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Akiba Rubinstein vs Karel Hromadka
Maehrisch-Ostrau 1923  ·  King's Gambit: Declined. Classical Variation (C30)  ·  1-0


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Kibitzer's Corner
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Jan-19-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Gypsy: <Cogano> Sorry for not making it clearer. It realy is a simple concept, I just failed to explain it so. Good luck!
Jan-20-06   Cogano: <Gypsy> no need to apologize. You gave it your best shot. It's just that some things are more difficult for me to understand than they are for other people, however obvious &/or simple they may appear. Also, I've been known to require more time to fully digest something than other people, at least sometimes. Thanks for the help just the same. Take very good care and have yourself a most joyous day, every day. Cheers!
Mar-05-06   MrMojoRisin: This is a very nice game by Rubinstein. As far as I know, whenever Akiba opened with 1.e4 (which was rarely) if he was meet with 1...e5 he would always reply with 2.f4 for the Kings gambit.

When I first went through this game I was wondering why Akiba went with 28.Qxf2! instead of 28.Kb3. It turns out that 28.Kb3 is a very inferior move to the one played.

Also, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw the final move of 29.Bc5! A simpler win for White would have been 29.Bxg8 but Akiba chose the very artistic Bc5! instead which leaves Black's Rook and Knight both hanging.

And the brilliant 25.Qb6! is reminiscent of Marshall's infamous Qg3! move.

All in all, I would have to say that this game is definitely one of Akiba's best games, probably his second most beautiful game (his most beautiful game being the immortal masterpiece against Rotlewi).

Mar-05-06   MrMojoRisin: Also, I think that either Lasker or Capablanca (or maybe both of them?) said that this game was a true masterpiece of the Chess board.
Jun-05-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dres1: Man i really like Rubinstein's great gems like this.. how cool is this game??? i daydream of playing like this
Jun-05-06   Maatalkko: Strange that such a strong positional player as Akiba would always go for the King's Gambit. Apparently he thought it was quite playable.
Jun-07-06   TheoreticalNovelty: <Strange that such a strong positional player as Akiba would always go for the King's Gambit. Apparently he thought it was quite playable.>

Yea, Ive always found it strange that when Akiba opened with e4 and was meet by ...e5, he invariably replied with 2.f4

I thought a player like him would prefer something like the Lopez or maybe even the Giouco.

<Man i really like Rubinstein's great gems like this.. how cool is this game??? i daydream of playing like this> LOL. I wish I could play a game as marvellous as this too. So many moves in this game deserve exclamation marks IMO.

Moves 10, 12, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, & 29 all deserve an exclamation mark IMO.

Maybe even give 1.e4! as Akiba rarely ventures outside of 1.d4

Jun-07-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: According to the cg.com database Rubinstein had a +9-1=2 record with the King's Gambit -- curiously, his opponents almost invariably declined the pawn.

He occasionally played other 1. e4 e5 openings -- this is a very fine Ruy Lopez, highly praised by Nimzowitsch in the tournament book.

Rubinstein vs K Treybal, 1929

Sep-28-06   Archives: Another brilliant game by Rubinstein

19.Kc2! is a very nice move which gives the King the security of the pawn chain and also connects the Rooks.

20.Rf3! which sets up White for a double attack on the f7 and a7 squares.

23.g3! a nice little pawn sac which removes the Knight of the f-file.

25.Qb6! which is just brilliant and devastating.

28.Qxf2! is the simplest and most accurate way to continue.

29.Bc5! which hangs Blacks Rook and Knight.

Sep-28-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  IMlday: 12.a4! might have been the novelty improving on some games from Chigorin's elder years.
Nov-07-06   Archives: I love this game. I want it to have my babies
Apr-26-07   Archives: Rubinstein's 9.Qg3 in this game opens a floodgate of very sharp lines.

For example, running the position through Rybka2.2 and Fritz after 9.Qg3, it awards Black with an advantage of approx -1.30 and then it is only when you slide forward a few moves does it's evaluation eventually change to equal.

One possible line from 9.Qg3 is 9...Nxc2+ 10.Kd1 Nxa1 11.Qxg7 Rf8 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.Rf1 Be7 14.Bg5 c6, which Rybka and Fritz will both initially award Black a nice advantage of roughly -1.00 but then eventually changes to even and then actually changed to give White the advantage!

Which leads to something very interesting I have sort of learnt about Rubinstein (as some people know, I am very passionate about Rubinstein, and he is my chess "hero")...

Rubinstein was a "classical" player - he played the classical openings (Queen's Gambits, Ruy Lopez's instead of the hypermodern ones), and his openings would follow the simple rules of ideal and efficient development (generally speaking, he never seemed to be one to seek complications or unclear positions in the opening).

