Championship) (1907) for not inviting Rubinstein instead of the two tail-enders (Generalanzeiger für Elberfeld-Barmen, 6 July 1907; reprinted in Wiener Schach-Zeitung, August-September 1907, p. 254. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek")

(14) Jacques Hannak called the Karlsbad 1907 tournament the "historical turning point of our chess history" (Der historische Wendepunkt unserer Schachgeschichte), because the youth triumphed over the established masters (Jacques Hannak, Wiener Schach-Zeitung, November-December 1907, p. 252. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek").

(15) Rod Edwards, http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/.... UK, pp. 117-125.

(16) Game Collection: Rubinstein vs. Teichmann, Match (1908)

(17) Wiener Schach-Zeitung, October-November 1910, p. 354. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek".

(18) UK, pp. 244-245. Salwe of Lódz was a special guest. This championship, played in December 1911, counted as the 1912 city championship.

(19) Emanuel Lasker, Pester Lloyd, 31 March 1912, p. 10. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek". See Lasker - Capablanca World Championship Match (1921) for more information on the negotiations between Capablanca and Lasker.

(20) UK, pp. 290-295 provides extensive coverage, e. g. the conditions can be found there. Lasker announced the successful conclusion of the negotiations on 28 August 1913 (Emanuel Lasker, Pester Lloyd, 31 August 1913, p. 11. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek").

(21) Wiener Schach-Zeitung, July 1913, p. 200. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek".

(22) The artificial division into a preliminary and a final tournament, instead of a double round robin event, was criticised by many people according to the St. Petersburger Zeitung (Wiener Schach-Zeitung, May-June 1914, p. 96. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek"). Rudolf Spielmann also criticised the format in the Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten, 31 May 1914 (Wiener Schach-Zeitung, May-June 1914, p. 97. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek").

(23) UK, p. 294 quotes the American Chess Bulletin (1914, p. 139): "Word comes from St. Petersburg that Dr. Lasker will go ahead with his arrangements to play the match for the championship with A. K. Rubinstein of Lodz." It's worth remembering that Carl Schlechter only scored 50% at St. Petersburg (1909), before drawing the Lasker - Schlechter World Championship Match (1910).

(24) Game Collection: Bogoljubov-Rubinstein Match, Sweden 1920

(25) Edward G Winter, Capablanca: a compendium of games, notes, articles, correspondence, illustrations and other rare materials on the Cuban chess genius José Raúl Capablanca, 1888-1942, 1989, McFarland 1989, pp. 108-109 (originally from the American Chess Bulletin, March 1920, pp. 45-46). Edward Winter notes that it is unclear why Capablanca didn't want to play prior to 1921. The consequence was that clause 15 stated that Lasker had the right to play a title match against someone else before 1921. Despite the signed contract, Rubinstein could have played a title match against Lasker, if he had raised the necessary funds. Also telling is Winter's comment on Capablanca's My Chess Career, published in early 1920 on p. 105: "...he also had to convince the chess world of his right to a world title match with Lasker." defending Capablanca from critics accusing him of self-laudation in this book.

(26) Winter, Capablanca, pp. 97-98 (originally from The Observer, 24 August 1919, p. 9).

(27) This was the fourth edition, Stockholm 1921, by Gustaf Collijn and Ludvig Collijn, written by Rubinstein, Richard Reti and Rudolf Spielmann (Aron Nimzowitsch also contributed). Sources are TLY, p. 26; AS, page Mysteries; there are also online resources from libraries, but the fourth edition is not publicly available.

(28) Toni Preziuso, Amerika! Amerika!, KARL 3/2013, pp. 36-37.

(29) Edward G Winter, The London Rules, 2008, http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

(30) Toni Preziuso, Amerika! Amerika!, KARL 3/2013, pp. 37-38. In 1923, Rubinstein tried to finance a trip to the USA as a part of his title campaign, but couldn't raise the money.

(31) Toni Preziuso, Amerika! Amerika!, KARL 3/2013, pp. 38-39 (Kagan gave the explanation in his Neueste Schachnachrichten, 1924, p. 176). According to Preziuso, it is not clear why Rubinstein wasn't invited. He was never considered and financial reasons appear unlikely.

