50 games you should know: Rotlewi-Rubinstein

by Johannes Fischer
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

Learn about one of the greatest geniuses in the history of chess! Paul Morphy's career (1837-1884) lasted only a few years and yet he managed to defeat the best chess players of his time.

Rubinstein's "Immortal"

The chess of Akiba Rubinstein was clear and logical and has inspired generations of chess players. But Rubinstein's life was tragic. He was born in Stawiski, a small village in Poland, about 160 kilometers from Warsaw, but experts argue about the exact date of his birth. His gravestone gives December 1, 1880, other sources date Rubinstein's birth on October 12, or December 12, 1882.

Rubinstein's family was poor. He was the youngest of twelve children, his father died shortly before Rubinstein's birth and ten of Rubinstein's siblings died from tuberculosis at a young age. Rubinstein was supposed to follow the tradition of his family and become a rabbi and a scribe. But, as Ernst Strouhal writes:

[at 16 years of age] Rubinstein left the childhood misery of Stawiski and abandoned the study of Thora and Talmud to play chess. He now was one of the 'luftmenschn', as the jews without money or education were called, who moved from the shtetl to the slums of Warsaw, Lodz or Minsk. In the urban centres they formed a Jewish subproletariat, a class of parias among the parias.

(Ernst Strouhal, "Alles Schöne war geistig...", KARL, 03/2013, p. 12.)

Rubinstein later described his development as a chess player in an article for the Deutsche Zeitung Bohemia:

With chess I was already acquainted as a 14-year in the Cheder [the Jewish elementary school -Ed.]. When I was 16, I studied theory. Then I was told to go to Lodz where the great master Salwe lived. With him I perfected my chess, I was, so to speak, his apprentice. That's how became a master. I felt passion and talent vividly within me. I also have an extraordinarily good memory. For example, I still remember all the games I have played during my 21 years as a chess master. I do not have a good memory for names and locations, just a special chess memory. I am captivated by the aesthetic pleasure, which arises from a beautiful combination. I almost get into a feverish state. Chess is not only art, but also science. Fighting and victory take place on a scientific basis.

(Akiba Rubinstein, "Wie wurde ich Schachmeister?", Deutsche Zeitung Bohemia, 18. April 1926, p. 19, quoted in Strouhal, "Alles Schöne war geistig...", KARL, 03/2013, p. 17.)

In just a few years, Rubinstein's talent and hard work made him one of the best players in the world. In 1912 he won a number of major tournaments and in 1913 he achieved his best historical Elo rating of 2789. In retrospect, this makes him the world's best player at that time. However, all plans to play a world championship match against reigning world champion Dr. Emanuel Lasker came to nought, and were finally ruined by the outbreak of World War I, in 1914.

Akiba Rubinstein (right) against Emanuel Lasker, St. Petersburg 1909 | Photo: Tournament book

After the First World War, Rubinstein, despite a number of good results, no longer had his old playing strength. Moreover, mental and psychological problems from which he had suffered for a long time were now becoming more and more evident and led to a whole series of anecdotes about Rubinstein's strange behaviour at tournaments.

In 1917 Rubinstein married Eugenie Lew, who was eleven years younger than him. Jonas, the first son, was born in 1918, Samy, the second son, in 1927. In 1919, the Rubinstein family moved to Gothenburg and in 1926 to Belgium. In 1931 Rubinstein stopped playing tournament chess.

In 1942, his wife sent him to a mental hospital where he survived the Nazi persecution of the Jews. His wife and two sons could also save themselves from the Nazis. Rubinstein's wife Eugenie died in 1954, seven years before her husband, who died on March 15, 1961.

Rubinstein has made numerous contributions to opening theory and he is famous for the clarity and logic of his positional play and for his skill in rook endings, but his best-known game is a tactical masterpiece. It was played in Lodz, in 1907. Rubinstein had black, his opponent was Georg Rotlewi.

