The All-Russian Masters tournament held in Vilnius (also Vilna or Vilno) from August 19-September 17, 1912 was the last of Akiba Rubinstein's string of consective tournament victories that year. (See also Game Collection: San Sebastian 1912 and Game Collection: Bad Pistyan 1912). The entrants in this double round-robin event were: Semion Alapin, Alexander Alekhine, Ossip Bernstein, Alexander Flamberg, Grigory Levenfish, Stefan Levitsky, Aron Nimzowitsch, Abram Rabinovich, Akiba Rubinstein, Georg Salwe, and Sergey von Freymann.

Rabinovich dropped out before the end of the first cycle, and the nine games he played did not count in the final results. As a result, each player received in effect four byes, which makes the course of the event difficult to track. In addition, about half of the 99 games played are not available. When a Rubinstein v. Alekhine game cannot be found, you have to be pessimistic about others showing up!

Given these caveats and emptors, it appears that Nimzowitsch took the early lead with 6.5/9 after the first cycle, followed by Bernstein, Flamberg, and Rubinstein on 5.5. However, Nimzowitsch started the second half with a famous loss to Alekhine in round 12 (featuring two noteworthy queen sacrifices that didn't happen), and never recovered his edge.

Rubinstein, who had lost two of his first three games, suffered another reversal at the hands of Freymann in round 13 and trailed Bernstein by a point. However, he promptly won his next four games to take a 1.5 point lead and coast home from there.

                1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
1. Rubinstein  XX == 1= =1 11 11 11 00 01 == 12.0
2. Bernstein   == XX 1= 0= 11 00 0= 11 11 11 11.5
3. Levitsky    0= 0= XX =1 == 11 0= 1= =1 11 11.0
4. Nimzowitsch =0 1= =0 XX == =0 1= 1= =1 11 10.5
5. Flamberg    00 00 == == XX 1= 10 =1 1= 1=  9.0
6. Alekhine    00 11 00 =1 0= XX 11 0= 01 10  8.5
7. Levenfish   00 1= 1= 0= 01 00 XX =1 =1 ==  8.5
8. Freymann    11 00 0= 0= =0 1= =0 XX =1 10  8.0
9. Alapin      10 00 =0 =0 0= 10 =0 =0 XX =1  6.0
10 Salwe       == 00 00 00 0= 01 == 01 =0 XX  5.0

Here are the results of the tournament, round by round. I have used the Gregorian calendar date, which was 13 days later than the Julian calendar used in Russia at the time. Games followed by an <*> are not in the database. Remember that all of Rabinovich's games were eventually cancelled.

Round 1 (Monday, August 19): Levenfish 0 Rubinstein, Freymann 0 Bernstein, Alapin 1/2 Levitsky, Rabinovich 1/2 Flamberg (cancelled), Alekhine 1/2 Nimzowitsch (Salwe bye)

Round 2 (Tuesday, August 20): Flamberg 1 Alekhine*, Levitsky 1 Rabinovich (cancelled), Bernstein 1 Alapin, Rubinstein 0 Freymann, Salwe 1/2 Levenfish* (Nimzowitsch bye)

Round 3 (Thursday, August 22): Freymann 1 Salwe, Alapin 1 Rubinstein, Alekhine 0 Levitsky, Rabinovich 1/2 Bernstein (cancelled)*, Nimzowitsch 1/2 Flamberg* (Levenfish bye)

Round 4 (Friday, August 23): Levitsky 1/2 Nimzowitsch, Bernstein 0 Alekhine, Rubinstein 1 Rabinovich (cancelled)*, Salwe 1/2 Alapin*, Levenfish 1/2 Freymann* (Flamberg bye)

Round 5 (Saturday, August 23): Alapin 1/2 Levenfish*, Rabinovich 1/2 Salwe (cancelled)*, Alekhine 0 Rubinstein, Nimmzovisch 1 Bernstein, Flamberg 1/2 Levitsky* (Freymann bye)

Round 6 (Tuesday, August 27): Bernstein 1 Flamberg, Rubinstein 1/2 Nimzowitsch*, Salwe 0 Alekhine, Levenfish 1 Rabinovich (cancelled), Freymann 1/2 Alapin (Levitsky bye)