(32) TLY, pp. 289-299. Wojciech Bartelski & Co., http://www.olimpbase.org/1930/1930i...

(33) TLY, pp. 368-371. Avital Pilpel, Rubinsteins Abenteuer im Heiligen Land, KARL 3/2013, pp. 46-49. For Rubinstein, the trip was not a success as he suffered a financial set-back.

(34) TLY, pp. 307-315. Wojciech Bartelski & Co., http://www.olimpbase.org/1931/1931i...

(35) Wiener Schach-Zeitung, July 1931, p. 220. Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek"

(36) TLY, pp. 16-17. An advertisement for the book in the Wiener Schachzeitung can be seen here: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/a... (Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek").

(37) Wiener Schach-Zeitung, February 1936, p. 60 (originally from the British Chess Magazine). Provided in "ANNO / Österreichische Nationalbibliothek"

(38) Jeremy Gaige, Chess Personalia, 2005 (paperback edition), McFarland, p. 364.

(39) TLY, p. 19. Edward G Winter, Akiba Rubinstein’s Later Years, http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

(40) Garry Kasparov, On My Great Predecessors Part I, 2003, Everyman, p. 204)

(41) Interview with Vladimir Barsky, Kramnik Interview: From Steinitz to Kasparov, 15 May 2005, http://www.kramnik.com/interviews/61

(42) Interview on 5 June 2012, part 2, http://www.chessvibes.com/?q=report...

Last updated: 2019-07-25 18:40:22

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 42; games 1-25 of 1,038  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Rubinstein vs G Bartoszkiewicz 1-0171897corrC55 Two Knights Defense
2. Rubinstein vs NN 1-0181902?000 Chess variants
3. Chojnacki vs Rubinstein 0-1241903Handicap tournament000 Chess variants
4. Rubinstein vs NN 1-0221903Handicap tournament ?000 Chess variants
5. Rubinstein vs Salwe 1-0321903MatchD05 Queen's Pawn Game
6. Salwe vs Rubinstein 1-0301903MatchB56 Sicilian
7. Salwe vs Rubinstein 1-0491903ConsultationC55 Two Knights Defense
8. Salwe vs Rubinstein 0-1141903LodzC50 Giuoco Piano
9. Rubinstein vs A Rabinovich 0-14919033rd All-Russian Masters, KievA84 Dutch
10. N Kalinsky vs Rubinstein 0-13919033rd All-Russian Masters, KievC22 Center Game
11. Rubinstein vs P P Benko 1-01819033rd All-Russian Masters, KievA84 Dutch
12. M Lowcki vs Rubinstein 1-02919033rd All-Russian Masters, KievD31 Queen's Gambit Declined
13. Rubinstein vs F Duz-Khotimirsky 0-17519033rd All-Russian Masters, KievD05 Queen's Pawn Game
14. W K von Stamm vs Rubinstein 0-12719033rd All-Russian Masters, KievD32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
15. Rubinstein vs B A Nikolaev 1-04019033rd All-Russian Masters, KievD37 Queen's Gambit Declined
16. V Yurevich vs Rubinstein 0-16419033rd All-Russian Masters, KievA02 Bird's Opening
17. Rubinstein vs S F Lebedev 1-05919033rd All-Russian Masters, KievC10 French
18. S Izbinsky vs Rubinstein 0-13619033rd All-Russian Masters, KievC81 Ruy Lopez, Open, Howell Attack
19. Rubinstein vs V Kulomzin 1-02019033rd All-Russian Masters, KievD32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch
20. Chigorin vs Rubinstein 1-03319033rd All-Russian Masters, KievC00 French Defense
21. Rubinstein vs S Levitsky ½-½3819033rd All-Russian Masters, KievC01 French, Exchange
22. Schiffers vs Rubinstein 0-12119033rd All-Russian Masters, KievC11 French
23. Rubinstein vs O Bernstein 0-12519033rd All-Russian Masters, KievC45 Scotch Game
24. Salwe vs Rubinstein ½-½3919033rd All-Russian Masters, KievD02 Queen's Pawn Game
25. Rubinstein vs Znosko-Borovsky ½-½2419033rd All-Russian Masters, KievD50 Queen's Gambit Declined
 page 1 of 42; games 1-25 of 1,038  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Rubinstein wins | Rubinstein loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 22 OF 52 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Mar-02-07  FHBradley: <Archives:> How is the book, BTW? I "know" you are passionate about Rubinstein, but, objectively, is the book worth acquiring? A reviewer complained that the book is thin on Rubinstein as a human being, if that's an appropriate way to put it. Here's a snippet:

