The

Life & Games

of
Akiva Rubinstein
Volume 2: The Later Years

Second Edition

by
John Donaldson
&
Nikolay Minev

2011
Russell Enterprises, Inc.
Milford, CT USA

1
 The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years

The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein

Volume 2: The Later Years

Second Edition

ISBN: 978-1-936490-39-4

© Copyright 2011

John Donaldson and Nikolay Minev

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system

or transmitted in any manner or form whatsoever or by any means, elec-
tronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the express written permission from the publisher except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Published by:
Russell Enterprises, Inc.
P.O. Box 3131
Milford, CT 06460 USA

http://www.russell-enterprises.com
[email protected]

Printed in the United States of America

2
 Table of Contents

Introduction to the 2nd Edition 7

Rubinstein: 1921-1961 12

A Rubinstein Sampler 28

1921

Göteborg 29
The Hague 34
Triberg 44

1922

London 53
Hastings 62
Teplitz-Schönau 72
Vienna 83

1923

Hastings 96
Carlsbad 100
Mährisch-Ostrau 113

1924

Meran 120
Southport 129
Berlin 134

1925

London 137
Baden-Baden 138
Marienbad 153
Breslau 161
Moscow 165

3
 The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years

1926

Semmering 176
Dresden 189
Budapest 196
Hannover 203
Berlin 207

1927

àyGĨ 212
Warsaw 221

1928

Bad Kissingen 223

Berlin 229

1929

Ramsgate 238
Carlsbad 242
Budapest 260
5RJDãND6ODWLQD 265

1930

San Remo 273

Antwerp (Belgian Team Championship) 282
Matches with van den Bosch and Landau 282
Scarborough 286
Hamburg Olympiad 289
Liège 299

1931

Prague Olympiad 307

Antwerp 316
Rotterdam 318

4
 1932

Rotterdam (consultation) 322

The Last Recorded

Games of Rubinstein: 1945-1961 323

Exhibitions 1921-1926 327

Rubinstein in Germany 334
Rubinstein in England 334
Rubinstein in Czechoslovakia 342
Rubinstein in America 348

Exhibitions 1929-1946 362

Rubinstein in Poland 364

Rubinstein in Palestine 368
Rubinstein in The Netherlands 371

Training Games: Akiva Rubinstein vs.

Sammy Rubinstein, 1946-1948 377

%LVKRS¶V2SHQLQJ 379
4XHHQ¶V*DPELW 383
6LFLOLDQ2¶.HOO\ 385

Appendix: Rubinstein-Salwe Matches 390

Addendum 403
Missing Rubinstein Tournament Games 424
Tournament/Match Record 1921-1932 425
Bibliography 427
Player Index 430
Opening Index 434
ECO Codes Index 435
Annotator Index 440

5
The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years

Akiva Rubinstein
1882-1961

6
 Introduction to the Second Edition

Akiva Rubinstein’s last tournament game was almost seventy years ago, so does
it make sense for present-day players to study his games for anything more than
nostalgia? Certainly Rubinstein was a modern player for his time, but seventy
years is seventy years. Today few study the games of his contemporaries with
avid interest, but Rubinstein endures. Why?

One could point to his profound influence on modern opening theory where the
Ruy Lopez, Four Knights Game, French, Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Queen’s
Gambit Declined and Nimzo-Indian all felt his special touch. Richard Réti in his
Modern Ideas in Chess wrote that Morphy developed the principles of play in
open positions and that it was Rubinstein who did the same for closed ones.
Certainly Rubinstein was one of the first chess scientists, developing opening
systems that sometimes carried through to the endgame. His influence on Botvinnik
in this approach to the game was great. Rubinstein played many beautiful games
and enjoyed numerous competitive successes, but in concrete terms what can he
offer?

Rubinstein remains especially relevant to present-day players in two areas. The

first is in providing model games that clearly illustrate how to plan ahead. Games
between modern grandmasters are typically messy affairs and one seldom sees a
player obtain a strategically winning position early on. Unlike many of Rubinstein’s
opponents, who did not know what was coming, today’s grandmasters know
exactly what their opponent is trying to do and will muddy the waters early rather
than willingly submit to a passive position with no hope of counterplay.

Look at the famous game between Rubinstein and Salwe played at £ódŸ 1908.
Akiva’s play against the Tarrasch variation of the Queen’s Gambit, in which he
gives Black hanging pawns and blockades the d4- and c5-squares, is a part of the
technical knowledge of every master today. Knowing what happened to Salwe,
modern players will take radical action rather than acquiesce to a static
disadvantage. Rubinstein’s games, in which the great master was often given
carte blanche to implement long-term plans, are still models for students wishing
to learn positional chess.