 
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1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5 4.c4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.a3 a6 8.b4 Bd6 9.Bb2 0-0 10.Qd2 Qe7 11.Bd3 dxc4 12.Bxc4 b5 13.Bd3 Rd8 14.Qe2 Bb7 15.0-0 Ne5 The opening is over and Black has a good and harmonious position - now he gets active. 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.f4?! White weakens his position. More careful was the solid 17.Rfd1 after which Black at best has a slight advantage. 17...Bc7 18.e4?! White continues to play "actively" but his position is simply not good enough for such a strategy. Instead, he should have activated is rooks with 18.Rac1 or 18.Rfd1. Rac8 19.e5? After White's third "active" pawn-move he is lost. After 19.Kh1 or 19.Rad1 Black is clearly better but not yet winning. Bb6+ 20.Kh1 Ng4! 21.Be4 After 21.Qxg4? Rxd3 Black threatens to take on c3 and to play 22...Rd2 attacking g2. As White has no adequate defense against these two threats he is lost. After 21.Ne4 Black wins with Rxd3! 22.Qxd3 Bxe4 23.Qxe4 Qh4 24.h3 Qg3! 25.hxg4 Qh4# and after 21.Bxh7+ Kxh7 22.Qxg4 Black has Rd2-+ with a winning position. 21...Qh4 22.g3 White cannot save himself with 22.h3 because Black's active pieces give him lots of tactical possibilities, e.g. Rxc3! 23.Bxc3 after 23.Bxb7 Black plays Rxh3+ 24.gxh3 Qxh3+ 25.Qh2 Qxh2# and after 23.Qxg4 Black has Rxh3+ 24.Qxh3 Qxh3+ 25.gxh3 Bxe4+ 26.Kh2 Rd2+ 27.Kg3 Rg2+ 28.Kh4 Bd8+ 29.Kh5 Bg6# 23...Bxe4 24.Qxg4 24.Qxe4 Qg3-+ 24...Qxg4 25.hxg4 Rd3 and Black is winning - he threatens 25...Rxc3 and 25...Rh3#. 22...Rxc3‼ Black's queen is under attack, Black's bishop on b7 is hanging but Black ignores all these threats and sacrifices an exchange! 23.gxh4 After 23.Bxc3 Bxe4+ 24.Qxe4 Qxh2# White is mated. And after 23.Bxb7 Rxg3 Black is a pawn up and still has a strong attack and a winning position, e.g. 24.Rf3 Rxf3 25.Bxf3 Nf2+ 26.Kg1 Ne4+ 27.Kf1 Nd2+ 28.Kg2 Nxf3 29.Qxf3 Rd2+ and White will be mated in a few moves. 23...Rd2‼ The culmination of Black's combination: Black sacrificed his queen, the knight on g4 is under attack, the bishop on b7 is hanging, just as the rook on c3, and now Black moves his other rook to a square where it can be taken by the white queen. But the dynamic of Black's play protects all his pieces. 24.Qxd2 White decides to take the rook on d2. Other moves also lose: 24.Qxg4 Bxe4+ 25.Rf3 Rxf3-+ 24.Bxc3 Rxe2 25.Rf2 Bxe4+ 26.Kg1 Bxf2+ 27.Kf1 Bf3 28.Rd1 Nxh2# 24.Bxb7 Rxe2 25.Bg2 Rh3-+ 24...Bxe4+ 25.Qg2 Rh3‼ This quiet move crowns Black's attack. Black threatens 26...Rxh2# and White has no way to parry that threat. 25...Rh3‼ 26.Rf3 26.Rf2 Bxf2 27.Qxe4 Rxh2# 26...Bxf3 27.Qxf3 Rxh2# 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Rotlewi,G-Rubinstein,A-0–11907D40Lodz1

This DVD offers a complete repertoire for handling this solid opening, often featuring a dynamic approach to pose the opponent more practical problems. Both of the main continuations 3...Nf6 and 3...Be7 are covered in two separate parts.


Rubinstein's games have influenced whole generations of chess players. Perhaps the best still active player among the many Rubinstein fans is Boris Gelfand, who has repeatedly emphasized how much he admires Rubinstein and how much his games influenced and inspired him. Gelfand's book Positional Decision Making in Chess, published in 2016, was a tribute to Rubinstein.

Boris Gelfand at the Aeroflot-Open 2016 | Photo: Amruta Mokal)

But it was Vishy Anand, who managed to "replay" the game Rotlewi vs Rubinstein against Levon Aronian at the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee 2013.