<"Rubinstein" gives us a more white bread view of the world. In these books, Rubinstein the man is shown as Rubinstein the player. I never got a handle on his quirks and pains and misgivings. I never got to know him through his personality, only through his moves.> (Jeremy Silman)

Mar-02-07  Archives: <FHBradley> That snippet from Silman's review you gave is largely correct. There is not terribly much to be said about Rubinstein the man, although there are several interesting stories spread throughout the book which give you insight into his persona.

From what I understand, the second volume, "The Later Years", goes into a bit more detail about his life, delving into how he spent his later years, so it could prove more fruitful in dealing with Rubinstein the man.

As to the book as a whole... It is quite good in my opinion, it has all of his games from as early as 1897 through to 1920.

It had a very interesting chapter about the proposed Lasker-Rubinstein world championship match - in fact, I never knew that he was so close to getting his world championship shot.

The annotations are quite good, drawing on a wide variety of sources, and the games are, of course, first rate ;)

All in all, I am very happy with it and cannot wait for the revised edition of the 2nd volume to be released.

Mar-02-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <FHBradley> It sounds in your excerpt as though Silman is comparing <Uncrowned King> with another book. Is he? If so, what is the book?

I very much want to get Uncrowned King, though I am trying to hold off on chess books.

Mar-03-07  FHBradley: <Archives:> Thanks for the info; it really does sound like a useful tome. <keypusher> Right you are. The comparison is with a book about Aljechin by two Czech authors, Fiala and Kalendovsky; another quote from Mr. Silman:

<In "Alekhine" we get a glimpse into the champion's sexual dementia and are able to take our own moral stances in the face of Alekhine's treatment of women and his fellow players. We are given facts about his escape from a German prison camp and are allowed to make up our own minds as to his claims of being a hero.>

Of course, there's no reason for me to hold this information back. The entire Silman review can be found at http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_re...

Mar-25-07  Archives:

Game Collection: Rubinstein - Marshall Match 1908

Game Collection: Rubinstein - Schlechter Match 1918

Game Collection: Rubinstein - Bogoljubow Match 1920

Apr-26-07  Anyi: Has anyone read Shaun Taulbut's book on Rubinstein? Can we find in that book what Silman misses in "Akiva Rubinstein: Uncrowned King"? Thanks in advance for all answers!

Best,
Anyi

May-14-07  WilhelmThe2nd: Akiba Rubinstein’s first major tournament was the Third All-Russian Master’s tournament in Kiev in 1903. While researching the Prince Dadian of Mingrelia webpage (http://sbchess.sinfree.net/dadiani....) page with <SBC>, I came across round-by-round reports from this event in the Moscow newspaper 'Moscovskie Viedemostie'. These reports gave vivid descriptions of the games, the players and interesting incidental information about them. The reports were signed with the name “LASHIN” which may have been a pen-name for 'Moscovskie Viedemosti'’s regular chess columnist Pavel Pavlovich Bobrov (1862-1911). In addition to describing the events of the round, each report profiled one of the tournament’s participants. The following is Lashin’s write-up about Rubinstein, who ultimately placed 5th in the tournament. (Translated from the original Russian from 'Moscovskie Viedemostie', September 22nd, 1903, p.4):

“Mr. Chigorin’s opponent in the 20th round was Mr. Rubinstein who, for some reason, is officially listed as coming from Vilnius, although in actual fact he comes from Bialystok. Mr. Rubinstein himself does not know exactly how old he is. He only knows that in the present year he was called up for compulsory military service and that is why he is therefore no more than 21 years old.