The other arena where Rubinstein continues to reign supreme is in the art of
strategic planning in the ending, particularly those involving rooks and pawns.
Computers may have brought many benefits to society but the improvement of
endgame play is not one of them. Playing games to a finish is obligatory in a time
of Rybka and Fritz but the lack of adjournments has definitely had an impact on
present-day players in the final phase of the game. The introduction of accelerated
time controls also has had a negative effect. Often one reaches the endgame with
only a few minutes on the clock with the thirty-second increment providing time
to do little more than react.

7
 The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years

This was not the case when Rubinstein played and some of the examples from his
practice (for example the famous rook ending against Matisons from Carlsbad
1929) continue to offer valuable study material for even world class players. The
decision by Mihai Marin to include Rubinstein’s rook endings in his book Learn
from the Legends should come as no surprise. Rubinstein’s games are still relevant.

This new edition of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years, which covers the second
half of his career, owes much to the generosity of Simon Constam of Hamilton,
Ontario, and Tony Gillam of Nottingham, England.

Simon made available a notebook of Akiva’s younger son, Sammy, which included
training games between the two and opening analysis they did, possibly with the
assistance of future grandmaster Albéric O’Kelly de Galway. These all-Rubinstein
battles vary dramatically in quality but provide a fascinating glimpse into how
Akiva systematically set out to learn the truth about certain opening variations in
the years immediately after World War II. He may have retired from tournament
play in 1932, but these games and analysis show Akiva had lost none of his love
for chess.

Besides making the contents of this notebook available, Simon provided many
photographs from the Rubinstein family archives, few of which have been
previously published.

Tony Gillam, who like Simon is one of the world’s greatest experts on Rubinstein,
recently unearthed many unknown games between Akiva and his early rival Georg
Salwe, including several from their matches, in the Neue £ódŸer Zeitung. Tony
was unable to examine all the issues of this publication so there is an excellent
chance that more games may be found. His discoveries can be found in the annex
at the back of the book.

Since the publication of the first edition of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years
fifteen years ago, the number of new tournament game discoveries after World
War I has been slim. Grandmaster Luc Winants, who also contributed many
photographs, was able to find the first part of Rubinstein’s victory over Colle
from Meran 1924 in a Belgian newspaper. Tony Gillam discovered the opening
and early middlegame of Selezniev-Rubinstein from the same event in Professor
Becker’s opening archive at the Max Euwe Center in Amsterdam but
comprehensive attempts by Luca D’Ambrosio to finding the remaining moves of
the two games have proven unsuccessful. Toni Preziuso supplied Rubinstein-
Selezniev, from round one of Triberg 1921 (game 20a) and a game from the
Rubinstein-Teichmann match of 1908, not included in the second edition of
Uncrowned King, will be found in the annex at the back of this book.

These may have been the only new tournament efforts of Akiva’s to surface from
the time period 1921-1932 but many exhibition games have been found. Such

8
 Introduction

games are often of poor quality – typically only the exhibitor’s losses are preserved
– but that is not entirely the case here, where the reader gets the added bonus of
seeing Akiva test new opening and middlegame plans. Alan Smith of Manchester,
England, found many games from Akiva’s simul tour of England in 1925 and
Toni Preziuso discovered close to two dozen from all periods of Rubinstein’s
career. These later games will be found in the annex at the end of this book.

Rubinstein: 100 de sus mejores partidas recopiladas y una nota biografica,

authored by Jaime Baca-Arus and Jose Ricardo Lopez, and published in Havana
in 1922, has long been thought to be the first book to be published on Rubinstein
but that is not in fact the case. John DeArman’s Rubinstein’s Games of Chess: A
very incomplete collection of the match and tourney games of a great master was
printed ten years earlier in Pasadena, California.

This has to be one of the rarest chess books in the world and it is quite possible
the Los Angeles Public Library holds the only copy. The catalogue lists the book
as 236 pages long, but actually this is only the number devoted to games; another
36 pages of flowery prose precede it. The book is a little smaller than the fourth
edition of Modern Chess Openings, about 6½ by 4 inches (16.5cm x 10.2cm), but
is packed with information. While DeArman has nothing original to offer he did
do a first rate job of gathering information from many sources including the
Deutsche Schachzeitung, the American Chess Bulletin and tournament books for
many of the events Rubinstein played in ending in 1911.

This is not the only book that DeArman published. The Los Angeles Public Library
also has his works on Nuremberg 1906, Hamburg 1910, San Sebastian 1911 and
The Kings of Chess. The latter is an updated translation of a work by J. Rademacher
(1905), published by DeArman in 1910, listing the tournament and match records
of every master who has gained a prize in any international tournament. This is
the only work of DeArman listed in the Cleveland Public Library catalogue for
the John G. White collection.

