Akiba Rubinstein
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Akiba Rubinstein (12 December 1882 in Stawiska, Poland - 15 March 1961 in Antwerp, Belgium) was a Polish famous chess Grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century.
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[edit] Biography
He was Jewish, and his family planned for him to become a rabbi, yet he did not finish his studies and chose to devote himself to chess entirely. The decision came in 1903 after he won fifth place at a tournament in Kiev. He had been training with the strong master Henryk Salwe in Łódź, and playing frequently against him. Jeremy Silman ranked him as one of the five best endgame players of all time, and a master of rook endgames (Silman 2007:477-88).
Rubinstein flourished especially from 1907 to 1912. Beginning from his win at Karlovy Vary in 1907, through a shared win at St. Petersburg in the same year, he culminated it in a record string of wins in 1912. He won five consecutive major tournaments that year: San Sebastian, Piešťany, Breslau (the German championship), Warsaw and Vilnius. Some believe that he was better than world champion Emanuel Lasker at this time (Silman 2007:477). Ratings from Chessmetrics support this conclusion.
At the time when it was common for the reigning world champion to handpick his challengers, Rubinstein was never given a chance to play Lasker for the world chess championship because he was unable to raise enough money to meet Lasker's financial demands. His plans were damaged by a poor showing at St. Petersburg (1914). A match with Lasker was arranged for October 1914, but it never took place because of the outbreak of World War I (Silman 2007:477). Later, José Raúl Capablanca emerged a challenger, and won the championship from Lasker in the next world championship match, in 1921.
After the war Rubinstein was still an elite grandmaster, but his results lacked their previous formidable consistency. Nevertheless, he won at Vienna in 1922, ahead of future world champion Alexander Alekhine, and was the leader of the Polish team that won the Chess Olympiad at Hamburg in 1930 with a superb record of thirteen wins and four draws. A year later he won an Olympic silver.
After 1932 he withdrew from tournament play, mostly because his schizophrenic tendencies [verification needed] (he was suffering from anthropophobia) ultimately became prevalent. Although he lived for almost thirty years afterwards, he left behind no literary heritage like the other great grandmasters, which may be attributed to his mental problems.
[edit] Chess heritage
He was one of the earliest chess players to take the endgame into account when choosing and playing the opening. He was exceptionally talented in the endgame, particularly in rook endings, where he broke new ground in knowledge. He originated the Rubinstein System against the Tarrasch Defense variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6 (Rubinstein - Tarrasch, 1912). He is also credited with inventing the Meran Variation, which stems from the Queen's Gambit Declined but reaches a position of the Queen's Gambit Accepted, with Black one move ahead.
Today, he certainly has no shortage of lines named for him. The "Rubinstein Attack" often refers to 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e3 0-0 6 Nf3 Nbd7 7 Qc2. The Rubinstein Variation of the French Defense arises after 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 (or 3 Nd2) dxe4 4 Nxe4. The Rubinstein Variation of the Nimzo-Indian is the most popular line of the Nimzo: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3. Of course, there is also the Rubinstein Variation of the Four Knights Game which arises after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bb5 Nd4
The Rubinstein Memorial tournament in his honor has been held annually since 1963 in Polanica Zdroj, with a glittering list of top-flight winners.
[edit] Notable chess games
- George Rotlewi vs Akiba Rubinstein, Lodz 1907, Tarrasch Defense: Symmetrical Variation (D02), 0-1 A very impressive attacking combination; "perhaps the most magnificent combination of all time" (Carl Schlechter)
- Akiba Rubinstein vs Emanuel Lasker, St.Petersburg 1909, Queen's Gambit Declined: Traditional Variation (D30), 1-0 This game ends in an interesting position where Lasker has no good moves (zugzwang).
- Akiba Rubinstein vs Karel Hromádka, Moravská Ostrava 1923, King's Gambit: Declined. Classical Variation (C30), 1-0 A nice game full of tactics and hanging pieces. The former Czech champion Karel Hromádka fights well, but at the end Rubinstein prevails.
[edit] References
- Silman, Jeremy (2007), Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master, Siles Press, ISBN 1-890085-10-3
[edit] Further reading
- Donaldson, John and Nikolay Minev (1994). Akiba Rubinstein: Uncrowned King. International Chess Enterprises. ISBN 1-879479-19-2.
- Chernev, Irving (1995). Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games. Dover. ISBN 0-486-28674-6.