However, Mr. Rubinstein knows precisely where he was born; it was in Lomza gubernia. If however one were to judge by appearances one could think that Mr. Rubinstein was born in Nagasaki or in Tokyo. His eyes, having a slanting cut, shout especially loudly about this; they are precisely the same, half weak-sighted, half sleepy, look that a true Japanese has. A dark-yellowish complexion and unusually black coloured hair on the head, in the eyebrows and on the tip of the chin are witnesses to his Japanese origin. Of some of the only contradictory indications of this origin it is necessary to consider his too tall height for a Japanese. The mineralogical origin of his surname also indicates that he in actual fact belongs not to the Mongol race but to another.

Mr. Rubinstein began to play chess four years ago not at his birthplace in the Lomza gubernia but already at his home in Bialystok. His teacher was a textbook of chess play in the classical Hebrew language that he unearthed once by chance.

Now there's the end of doubting the extraordinary antiquity of the invention of the game of chess! For goodness’s sake! The biblical Jews already knew of it and created for it textbooks for study with which one can still even now prepare the matadors of this art!…

Learning the classical Hebrew textbook very well, Mr. Rubinstein went to Lodz to test his strength in a match with Mr. Salwe. They played 17 games and of these each won 6 and 5 were drawn.

Up until the present tournament Mr. Rubinstein had no other opportunity arise for him to test his strength. Judging from his play in this tournament, and on its very decent results, the classical Hebrew textbook of chessplay that had been in the hands of Mr. Rubinstein was not quite that bad…

All the same though Rubinstein lost the game with Chigorin.”

[A group photograph of the participants of the 1903 All-Russian Master's tournament can be found here (scroll to the bottom):http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Controve... ]

May-15-07  SBC: <WilhelmThe2nd>

Interesting!

May I use that translation?

May-15-07  FHBradley: <WilhelmThe2nd:> This is absolutely fascinating stuff! Is there a similar description of Tchigorin in "Lashin's" columns?
May-15-07  WilhelmThe2nd:

<SBC>

Sure. One correction needs to be made to the translation, though. The first line should begin, "“Mr. Chigorin’s opponent in the 12th round..."

<FHBradley>

This appears to be the first write-up on Rubinstein at the outset of his career. The remarks about him not knowing his exact age, his military service, & the alternative score for his match versus Salwe (who also played at Kiev 1903) which Donaldson & Minev record as +5=4-5, pose some interesting questions.

There is a lengthier profile on Chigorin. But, as I recall, it was mostly a listing of his tournament results. I will look it up & let you know if there is anything more to it. Lashin's reports tended to be more interesting for the lesser-known players. Much of his reporting at Kiev 1903 was taken up with the behavior of the player Yurevich who "caused two scandals during the tournament when he was accused of reneging on a pre-arranged draw with Rabinovich and was later claimed to have concocted his game with Lebedev in order to win the brilliancy prize". http://sbchess.sinfree.net/WarsawCa...

May-15-07  ughaibu: The scandal of "reneging on a pre-arranged draw", great stuff.
May-15-07  ughaibu: Here's the alledgedly concocted game: [Event "RUS-ch03"] [Site "Kiev"]
[Date "1903.??.??"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Yurevich,Vladimir"]
[Black "Lebedev,Sergey Fedorovich"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "C63"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 Bb4+ 6.c3 dxc3 7.bxc3 Be7 8.Qd5 Nh6 9.Bxh6 gxh6 10.g4 fxg4 11.Nbd2 gxf3 12.Ne4 d6 13.Rg1 Bg5 14.Nxg5 hxg5 15.0-0-0 a6 16.exd6 Qxd6 17.Rge1+ Kf8 18.Qxg5 Qa3+ 19.Kb1 Qxc3 20.Rd8+ Kf7 21.Qf4+ Qf6 22.Bc4+ Kg6 23.Rg1+ Kh5 24.Bf7+ 1-0

May-15-07  ughaibu: Yurevich appears to have lost to Rabinovich?!