I have found that the above is largely true for Rubinstein's early career, but when he reemerged after WWII, his opening play was distinctly different. He would willingly enter complications early on and didn't seem to shun sharp positions like I felt he did in the first half of his chess career.

9.Qg3 in this game is an example of this his willingness to enter unclear complex positions right out of the opening. Another one that springs to mind is when he introduced the Meran defense to the chess world in 1924 (a very complex opening)

Jun-17-07   sanyas: I much prefer this game to Rotlewi vs Rubinstein, 1907. Yes, in a purely artistic sense that one is almost unparalleled, but it is beautiful only in so far as a chess problem is beautiful. But there was no contest there. And Rubinstein missed the most economical win. This one, on the other hand, is a game that one would be proud of losing.
Nov-24-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  chancho: <A simpler win for White would have been 29.Bxg8 but Akiba chose the very artistic Bc5!>

If 29.Bxg8, black has 29...Bxd6, and all white has is the advantage of the exchange. With 29.Bc5! however, he goes up a whole piece. A much better transaction.

Dec-25-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  Gilmoy: <Maatalkko: Strange that such a strong positional player as Akiba would always go for the King's Gambit.> Apparently, Rubinstein took up King's Gambit post-WW1 out of a sense of 'putting his money where his pen went'. From Exeter Chess Club [1]: <Rubinstein, the arch-classicist, Reti, the hypermodernist, and Spielmann, the last Romantic, were invited to revise the <Larobok i Schach> after [WW1]. They thought they had only to add a few wrinkles to the old lines, but found that many lines were incompatible with the new views of the centre. Rubinstein in particular took up [King's Gambit] to defend his conclusions in practice, and added many brilliancies to the canon of the Gambit.>

Mikhail Marin's <Beating the Open Games> [2] quotes Rubinstein: <I employ the King’s Gambit only when I find myself in a bad mood.> Marin suggests that Rubinstein played 1.e4 only when he expected 1..e5, scored 19(!) points in 22 tourney games with King's Gambit, and did less well against other replies.

[1] http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/O...

[2] http://www.chessdirect.co.uk/acatal...

Dec-25-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  Karpova: <Gilmoy: Apparently, Rubinstein took up King's Gambit post-WW1 out of a sense of 'putting his money where his pen went'> He played the King's Gambit at least seven times before WW1 broke out. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...
Aug-06-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  arsen387: Rubinstein's games are pleasure to analyze. Really, so beautiful.

Blacks 20th move is very nice, as 21.exd5 will be met with 21..e4 22.Bf4 exf3 23.Bxc7 with strong attack for blacks as they have a very powerful threat Qe2+! The idea behind that Nd5 was bringigng the N to outpost on f4, which of course could be a good idea, but Rubinstein saw further.

The combination starting with 23.g3 is really breathtaking. Rxf7, Qb6, Bc5 are moves that are beyond reach of simple humans, but only can be played by great chess geniuses.

Aug-06-08   Archives: <arsen387> Blacks 20th move was nice but white can capture with 21.exd5 and still hold with advantage. I can't remember the exact line but I have my annotations to this game somewhere and will hunt out the analysis
Aug-06-08   Archives: After looking at my own analysis I had done on this game, I decided to check it out with Rybka 3 which I just downloaded earlier.

It is telling me that White can answer 20...Nd5 with 21.exd5 and still hold a at least a good +1 advantage. But also that an even stronger move for white instead of 21.exd5 is 21.Bxa7!

However, after 21.exd5 Black can respond with either 21...cxd5 or 21...e4

After 21...cxd5, 22.a6 dxc4 23.axb7+ Kb8 24.Bxa7+ Kxb7 25.Qg4 with +0.90 advantage to White

After 21...e4, 22.Bf4 exf3 23.Bxc7 Qe2+ 24.Kb3 cxd5 25.Bb5 after which Rybka3 gives Blacks best response a +2 advantage to White

Aug-07-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  arsen387: <Archives> much thanks for computer analysis. And 21.Bxa7! is a very interesting move to analyze. thanks for pointing it
Aug-24-08   Artemi: 29. Bc5 is better than 29. Bxg8! Rubinstein move is played not for artistic finish but because it is the best move! He won a piece but for 29. Bxg8 he won only the exchange!
Dec-31-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: <Resignation Trap: For this game, Rubinstein was awarded the First Brilliancy Prize.> Rubinstein received 500 Kc., but I don't know what late 1923 hyperinflation meant for the value.
Oct-29-09   centralfiles: might 11.Bg5!? be a bit better as 11...Nxc2+ 12.Kd2 Nxa1 13.Nd5 is probably good 4 white and 11...c6 12.Kd2 and the king is placed better than it is in the game.
Nov-04-09   centralfiles: oops after the simple 13...Qd6 black seems ok
Nov-04-09   Starf1re: Weak opening play by black.
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