Akiba Rubinstein was able to travel to Berlin at the beginning of 1918 where Bernhard Kagan financed many tournaments. After four years of being restricted to small events in Poland, Rubinstein returned to the international chess scene by playing a match against Carl Schlechter - a great sportsman who drew the Lasker - Schlechter World Championship Match (1910) in 1910. He died of malnutrition just eleven months later on December 27.

Their match took place in Berlin from January 21 to January 30 and consisted of six games. The first two games where drawn and then Schlechter won the first game. Rubinstein bounced back by winning the next two games and held Schlechter to a draw in the last game. So Rubinstein won the match 3.5-2.5 (+2 -1 =3).

Match score from Rubinstein's point of view: 1/2 - 1/2 - 0 - 1 - 1 - 1/2

Source: Pages 311-315 in Donaldson, John & Minev, Nikolay: "The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein. Volume 1: Uncrowned King", 2nd edition – revised and enlarged, Milford, Russell Enterprises 2006