Round 7 (Wednesday, August 28): Rabinovich 0 Freymann (cancelled), Alekhine 1 Levenfish, Nimzowitsch 1 Salwe, Flamberg 0 Rubinstein*, Levitsky 0 Bernstein (Alapin bye)

Round 8 (Thursday, August 29): Rubinstein 1 Levitsky, Salwe 0 Flamberg, Levenfish 0 Nimzowitsch, Freymann 1 Alekhine, Alapin 1 Rabinovich (cancelled)* (Bernstein bye)

Round 9 (Saturday, August 31): Alekhine 0 Alapin, Nimzowitsch 1 Freymann, Flamberg 1 Levenfish, Levitsky 1 Salwe, Bernstein 1/2 Rubinstein (Rabinovich bye--not cancelled)

Round 10 (Sunday, September 1): Salwe 0 Bernstein*, Levenfish 1 Levitsky*, Freymann 1/2 Flamberg*, Alapin 1/2 Nimzowitsch, Rabinovich 0 Alekhine (cancelled) (Rubinstein bye)

Round 11 (Monday, September 2): Flamberg 1 Alapin*, Levitsky 1 Von Freymann, Bernstein 0 Levenfish, Rubinstein 1/2 Salwe* (Alekhine, Nimzowitsch Bye)

Round 12 (Tuewday, September 3): Rubinstein 1 Levenfish, Bernstein 1 Freymann*, Levitzky 1 Alapin*, Nimzowitsch 0 Alekhine (Flamberg, Salwe bye)

Round 13 (Thursday, September 5): Alekhine 1/2 Flamberg*, Alapin 0 Bernstein*, Freymann 1 Rubinstein, Levenfish 1/2 Salwe*, (Levitzky, Nimzowitsch bye)

Round 14 (Friday, September 6): Salwe 1 Freymann*, Rubinstein 1 Alapin*, Levitsky 1 Alekhine*, Flamberg 1/2 Nimzowitsch* (Bernstein, Levenfish bye)

Round 15 (Saturday, September 7): Nimzowitsch 0 Levitsky*, Alekhine 1 Bernstein, Alapin 1 Salwe*, Freymann 0 Levenfish* (Flamberg, Rubinstein bye)

Round 16 (Monday, September 9): Levenfish 1 Alapin, Rubinstein 1 Alekhine*, Bernstein 1/2 Nimmzowitsch, Levitsky 1/2 Flamberg* (Salwe, Freymann bye)

Round 17 (Tuesday, September 10): Flamberg 0 Bernstein, Nimzowitsch 0 Rubinstein, Alekhine 0 Salwe*, Alapin 0 Freymann (Levenfish, Levitsky bye)

Round 18 (Thursday, September 12): Levenfish 0 Alekhiune, Salwe 0 Nimzowitsch*, Rubinstein 1 Flamberg*, Bernstein 1/2 Levitsky* (Alapin, Freymann bye)

Round 19 (Friday, September 13): Levitsky 1/2 Rubinstein, Flamberg 1/2 Salwe*, Nimzowitsch 1/2 Levenfish*, Alekhine 1/2 Freymann (Alapin, Bernstein bye)

Round 20 (Saturday, September 14): Alapin 0 Alekhine*, Freymann 1/2 Nimzowitsch*, Levenfish 1 Flamberg, Salwe 0 Levitsky*, Rubinstein 1/2 Bernstein (No bye this round; would have gone to Rabinovich)

Round 21 (Monday, September 16): Bernstein 1 Salwe*, Levitsky 1/2 Levenfish*, Flamberg 1 FReymann*, Nimzowitsch 1 Alapin* (Alekhine, Rubinstein bye)

Round 22 (Tuesday, September 17): Alapin 1/2 Flamberg*, Freymann 1/2 Levitsky*, Levenfish 1/2 Bernstein*, Salwe 1/2 Rubinstein* (Alekhine, Nimzowitsch Bye)

Many thanks to <The Focus> for supplying dates for the rounds and verifying the reconstruction, and to <Calli> for verifying much of the information. If you know of further information about or games from this tournament, please leave a note in my forum.