[Event "RUS-ch03"]
[Site "Kiev"]
[Date "1903.??.??"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Rabinovich,Abram Isaakovich"]
[Black "Yurevich,Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "D20"]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 b5 4.a4 c6 5.axb5 cxb5 6.Qf3 a6 7.Qxa8 Qc7 8.Qe4 Nf6 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Nc3 e6 11.Nf3 Bb4 12.Bd2 0-0 13.Be2 Nbd7 14.0-0 Bxc3 15.Bxc3 Ng4 16.h3 Ngf6 17.Ne5 Nb6 18.Ba5 Rd8 19.b3 Be4 20.Qc1 Nfd5 21.bxc4 f6 22.c5 Qxc5 23.dxc5 1-0

May-15-07  FHBradley: <WilhelmThe2nd:> Thanks for the effort. Tchigorin was not only a great player but also an extremely successful chess journalist, second only, perhaps, to Steinitz. Do you happen to know if anything that Tchigorin wrote is available in some accessible form or whether it all exists only as buried on the original pages? I'm quite certain none of it exists in English. (Except for a few excerpts in hte Khalifman-Soloviov book on Tchigorin).
May-15-07  WilhelmThe2nd: <ughaibu> The story about Lebedev game was said to have gone like this(BCM had a report in 1904 about it): Yurevich & Lebedev cooked up the game beforehand in order to win a prize that a sponsor put up for the best Lopez game in the tournament. Lebedev went back to his hometown and bragged about "selling" the game, which was dutifully reported in a newspaper chess column. Since the cat was out of the bag, Chigorin annotated the game in his column and reported that he was shown the cooked up game before it was played (adding that it wasn't very well contrived as it was). Yurevich wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper Chigorin's column appeared in and claimed that these charges had been investigated by the tournament committee and proven false. Yurevich also claimed he would sue Chigorin in court which it appears he did not do.

The story of the Rabinovich game is a little unclear to me. After the game one of the players claimed that the other had reneged on a deal to draw the game. Whether it was Rabinovich who simply won a game he promised to draw or Yurevich who started playing for a win when he promised to draw and then was outplayed by Rabinovich, I can't recall. The story went through several reports since there was an ongoing protest over it. I’ll check my sources and get back to you about it.

May-15-07  ughaibu: WilhelmThe2nd: Thanks for the extra details.
May-15-07  Bridgeburner: Interesting material about Rubinstein. According to Bill Wall (http://maskeret.com/cgi-bin/wiwp.cg...), Rubinstein and Salwe played three matches in Lodz with the following results:

1903: 5 - 5 (+ 5 - 5 = 0)

1903: 6 - 4 (+ 5 - 3 = 2)

1908: 5 - 3 (+ 3 - 1 = 4)

In the Chessgames.com database (search "Rubinstein-Salwe"), there are only 27 games on record for a record of +17 -2 =8 in favor of Rubinstein (they also played each other in tournaments). Only two games from the the 1903 match (matches?) in Lodz are listed. Interestingly, the implication from the scores in the database is that the matches between the two were played in Lodz in 1903, 1906 and 1908.

May-16-07  Archives: <Bridgeburner> Donaldson's and Minevs book on Rubinsteins, gives 3 matches between those two and with slightly different scores.

1903: 7-7 (+5 =4 -5)

1904: 5.5-4.5 (+4 =3 -3)

1907: 16-6 (+12 =8 -2)

May-16-07  Bridgeburner: <Archives> Good grief. Different years for the second and third matches as well. The 1907 match looks strange as other sources say the match was in 1908...could this be something else? Like combined results from match and tournament games perhaps?

It just seems too long for a non-title match, and the result a bit strange. If it was a match was it the best of 24 games maybe?

Do Donaldson and Minev offer any additional information about these matches?

May-16-07  Archives: <The Neue Lodzer Zeitung of 1903 provides some critical details about the first match between Rubinstein and Salwe.

It was held from April 26 to June 7 and the winner was the first to reach 7 points.>

(only two gamescores have been preserved from that match)

And regarding the 1904 tournament...

