12/2/2025 – 145 years ago, on 1 December 1880, Akiba Rubinstein was born, perhaps the strongest player of his time who never had the chance to play a World Championship match. For more than 20 years, Rubinstein was one of the leading players in the world, but his life took a tragic turn.

9/9/2021 – At the height of his career, Akiba Rubinstein was considered a possible challenger for World Champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker. Rubinstein was considered to be particularly strong in the endgame, and Rubinstein’s victory over Richard Réti in the tournament in Gothenburg 1920 is regarded as a typical example of his endgame skills. Karsten Müller has now taken a closer look at this endgame with the help of ChessBase readers — the verdict: Reti could have held a draw! | Photo: Deutsche Schachzeitung 1908

8/18/2021 – At the height of his career Akiba Rubinstein (1 December 1880 - 15 March 1961) was considered a possible challenger for World Champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker, but the two never played a World Championship match. Rubinstein was considered to be particularly strong in the endgame, and Rubinstein's victory over Richard Reti in the tournament in Gothenburg 1920 is regarded as a typical example of his endgame skills. Karsten Müller has now taken a closer look at this endgame to find out whether and when the position was actually won for Black. And invites ChessBase readers to join him in his search for the truth about this fascinating endgame. | Photo: Deutsche Schachzeitung 1908

6/8/2020 – The famous rook endgame Spielmann-Rubinstein is indeed amazingly deep, and all published analysis is incomplete or partly wrong. Most controversial was the question about which was Spielmann's last mistake. Charles Sullivan has solved this riddle and proved that with 60.Rc1! Spielmann could still have drawn. This is a challenge even for the modern engines, as an eight-piece rook ending with three against one pawn must be evaluated as a draw at the end of a critical line.

6/3/2020 – 1909, Saint Petersburg: in one of the strongest tournaments in history Akiba Rubinstein defeated Rudolf Spielmann in a dramatic endgame. After the game Spielmann said: "Akiba, if you lived in the Middle Ages you would have burned at the stake: what you do in rook endgames can only be called witchcraft!" Was that really the case, or are there holes in the ending that all analysts over the years have missed? Can you help endgame specialist GM Karsten Müller answer this question? | Pictured: Rudolf Spielmann (left) and Akiba Rubinstein (right)

12/16/2019 – Fyodor Duz-Khotimirsky is a chess legend. After all, at the great international tournament in St. Petersburg 1909 he won against both winners, Emanuel Lasker and Akiba Rubinstein. This success later helped him in a rather precarious situation. VLASTIMIL HORT knows more.

6/18/2018 – IM SAGAR SHAH, who runs ChessBase India, is a very experienced chess trainer. He tells you what the strategic goals of this opening are, and the things you should strive to be doing. After reading a few paragraphs about this interesting opening line, try it out for yourself, right there in your browser, against an engine that matches the playing strength of your potential opponents. You can play any number of games and test different ideas. Have fun!

12/3/2017 – Some players seem to be able to give their pieces magical powers. An invisible force seems to unite the pieces, and even if one, two or more of them are hanging or have to be sacrificed, the power of the remaining pieces easily compensate this. A classic example for such a dynamic is the game Rotlewi against Rubinstein. | Photo: Deutsche Schachzeitung 1908

6/26/2013 – Although much has been made of the rising Elos, little has been said of the FIDE titles that rely on them, and their increasing devaluation. It is not just the grandmaster title, but all titles that are losing their value, and even those dropping standards are being tossed aside as FIDE hands out titles to players who are underrated by hundreds of Elo. Here is a look at this worrisome trend.