The authors would be very interested in hearing from readers who have any
information on DeArman, who is quite a mystery. His name does not produce any
hits on Google nor did he play in any of the Northern California-Southern
California chess matches between 1912 and 1926.

Garry Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors: Part 1 and Mihai Marin’s Learn from
the Legends, are outstanding books that have appeared since the first editions of
our two volumes on Rubinstein were published. Neither deals primarily with Akiva
but both contain much valuable material on him. Kasparov’s section on Rubinstein
focuses almost exclusively on the period before World War I while Marin’s covers
rook endings throughout his career. These are must reading for fans of Rubinstein.
We can also strongly recommend the chapter “My Rubinstein” by Boris Gelfand
in Akiba Rubinstein’s Chess Academy, Krzysztof Pytel’s pioneering effort on

9
 The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years

Rubinstein as well as the games collection by Yuri Razuvaev and V.I. Murakhveri.
Unfortunately the last two books are only available in Polish and Russian,
respectively.

Improved technology has made our job much easier the second time around. Fifteen
years ago there was little in the way of historical chess material online – now
there is a flood. We found Edward Winter’s Chess Notes (chesshistory.com/winter/
index.html), Anita Sikora’s Rubinstein site (rubina.yfw24.de/) and Wojciech
Bartelski’s Olimpbase (www.olimpbase.org) to be extremely useful as well as the
Wikipedia entries for individual Polish players. These resources proved to be
quite reliable but others on the Internet less so. One account described the Dutch
master Jan Willem te Kolsté as “one of the most imposing players in chess history
– nearly 7 foot tall, weighing near 250 pounds and with hands the size of a
chessboard.” This would be quite fascinating if it was true but we found no
evidence to support these claims.

Fifteen years is a lifetime for chess computer engines considering the progress
that has been made. We did not use them at all for the first edition and have tried
to be selective in using Fritz 12 and Rybka 3.0 for this book, turning on the
silicon oracles only when the occasion demanded. Rubinstein’s games are admired
but more for his broad strategic palette and not his exacting tactical analysis. This
approach is particularly true for analysis by Rubinstein and his contemporaries
whose comments we have tried to attribute as carefully as possible. When a game
has multiple annotators we have endeavored to make clear exactly who has
analyzed what but often there has been overlap. Games without attribution are
annotated by the authors who are also responsible for short observations in
brackets.

Jeremy Gaige’s Chess Personalia was used for player’s names. Common English
usage was followed for well-known foreign cities (Vienna, Moscow and Warsaw)
but for lesser-known ones we have used their native name (Göteborg, £ódŸ and
Rogaška Slatina).

This series on Rubinstein has been a large undertaking and we would like to take
the opportunity to thank those that have helped us the past two decades. These
books would certainly have been poorer without their assistance.

Sadly, the list of those we would like to thank include several helpers who have
passed away, including both of Akiva’s sons – Jonas and Sammy, the great chess
historian Ken Whyld, Alice Loranth, who headed the John G. White Collection of
the Cleveland Public Library for many years, Ton Sibbing of the Max Euwe Center,
the Swedish chess researcher Arne Berggren, former Inside Chess Editor Michael
Franett, the American chess historian Jack O’Keefe, and one of Akiva’s opponents,
J.H.O. graaf van den Bosch (Hilversum, Netherlands).

10
 Introduction

Besides Simon Constam, Tony Gillam, Alan Smith and grandmaster Luc Winants,
we would like to thank Lissa Waite, Pamela Eyerdam and Oksana Kraus of the
John G. White Collection of the Cleveland Public Library for their assistance
(and for permission to use the photograph of Lasker on page 168) and the following
individuals:

Andy Ansel (Laurel Hollow, New York), Hans Baruch (Berkeley), Christiaan M.
Bijl (the Hague), Jonathan Berry (Nanaimo, Canada), Christopher Carter (Fairborn,
Ohio), Maurice Carter (Fairborn, Ohio), Luca D’Ambrosio (Bolzano, Italy),
Angelo DePalma (Newton, New Jersey) Karl De Smet (Brussels), Nathan Divinsky
(Vancouver), Mark Donlan (Marblehead, Massachusetts), Calle Erlandsson (Lund,
Sweden), Andrzej Filipowicz (Warsaw) John Gillam (Cincinnati), Lars Grahn
(Malmö), Eli Hiltch (Ramat Gan, Israel), Peter Holmgren (Tyresö, Sweden), Holly
Lee (Berkeley), Paul Liebhaber (San Francisco), Jason Luchan (New York), Robert
Moore (San Francisco), Michael Negele (Wuppertal, Germany), René Olthof (‘s
-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands), Jack Peters (Los Angeles), Motoko Reece
(Cleveland), Anna Rubinstein (Charleroi, Belgium), Yvette Seirawan
(Amsterdam), Per Skjoldager (Fredericia, Denmark), Eric Tangborn (Issaquah,
Washington), Herman van Engen (Hilversum, Netherlands), Marius C. van Vliet
(Eindhoven, Netherlands), Rob Verhoeven (the Hague) Edward Winter (Satigny,
Switzerland), Tadeusz Wolsza (Warsaw) and Val Zemitis (Davis, California).