In the footsteps of Rubinstein: Vishy Anand | Photo: Amruta Mokal

 
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Replay and check the LiveBook here
This game was played in the 4th round. The day before I had beaten Fabiano Caruna which made a perfect start for the New Year. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 We went for the Slav Defence, which was no big surprise. We played this many times before, with reversed colours as well. 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 He actually goes e3 more often, but recently he has been playing Bg5 a bit. Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 I went for 8... Bd6, and one of my ideas exactly happened in the game. I wanted to see if he would give me a chance to play 11...Rc8. 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qc2 Bb7 11.a3 Rc8 An amazing move. It used to be that everyone automatically played 11...a6 in order to play c5 but recently I noticed some games with 11...Rc8. Let's imagine the position of the game line after 11...a6 12.Ng5 Bxh2+ 13.Kxh2 Ng4+ 14.Kg1 Qxg5 15.f3 0-1 (53) Anand, V (2791)-Aronian,L (2750) Linares 2009. Many games have been played with this line. White is a pawn down but the pair of bishops and the weak dark squares give him good compensation. In fact, in 2009 I lost a game against Aronian from this position. I was winning but managed to confuse myself: 12.Ng5 Our big point, which we found while preparing for the match against Gelfand, was the move One point of 11...Rc8 was shown in a game between Topalov and Kasimdzhanov, a few months back, where Black after 12.b4 still played c5 It's interesting: In the whole line Black wants to play c5, not even bothering to protect the b5-pawn. So, every one of these moves implies a pawn sacrifice. 13.bxc5 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nxc5 15.dxc5 Rxc5 16.f4 Nd5 17.Bb2 Nxc3 18.Bxc3 Qc7 19.Rfc1 Rc8 20.Bxh7+ Kh8 21.Bd3 Rxc3 22.Qxc3 Qxc3 23.Rxc3 Rxc3 24.Bxb5 Bxa3 25.Kg2 g6 26.Rd1 Rc7 27.Rd7 Rxd7 28.Bxd7 Kg7 29.e4 Kf6 30.Kf3 a5 31.e5+ Ke7 32.Ba4 Bc5 33.h3 Bb6 34.Bb5 Bc5 35.Ba4 Bb6 36.Bb5 Bc5 37.Ba4 1/2-1/2 (37) Topalov,V (2752) -Kasimdzhanov,R (2684) London 2012 12...c5! He played 13.Nxh7 and I went instead of 13.Bxh7+ I give one variation, just to illustrate some ideas: Kh8 14.Be4 Nxe4 15.Ngxe4 Bb8 ...Qh4 is coming and the Rc8 and the black bishops are perfectly placed. 13...Ng4 This is the first point: Instead of taking White's knight on h7, Black simply moves his own. 14.f4 Levon more or less had to find his way at the board. And he decided to play 14.f4 instead of 14.h3, which is a little bit safer. Here's one variation: 14.h3 Bh2+! 15.Kh1 Qh4 16.Be4 16.d5 Rfd8 16...Bxe4 17.Qxe4 f5 18.Qxe6+ Kxh7 19.Qxd7 cxd4 20.exd4 Bb8 21.Kg1 Bh2+ 22.Kh1= This line is self-evident and the computer will show all the variations. The main line ends in a draw, which is quite satisfactory from Black's point of view. 14...cxd4 15.exd4 After this I actually could not remember, what we had prepared. This was a bit of a problem, because this is not the position where you can just make a move. It is not a position that plays itself, you have to make an exact move, because there is a rook hanging on f8 and a lot of action. You have to do the right thing. And there are various possibilities. I was considering moves like 15...e5, 15...Nde5, 15... Qh4, etc. But none of them made a lot of sense. And then I got the key. Though I could not remember the exact variations, I remembered that in some lines my knight went to d3. So I mainly remembered the position where my knight gets to d3 and from this I managed to reconstruct, and find the move ...Bc5. Bc5! 16.Be2 The essential idea was very clear but it took me a while - though not too long - before I found Here's a line for White which is fairly straightforward: 16.dxc5 Nxc5 17.Nxf8 Nxd3 Black is very, very comfortable with the knight on d3, but it might be not enough to win. White might get some sort of half-playable position, e.g. 18.h3 Qd4+ 19.Kh1 Ndf2+ 20.Rxf2 Nxf2+ 21.Kh2 Kxf8 22.Qh7 Nd3 23.Qh8+ Ke7 24.Qh4+ f6 25.Qg3 Kf7 26.Be3= 16...Nde5‼ This is simply a brilliant move. If there is one single move of which I am really proud in this game, it is this. 17.Bxg4 After 17.fxe5 I now have Qxd4+ 18.Kh1 Qg1+ 19.Rxg1 Nf2# 17...Bxd4+ 18.Kh1 Nxg4 And here, the game which kept coming to my mind was the famous classic Rotlewi-Rubinstein. For me, it's just a classic. I think Gelfand would have remembered it without any effort. He knows his classics and Rubinstein is one of his big heroes. Rubinstein's main point was to invade with both rooks, but except for this my game against Aronian is very similar. 19.Nxf8 Here, the alternatives were very clear. In fact, for the rest of the game, there is not much commentary to give. I will just highlight one or two key things. 19.Ng5 f5 20.h3 Rf6 21.Nf3 Rh6-+ 19...f5! I like this move very much but I did not need much time for it because the ideas are very obvious. The queen is coming to h4, or it's going to f6, capturing the knight - White just can't defend. In fact, this was very easy. 20.Ng6 Qf6 21.h3 Still, after 21.Ne5 you have to find Nxh2 with a winning attack for Black. It's the only move, but it wins. 21...Qxg6 Black is attacking very slowly (Qf6, Qxg6, Qh5 and so on) but there is very little White can do - my bishops and my knight on g4 are simply too strong. 22.Qe2 Qh5 23.Qd3? After The alternative was 23.Rf3 but after Nf2+ 24.Kh2 24.Rxf2 Qxh3+ 25.Kg1 Qxg2# 24...Bxf3 25.Qxf3 Qxf3 26.gxf3 Bxc3 26...Nd3-+ 27.bxc3 Rxc3-+ Black is winning. 23...Be3 Black wins immediately. Obviously, one of the best games of my life! Especially because I played against a giant like Levon. I was very happy, the next day was a rest day, everything was very nice... 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2802Anand,V27720–12013D46Tata Steel-A 75th4

