The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein: Volume 1: Uncrowned King - Softcover

Donaldson, John; Minev, Nikolay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1941270883 ISBN 13: 9781941270882

Publisher: Russell Enterprises, Inc., 2018

Synopsis

The Man Who Would Be King

Akiva Rubinstein occupies a unique position in chess history. One of the greatest artists ever to sit down at a chessboard, Rubinstein was also the strongest player never to get a shot at the title of world champion.
The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 1: Uncrowned King focuses on the years 1882-1920, covering Rubinstein’s rise from a modest upbringing to his emergence as Emanuel Lasker’s chief challenger in the last years leading up to World War I. It also examines the effects this conflict had on his sensitive psyche and the way it influenced his play in the post-war years.
This is most definitive work ever done on the first part of Rubinstein’s career, this revised and expanded edition of The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 1: Uncrowned King offers almost 500 games, many of them deeply annotated with notes translated from top players of the pre-World War I era, including Lasker, Tarrasch, Schlechter and Rubinstein. The authors have also made many new annotations to the games and uncovered quite a bit of interesting material including recent discoveries on Rubinstein’s

stay in Sweden after World War I.
This is a re-release of the second edition of The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 1: Uncrowned King. First released in 2006, this outstanding work has a wealth of crosstables, archival photos, multiple indexes and thorough bibliography, offering a treasure-trove for the Rubinstein fan and chess aficionado.

About this title

About the Author:

International Master John Donaldson is one of America's most popular chess authors. He has served as the captain for U.S. teams in the Chess Olympiad and World Team Championship nineteen times.

Few individuals have had as big an impact on the chess world as International Master Nikolay Minev (1931-2017). A three-time Bulgarian champion, he is remembered not only as an outstanding teacher, author and endgame expert, but as one of the great gentlemen of the chess world.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

(278) Rubinstein - Capablanca

San Sebastian (13) 1911

Queen’s Gambit Tarrasch [D34]

Notes by Mieses (M), Tartakover (T),

Kmoch (K), Razuvaev (R) and Authors

(A).

(T) In a game overflowing with the

finer points of positional play, the out-standing

feature is perhaps the prob-lem-

like turn 17.Qc1, by which White

very elegantly saves all his unguarded

pieces and remains with an extra pawn.

(K) One of the most famous accom-plishments

of the Polish grandmaster.

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5

exd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.g3

(T) First introduced by Schlechter

(against Dus-Chotimirsky, Prague

1908), systematized by Rubinstein, this

positional maneuver has all but refuted

the Tarrasch Defense.

6...Be6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 Rc8

(T) Too dogmatic. Black devotes too

much attention to the queenside.

(K) Lasker recommends 8...h6.

9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Ng5! Nf6

11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.Bh3 Qe7

13.Bg5

(M) A good move but not the best. Be-yond

any doubt, with 13.e4! White

achieves an advantage; for example,

13...d4 14.Nd5 exd5 15.Bxc8 dxe4

16.Qb3! or 13...dxe4 14.Bg5 0-0

15.Nxe4, etc.

13...0-0

(T) Too late, and yet – as the storm now

breaks – not late enough. Better would

be 13...Rd8.

14.Bxf6 Qxf6

Jose Raul Capablanca

224

Akiva Rubinstein: Uncrowned King

(M) A mistake. In his calculation

Capablanca has overlooked the

opponent’s 17th move. The right con-tinuation

was 14...gxf6.

(A) After 14...gxf6, Razuvaev suggests

15.Nxd5 exd5 16.Bxc8 Rxc8

17.Qxd5+ Kh8 with some advantage

for White. Interesting but unclear com-plications

are possible with 15.e4!? d4

16.Nd5!? exd5 (otherwise 17.Qg4+ and

18.Qxe6) 17.Bxc8 dxe4 (if 17...Rxc8?

18.Qg4+), etc.

(T) Having cleverly won a pawn, White

shows that he also can hold what he has

gained.

19...Nd4 20.Qd3 Qxd3

(M) Black cannot avoid the exchange

of the queens: 20...Qxb2 loses a piece

after 21.Rfb1, and if 20...Qb4, then

21.Rfd1 followed by Be6+.

21.exd3 Rfe8 22.Bg4!

This is stronger than 22.Rfe1 Nc2

23.Rxe8+ Rxe8 24.Rc1 Re2 25.Bg4

Rd2 and Black has good counterplay.

22...Rd6 23.Rfe1 Rxe1 24.Rxe1

Rb6

(M) I don’t like this move. The best

seems to be 24...Kf7.

(K) Forceful counterplay! The pawn

at b2 can not be protected with ad-vantage,

for after 25.b3 Ra6 follows,

and 25.Rb1 would be deplorable. In

such events only counterattack is of

value.

About this edition

• Publisher: Russell Enterprises, Inc.
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1941270883
• ISBN 13: 9781941270882
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 402