Last and certainly not least, we like to give a big thanks to our past and present
publishers, Yasser Seirawan and Hanon Russell, whose support was crucial to
producing two editions of this series which has grown to over eight hundred
pages.

We apologize if we have inadvertently left anyone out. It goes without saying

that any errors or omissions are the sole responsibility of the authors.

We have endeavored to make this work on Rubinstein as complete and accurate

as possible. Should any readers have new information and/or corrections we would
be very eager to hear from them. The authors can be contacted by writing to John
Donaldson at either [email protected] or Mechanics’ Institute Chess Director, 57
Post Street, Room 408, San Francisco, CA, 94104.

This book is dedicated to Holly Lee and Elena Minev.

John Donaldson
Nikolay Minev
February 15, 2010

11
 1926

or finally 17...Rfc8 18.Bxh7+ Kf8 23...Kh8 24.Bxg7+ Qxg7

19.Qb1 g6 20.Bxg6 fxg6 21.Qxg6, 25.Qxg7+ Kxg7 26.Rd7+ Kh8
with a decisive attack. If Black plays 27.Rxb7 Be5 28.Bf7! Rd8 29.g3
16...h6 or 16...g6 there would follow Rd4 30.Kg2 Rc8 31.Re2 Rc7
17.Qd3 Rfd8 18.Qc3, with a decisive 32.Rb8+ Kg7 33.Ba2 Bf6
advantage for White. The following 34.Rg8+ Kh6 35.Bb1 Re7 36.h4
move, which weakens the black king Bg7 37.Kh3 Re6 38.Ra8 Bf6
position, is therefore practically forced. 39.Ra7!

16...f5 17.Bb1 e5 18.e4! Nd4 (K) Now White threatens 40.f3!.

(W) 18...f4 was better. 39...Bg7

(K) White would have obtained an cuuuuuuuuC
equally overwhelming position after {wDwDwDwD}
18...f4 by 19.Ba2+ and 20.Bd5.
{$wDwDwgp}
19.Nxd4 exd4 20.Bxd4 fxe4? {pDwDrDwi}
{DpDwDwDw}
(K) Black had to play 20...Bxe4, meet- {w)w4pDw)}
ing 21.f3 with Bc6!, and 21.Bxe4 with {)wDwDw)K}
fxe4! 22.Qg4 Rad8. In each case Black {wDwDR)wD}
would have a very difficult, but perhaps
a playable, game. After the text, a pawn
{DBDwDwDw}
goes. vllllllllV
40.Bxe4!!
21.Rfe1 Rae8 22.Qg4! Bb8
23.Ba2+ (K) A beautiful and astonishing finale.

(W) This check was also decisive after 40...Rdxe4 41.Rxe4 Rxe4
22...Ba8 or 22...Rf4. 42.Rxa6+ Kh5 43.f3! 1-0

Dresden, April 4-14, 1926

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 T
1 Nimzowitsch x ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8½
2 Alekhine ½ x 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 7
3 Rubinstein 0 0 x ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 6½
4 Tartakower 0 0 ½ x ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 5
5 von Holzhausen 0 ½ 0 ½ x 0 1 1 0 1 4
6 Johner 0 ½ 0 0 1 x 0 1 0 1 3½
7 Yates 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 x 0 1 0 3
8 Sämisch 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 x ½ 1 3
9 Blümich 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 ½ x 0 2½
10 Steiner 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 x 2

189
 The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years

This ten-player round-robin, held to On the alternative 21...Rd8 22. Ne7+

commemorate the 50th year jubilee of Qxc7 23.Bxe7 Rxd2 24. Rxd2, White
the Dresden Chess Club, saw also wins an exchange.
Rubinstein lose to his two chief rivals,
Nimzowitsch and Alekhine, and deci- 22.f3 e3 23.Nxe3 Nxe3 24.Qxe3
mate the rest of the field. This was one Be6 25.Bxf8 Rxf8 26.Qb6 Qe5
of Nimzowitsch’s greatest triumphs. 27.e4 f5 28.f4 Qb8 29.e5 1-0

(238) Yates – Rubinstein (240) Sämisch – Rubinstein

Dresden (1) 1926 Dresden (3) 1926
Alekhine [B02] Queen’s Pawn [D02]