<The score of this match is usually given as 5.5-4.5 (+4 =3 -3). We have also sometimes seen 6-4 (+5 =2 -3) and occassionally 6.5-3.5. If the latter is true the final result would likely have been +5 =3 -2.>

(Again only two gamescores have been preserved).

Regarding the 1907/1908 match)

<The third match between the two great rivals from Lodz is shrouded in mystery. Many sources only list the 1903 and 1904 matches between them, and those that do list a third are usually counting the triangular event between Rubinstein, Marshall and Salwe from Lodz 1908, where Akiva beat Salwe +3 =4 -1. That there was a third match between these two players in 1907 is certain but after that nothing is absolutely sure.

The usually realiable Ksiega Jubileszowa Lodzkiego Towarzystwa Zwolennikow Gry Szachowej 1903-1938 gives two different scores for this match: +12 =5 -2 and +12 =8 -2, both in Rubinsteins favour.

This match seems strange for several reasons. The two previous matches were both quite close with Rubinstein emerging only one game up in 24 games played. But here he is winning by a margin of plus 10. Admittedly, Rubinstein had grown tremendously as a player since 1904 but his tournament record with Salwe after this match, while favourable, was nothing so one-sided. Of course matches sometimes produce suprising results, results that previous tournament meetings would not have predicted.

...........

The score of +12 =8 -2 suggests that it might have been a thirty game match in which case Rubinstein, by winning game 22, established an absolute margin of victory (i.e. 15.5 points or more).>

May-18-07  WilhelmThe2nd: <FHBradley> Chigorin's chess journalism appeared in a few (mostly short-lived) Russian chess magazines and his newspaper columns. Most of his newspaper writing was done for the St. Petersburg daily 'Novoe Vremya' in which he had a column for almost 20 years until his death in 1908. Sometimes his more substantial columns were translated in the British Chess Magazine. The only other place I have seen material from his column republished in English translation was in the chess columns of 'The Times Literary Supplement' during the period around 1900.

I have translated a few of his game annotations from his column at <SBC>'s Prince Dadian webpage. http://sbchess.sinfree.net/dadiani....

Jun-08-07  Karpova: A nice addition to the biography would be what a Worldchampion had to say about this tremendous player:

<Of course, he [Lasker] had worthy opponents. We should not forget Rubinstein, an incredibly talented and fantastic chess player. It is a pity that with his extensive knowledge of chess, he was not a World Champion. Sometimes he created true masterpieces and was way ahead of his time. To understand this, you should just go through the collection of his best games. Why didn't he become a World Champion? That's a mystery to me. His nerves might have played a role or he might not have been very good in practice. Anyway, he was a man of great talent.> http://www.kramnik.com/eng/intervie...

Jun-08-07  blackburne: Akiba Rubinstein in the web of chess romantic 'Ajedrez de ataque'

Article of Rubinstein

http://www.ajedrezdeataque.com/04%2...

Articles of others romantic chess players

http://www.ajedrezdeataque.com/04%2...

-

Jun-15-07  Karpova: http://chesshistory.com/winter/wint... (scroll down to 4534)

<Joost van Winsen (Silvolde, the Netherlands) reports a claim by G.C.A. Oskam on page 39 of Schaakmat, February 1951 that at the 1921 tournament in The Hague Rubinstein began his record of a game on the second row of the score-sheet. According to Oskam, Rubinstein explained himself as follows: ‘There are always players who do not observe the rule of recording every move. They save time by not doing so. In time-pressure they want to profit from my record and look at my score-sheet. They then think that they have only one more move to make, whereas two moves should be made. There is no need for me to help my opponent.’

As already seen in C.N. 4505, Oskam’s stories need to be read guardedly. In any case, we recall only ‘normal’ score-sheets in Rubinstein’s hand. See, for example, page 225 of Akiba Rubinstein: The Later Years by John Donaldson and Nikolay Minev (Seattle, 1995).>

Jun-18-07  suenteus po 147: 1912 might have been Rubinstein's magic year, he also won a few tournaments in the 1920s as well. Here's one of them: Game Collection: Marienbad 1925
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