The first DVD with videos from Anand's chess career reflects the very beginning of that career and goes as far as 1999. It starts with his memories of how he first learned chess and shows his first great games (including those from the 1984 WCh for juniors). The high point of his early developmental phase was the winning of the 1987 WCh for juniors. After that, things continue in quick succession: the first victories over Kasparov, WCh candidate in both the FIDE and PCA cycles and the high point of the WCh match against Kasparov in 1995.
Running time: 3:48 hours


Vishy Anand is one of the greatest chess talents of all times. On this DVD he speaks about his career, his views on chess, and presents the most beautiful and interesting games of his career.


50 games every chessplayer should know...

  1. McDonnell vs. Labourdonnais
  2. Anderssen vs. Kieseritzky, The Immortal Game
  3. Morphy vs Duke of Brunswick, Count Isouard
  4. Steinitz vs von Bardeleben
  5. Pillsbury vs Lasker, 1896

 


Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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Anthe Anthe 12/5/2017 09:01
Simply beautiful!
barzileel barzileel 12/4/2017 07:03
Why must Rotlewi always be Totlewi? I'd love to see one of his victories.
thirteen thirteen 12/4/2017 01:03
@shutrunja...dare i repeat myself from previous similarities...get Mega database 2018!
Johannes Fischer Johannes Fischer 12/4/2017 11:20
@mdamien @Peter B @BarOni
Thanks for checking the historical rating of Rubinstein again. I also did and according to these historical ratings Rubinstein was indeed the number one player in 1913.
Pieces in Motion Pieces in Motion 12/4/2017 09:49
One of the games that enthralled and inspired me when I first got into the game. A masterpiece of attack and coordination, it still appeals to this day.
shutrunja shutrunja 12/4/2017 06:46
Can you not just put the list of the 50 games in this article too? This is called being a tease...one game per month.
sshivaji sshivaji 12/4/2017 06:06
Legendary game by Rubinstein. However, 25..Rh3!! is not the only solution. 25.. Rc2! also wins.
mdamien mdamien 12/4/2017 03:38
(I was looking at the old chessmetrics site where Sonas used a different formula.)
mdamien mdamien 12/4/2017 03:30
@Peter B: Thank you. I found the chart that supports the claim, but agree the results are strange. I guess I missed the dip there for Lasker. (Apologies to Author.)
Peter B Peter B 12/4/2017 02:13
@Mdamien Rubinstein is indeed chessmetrics #1 for all of 1913, but this is due to a flaw in Chessmetrics. Chessmetrics ratings fall if a player is inactive, so if you look at the graph, Lasker's rating is in free fall, only playing one game in 1912 and 1913 before re establishing himself as #1 at the great St. Petersburg tournament of 1914. Without the inactivity penalty, Lasker is always well ahead of Rubinstein. I can understand why Chessmetrics has an inactivity penalty, but it gives some strange results in the early days when tournaments were not frequent.
BarOni BarOni 12/4/2017 12:48
What on earth are you talking about? This is a well known fact . Rubinstein was the best in the world for at least a few years. He was clearly better than Capa at that time and arguably better than Lasker. For a short period of time he was best and by estimated rating too he was better.
KevinC KevinC 12/3/2017 10:49
Why do people keep referencing the TOTALLY BOGUS Sonas ratings?
mdamien mdamien 12/3/2017 10:15
I am a huge fan of Rubinstein's chess, but I am puzzled by the claim that Rubinstein was the "world's best player" in 1913. He certainly had a nice run of tournament wins in 1912, but he was facing neither Lasker nor Capablanca in these. He was certainly a contender for the title (though unable to raise the stakes for a match with Lasker at the time) but even a finding that Lasker's conditions were unfair (true or not) hardly makes him world champion by default. The referenced 2789 historical rating is from Sonas's chessmetrics, but the same metrics put Rubinstein well below Lasker and Capablanca at the time.
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