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.Bc4 Nb6 Notes by Wiarda from Der Jubi-
4.Bb3 c5 5.Qe2 Nc6 6.Nf3 d5 laumsschachkongress zu Dresden.
7.exd6 e6 8.Nc3 Bxd6 9.Ne4
Be7 10.d3 Nd5 11.0-0 0-0 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3
12.Bd2 b6 13.Rad1 Bb7 14.Rfe1 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bd3 Qb6 7.Qc1
Qd7 15.Bc1 Rad8 16.Ng3 Rfe8 Bd7 8.Nbd2 Rc8 9.Qb1 Be7
17.Qe4?! Nf6 18.Qh4 Nd4 10.h3 0-0 11.Ne5 Rfd8 12.Bh2
19.Ne5 Qc7 20.Nh5 Nxh5 Be8 13.0-0 g6 14.Kh1 Nd7
21.Qxh5 Bd6 22.Ng4 Nxb3 15.Nxd7?!
23.axb3 f5! 24.Ne3 Qc6 25.Qh3
b5! 26.Nf1 e5 27.Bg5 Rd7 28.f4 Better is 15.Nef3.
Rf7 29.Qg3 Re6 30.Qf2 Rg6
31.Nd2 exf4 32.Nf3 h6 33.h4 15...Rxd7 16.Nf3 Rdd8 17.Re1
hxg5 34.hxg5 Qd7 35.Rd2 Bxf3 a6 18.Qc1 Kg7 19.Qd2 Qa7
36.Qxf3 Rxg5 37.Rde2 Qb7 20.Qe2 cxd4 21.exd4 Qb6
38.Re8+ Bf8 39.Qh3 Rg3 22.Bf4 Rd7 23. Ne5 Rdd8
40.Qh2 g6 41.Kf2 Rh7 42.Qg1 24.Nxc6 Rxc6 25.Qd2 f6 26.Re2
Qd5 0-1 Bf7 27.Rae1 Rd7 28.g4?! Qd8
28.Bg3 Bf8 29.f3 Be7 31.Rh2 b5
(239) Rubinstein – von Holzhausen 32.a3 Rb7 33.h4 Bd6 34.Bxd6
Dresden (2) 1926 Qxd6 35.f4 Rc8!
Queen’s Gambit Declined [D06]
A very good move, which will serve
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.c4 cxd4 4.cxd5 well for both attack and defense.
Qxd5 5.Nc3 Qa5 6.Nxd4 a6 7.g3
e5 8.Nb3 Qb4 9.Bg2 Nf6 10.a3 36.h5 gxh5 37.Rg1 Kh8 38.f5
Qb6 11.Be3 Qc7 12.Na4 Nc6 Rg8 39. Qh6 exf5 40.Bxf5?
13.Nb6 Rb8 14.Rc1 Ng4 15.Nd5
Qd7 16.Bb6 Bd6 17.0-0 0-0 Here 40.gxf5 was better, because after
18.Qd2 Qe6 19.Rfd1 e4 20.Nc5 the text move Black obtains strong
Bxc5 21.Bxc5 Qf5 pressure on the g-file. After 40.gxf5
Rxg1+ 41.Kxg1, Black cannot play

190
 1926

Dresden 1926: seated L-R, Nimzowitsch, Alekhine, Otto Krüger, v. Holzhausen,

Johner; standing L-R: Rubinstein, Sämisch, Tartakower, Dr. Christof Jobst
(tournament director), Blümich, Steiner and Yates.

41...Qg3+ because of 42.Rg2, and 49.Qf1, but after 49...Qg6! 50.Rh2

White wins. Rh5 51.Qf2 Qg5 (threatening
52...Rxh2+ and 53...Rh4), Black has a
40...Bg6 41.Bxg6 Rxg6 42.Qxh5 decisive advantage.
Rbg7 43.Qf5 Rg5 44.Qd3 Qd7
45.Re1 Rxg4 45.Qf1 Qf7 46.Rh6 49...Rg3 50.Qh2 Rg2 51.Qh3
R7g5! 48.Qh3 Qg8 R5g3 52.Qxg2
cuuuuuuuuC
{wDwDwDqi} Otherwise mate follows in a few moves.
{DwDwDwDp}
{pDwDw0w$} 52...Rxg2 53.Rf8 Qxf8 54.Kxg2
Qf4 55.Re2 h5 0-1
{DpDpDw4w}
{wDw)wDrD} (241) Rubinstein – Blümich
{)w)wDwDQ} Dresden (4) 1926
{w)wDwDwD} King’s Indian [E62]
{DwDw$wDK}
vllllllllV 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3
49.Rxf6 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.d5
Nb8 8.Nd4 e5 9.dxe6 fxe6 10.0-
This loses immediately. The best de- 0 e5 11. Nc2 Nc6 12.h3 Be6
fense against the threat of 49...Rg1+ 13.Nd5 Qd7 14. Kh2 h6 15.Be3
50.Rxg1 Rxg1+ 51.Kh2 Re1! was Kh7 16.b3 Rf7 17. Qd2 Bf5

191
 The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years

18.Nxf6+ Rxf6 19.Nb4! Rf7 This won the prize for the best-played
20.Nxc6 bxc6 21.Qa5 a6 22. Rad1 game of the tournament. Notes by
Be6 23.Rd2 Qe8 24.Rfd1 Bc8 Nimzowitsch from the tournament
25.Qa4 Bb7 26.Be4 Qd7 27.Bg2 book.
Raf8 28.Kg1 Qe8 29.Qb4 Qa8 30.
Qa4 c5 31.Bd5 Bxd5 32.cxd5 Rb8 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5
33.Qe4 a5 34.Rc2 Rff8 35.Rc4
Rb6 36.g4 Bf6 37.Kg2 Bg5 Rubinstein plays this variation fre-
38.Bxg5 hxg5 39.e3 Qd8 40.Kg3 quently, compare the games Réti-
Kg7 41.Rh1 Rb4 42.Rb1 Qf6 Rubinstein, Baden-Baden 1925, and
43.Rf1 Rh8 44.Kg2 Rhb8 45.Kg3 Zubarev-Rubinstein, Moscow 1925.
Rh8 46.f3 Rhb8 47. Rf2 Qe7 [See games 174 and 201.]
48.Kg2 Qe8 49.Qc2 Qf7 50. Rxb4
axb4 51.Qc4 Ra8 52.Kg3 Re8 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4
53.Qe4 Qd7 54.Rh2 Qb5 55.Rf2
Qa6 56.h4! gxh4+ 57.Kxh4 Rh8+ One of my novelties.
58.Kg3 Qc8 59.f4 Qd8 60.g5 Rh5
61.Qf3 5...Nb4

This was the sealed move. Rubinstein 5...Nxc3 6.bxc3 g6 looks more solid.
suggested 61.Rh2 as an improvement.
However, in the tournament book 6.Bc4 e6
Blümich gave 61...Rxh2 62.Kxh2 Qa8
63.fxe5 Qxa2+ 64.Kh3 Qf2, drawing. In case of 6...Nd3+, White planned
7.Ke2!. [Today this variation is one of
61...Qc8 62.Rh2 Rxh2 63.Kxh2 the main theoretical lines.]
Qa8?
7.0-0 N8c6
This loses. Correct was 63...Qf5, with
equality – Blümich. Perhaps 7...N4c6!? is preferable.

64.fxe5 Qxa2+ 65.Kh3! dxe5 66. 8.d3 Nd4 9.Nxd4 cxd4 10.Ne2 a6
Qf6+ Kh7 67.Qe7+ Kg8
68.Qd8+ Kg7 69.Qxc7+ Kg8 Forced. White keeps the extra pawn
70.Qd8+ Kh7 71.Qe7+ Kg8 after 10...Be7? 11.Bb5+ Bd7
72.Qe6+ Kh7 73. Qf7+ Kh8 (11...Nc6 12.Qa4) 12.Nxd4 Bf6 13.
74.Qf8+ Kh7 75.Qh6+ Kg8 Qa4.
70.Qxg6+ Kf8 77.Qf6+ Kg8 78.
g6 Qa7 79.d6 c4 80.Qd8+ 1-0 11.Ng3 Bd6

The following game is number 67 in If 11...Be7, then 12.Qg4 0-0 13.Bh6

The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Bf6 14.Bxg7! Bxg7 15.Nh5.
Century, Ranked, by Andrew Soltis.
12.f4 0-0 13.Qf3
(242) Nimzowitsch – Rubinstein
Dresden (5) 1926
English [A34]

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The consequences of 13.e5 Bc7! are not White wins immediately after 27...Rf6?
favorable for White, e.g., 14. Qg4 Kh8 28.Ng5 h6 29.Nh7!
15.Nh5 Rg8 16.Rf3 f5! 17. exf6 gxf6
18.Qh4 Rg6 19.Rh3 Qe7, followed by 28.Re5 Nf7
...Bd7 and ...Rag8, while the plan initi-
ated by the text builds more pressure. If 28...h6 29.g4!, with a decisive attack,
e.g., 29...fxg4 30.f5! Qxe5 31. f6+ Qxf6
13...Kh8 14.Bd2 f5 15.Rae1 Nc6 32.Qh6 mate.
16.Re2 Qc7
29.Bxf7 Qxf7 30.Ng5 Qg8
Better was 16...Bd7. 31.Rxe8 Bxe8 32.Qe1

17.exf5 exf5 18.Nh1! Black is lost because he cannot put up

resistance against the mating attack.
The beginning of an interesting knight
maneuver. The knight will be transferred 32...Bc6
via f2 to h3. It should be noticed that this
time consuming maneuver does not give White wins after 32...Kh6 33.Ne6!, or
up the e-file and therefore it was impor- 32...Kf8 33.Qe5 Bd8 34.Ne6+ Ke7
tant, at this very moment, to foresee 35.Qc5+!! Kd7 36.Nf8+.
22.Qd5 (see next note).
33.Qe7+ Kh8
18...Bd7 19.Nf2 Rae8 20.Rfe1 cuuuuuuuuC
Rxe2 21.Rxe2 Nd8 {wDwDwDqi}
If 21...Re8, then 22.Qd5!, for example, {DpDw!wDp}
22...Ne7 23.Qf7, and White keeps the {pgbDwDpD}
situation well in hand. {DwDwDpHw}
{w)w0w)wD}
22.Nh3 Bc6
{DwDPDwDw}
Here, against 22...Re8, White has the {PDwGwDP)}
piquant reply 23.Qh5! Rxe2 24. Ng5! {DwDwDwIw}
h6 25.Qg6 hxg5 26.Qh5mate. vllllllllV
34.b5! Qg7
23.Qh5 g6 24.Qh4 Kg7 25.Qf2!
Bc5 Black gives up a piece, which is equiva-
lent to resignation. In case of 34...axb5,
White meets 25...Qb6 with 26.b4!, White planned the following elegant
threatening 27. Bc3.
win: 35.Ne6! h5 36.Qf6+ Kh7
37.Ng5+ Kh6 38.Bb4, and mate in a
26.b4 Bb6 27.Qh4!
few moves (38...h4 39.Bf8+ Kh5
Weaker was 27.Qe1?! Be4 28.Kh1
Qc6! 29.Bb3 Bd5, after which Black 40.Nf7 g5 41.h3, etc.).
consolidates his position.
35.Qxg7+ Kxg7 36.bxc6 bxc6
27...Re8 37.Nf3 c5 38.Ne5 Bc7 39.Nc4

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 The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years

Kf7 40.g3 Bd8 41.Ba5 Be7 33.c4

42.Bc7 Ke6 43.Nb6 h6 44.h4 g5
45.h5 g4 46.Be5 1-0 Black wins after 33.Qd6, 33...Rg6
(243) Rubinstein – Alekhine 34.R4f2 f4! 35.exf4 e3.
Dresden (6) 1926
Queen’s Pawn [A47] 33...Rg6 34.Qd2 Rg3!

Notes by Alekhine from the Deutsche Threatening 35...Rh3+ 36.Kg1 Qg3, etc.
Schachzeitung, 1926.
35.Qe1 Rxg2 0-1
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 b6 4.h3
Bb7 5.Nbd2 Bd6! 6.Bxd6 cxd6 (244) Tartakover – Rubinstein
7.e3 0-0 8.Be2 d5 9.0-0 Nc6 Dresden (7) 1926
10.c3 Ne4 11.Nxe4 dxe4 12.Nd2 Queen’s Pawn [A47]
f5 13.f4 g5 14.Nc4 d5 15.Ne5
Nxe5 16.dxe5 Kh8 17.a4? 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 e6 3.Bb2 Be7
4.e3 b6 5.d4 Bb7 6.Bd3 d6
The decisive mistake! Correct is 17.g3 7.Nbd2 Nbd7 8.e4 0-0 9.c4 c5
Rg8 18.Kh2. 10.d5 e5 11.0-0 Re8 12.Ne1 Nf8
13.f4 exf4 14.Rxf4 Ng6 15.Rf2
17...Rg8 18.Qd2 gxf4 19.Rxf4 Nd7 16.Nc2 Nde5 17.Nf3 Bf6
18.Ne3 Bc8 19.Nxe5 Nxe5
If 19.exf4 Qh4!, threatening 20... Qxh3 20.Qe2 Bh4 21.g3 Bg5 22.Bxe5
and 20...Rxg2+! Bxe3 23.Qxe3 Rxe5 24.Qf4 Qe7
25.Raf1 Bxh3 26.Rb1 Bd7 27.h4
19...Qg5 20.Bf1 Qg3 21.Kh1 Be8 28.Re1 f6 29.g4 h6 30.h5
Qg7 22.Qd4 Ba6 23.Rf2 Qg3! Bd7 31.Rg2 Re8 32.Rf1 Rg5
24.Rc2 Bxf1 25.Rxf1 Rac8 26.b3 33.Kh2 Re5 34.Qd2 Rb8 35.a4
Rc7 27.Re2 Rcg7 28.Rf4 Rc7 a6 36.Kg1 Qd8 37.Ra1 Qc7
29.Rc2 Rcg7 30.Re2 (D) 38.Kh2 Rbe8 39.Qf4 Qb7
40.Kh1 R8e7 41.Rb2 a5 42.Rf1
30...Rg6! 31.Qb4 Rh6 32.h4 Bc8 43.Rg2 Re8 44.Kh2 Qe7
Qg7! 45.Rff2 Rg5 46.Rg3 Bd7 47.Kg1
Re5 48.Kh2 Rf8 49. Rgg2 Be8
Stronger than 32...Rxh4+ 33.Rxh4 50.Qd2 Bf7 51.Kg1 Kh8 52.Rf5
Qxh4+ 34.Kg1. Bg8 53.Rgf2 Re8 54.Qf4 Qd8
cuuuuuuuuC 55.Rxe5 Rxe5 56.Kg2 Bh7
{wDwDwDri} 57.Kf3 Qe7 58.Re2 Kg8 59.Rh2
Kf7 60.Re2 Rg5 61.Rh2 Qe5
{0wDwDw4p} 62.Qxe5 Rxe5 63.Kf4 g6
{w0wDpDwD} 64.hxg6+ Kxg6 65.Be2 Kg7
{DwDp)pDw} 66.Bf3 Bg6 67.Rh1 ½-½
{PDw!p$wD}
(245) P. Johner – Rubinstein
{DP)w)w1P} Dresden (8) 1926
{wDwDRDPD} Queen’s Gambit Accepted [D21]
{DwDwDwDK}
vllllllllV
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1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 dxc4 4.e4 c5 33...Be4! 34.Rxa5?

5.Bxc4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 a6 7.Be3 Nf6
8.Nd2 b5 9.Bb3 Bb7 10.f3 Bd6 Now this is the decisive mistake.
11.a4 Be5 12.Nf1 Nc6 13.Nxc6
Qxd1+ 14. Bxd1 Bxc6 15.Rc1 Bd7 34...Rf1+! 35.Kh2 Rxa5
16.b3 0-0 17.Ng3 bxa4 18.bxa4 Rfb8 36.Rd8+ Kh7 37.Rh8+ Kg6
19.0-0 a5 20.Rf2 Rb4 21.Rd2 Be8 38.Rg8+ Kh6! 0-1
22.Ne2 Bxa4 23.f4 Bxd1 24.fxe5
Bxe2 25. exf6 Bb5 26.Rcd1 h6! (246) Rubinstein – L. Steiner
27.Bd4 gxf6 28.Bxf6 Rxe4 29.h4 h5 Dresden (9) 1926
30.Rc1 Rf4 31.Be5 Rf5 32.Rc5
King’s Indian [E91]
Bc6?
1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 c5 4.d5
Correct is 32...Bc4!, and Black wins
after 33.Rxa5 Rf1+ 34.Kh2 Rxa5. d6 5.c4 Nd7 6.Nc3 Ngf6 7.Be2
0-0 8.0-0 a6 9.a4 Rb8 10.h3 Ne8
33.Rd3? 11.Bf4 Ne5 12.Qd2 Nxf3+
13.Bxf3 Qa5 14.Bg5 Bf6
According to Palitsch in the tournament 15.Be3 Bd7 16.Be2 e5 17.dxe6
book, White missed drawing with fxe6 18.Rfd1 Rbd8 19.f3 Bc6
33.Rxa5. In our opinion, even in this case 20.Nd5! Qxd2 21.Nxf6+ Nxf6
after 33...Rf1+! (not 33... Rxa5? 34.Rd8+ 22.Rxd2 Rd7 23.a5! e5 24.b4!
Kh7 35.Rh8+ Kg6 36.Rg8+ and per- cxb4 25.Rab1 Kg7 26.Rxb4 h6
petual check) 34. Kxf1 Rxa5 35.Rd8+ 27.Rb3 g5 28.Rbd3 Ne8 29.Bd1
Kh7 36.Rh8+ Kg6 37.Rg8+ Kf5 Rdf7 30.Bb3 Rf6 31.c5 Bb5
38.Rg5+ Ke4 39.Bf6 Bb5+, Black re- 32.Rc3 Kg6 33.Rc1 h5 34.Rcd1
tains some winning chances, for example, g4 35.cxd6 gxh3 36.d7 Bxd7
40.Kf2 Ra2+ 41.Kg3 Be2. 37.Rxd7 hxg2 38.R1d2 1-0

The last round at Dresden 1926.

195