Akiba Rubinstein vs Carl Schlechter (1909)

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Akiba Rubinstein vs Carl Schlechter
St. Petersburg (1909), St. Petersburg RUE, rd 13, Mar-04
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense. Main Line (D67) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Given 15 times; par: 111 [what's this?]

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Jun-27-05		tamar: "he played this game with exceptional power, and at times, very subtly." Emanuel Lasker

Jun-28-05		tamar: I bought Kmoch's book yesterday and have been studying this game. Does anyone have all of Lasker's notes for this game from the St Petersburg 1909 Tournament book?

Jun-28-05		keypusher: I don't, but there is an out-of-print Dover edition of Lasker's tournament book.

Jun-28-05		sneaky pete: <tamar> "White played the whole game with extraordinary power, and occasionally with subtlety." I will post the full notes tomorrow, it's bedtime now where I live.

Jun-28-05		tamar: thanks <sneaky pete> Kmoch was tremendously impressed with 19 Qa5!! if 19...Nc8 20 Nxe6! if 19...Ra8 20 d5! Schlechter found a defense with 19...g5, but could not prevent an even grander breakthrough with d5 a few moves later.

Jun-28-05		Koster: Too bad that Rubinstein never got a match with Lasker

Jun-28-05		tamar: <Koster> A match between Lasker and Rubinstein in 1909 would have been a dream match. That is the one year he could have challenged him successfully, before self-doubt crept into his game even in his record setting years 1911-1912. Lasker was no doubt greater, but also rusty. Schlechter on the other hand had a down year in 1909, but was already accepted as Lasker's next challenger. <keypusher> I'll look for the Dover Edition. There is an online downloadable edition, too but I prefer paper books.

Jun-29-05		sneaky pete: Notes by Lasker in the tournament book (Dover reprint 1971 of original published in 1910). <11... Rd8> This mode of development offers no good prospects. He should first settle the question on the Queen's wing; therefore, 11... Nxc3; then if 12.bxc3 b5 13.Bd3 a6 to be followed by .. c5; also after 14.c4 c5 would be feasible; e.g.: 15.cxb5 axb5 16.Bxb5 cxd4 17.Rc7 Qd6 18.Rc6 Qb4 or 17.Nxd4 Rxa2 [18.Nc6 Qa3] 18.Rc7 Qd6 19.Nxe6? Qxd1 20.Rxd1 fxe6 21.Bxd7 Bxd7 22.Rcxd7 Rfxf2. <13... Nb6> Not a favorable square for the Knight. In any case, it would have been better to exchange the Knights, in order to follow with 14.bxc3 Bd7 and perhaps .. Be8, and then occupy the opponent with the Queen's side Pawns. <19.Qa5 ..> He makes this attack, as now 19... Nc8 would fail on account of Nxe6. 19.d5 .., which seems promising, would after 19... exd5 20.exd5 Kh8 [20... Bf7? 21.d6 ..] as well as after 19... Bf7, which appears better, lead to no decisive advantage. <21.d5 ..> White opens the centre, as the exposed position of Black's King now invites an attack. <21... Rcd7> 21... b6 would have been useless. The continuation would have been 22.Qc3 exd5 23.exd5 Qxe2 24.d6+ Rf7 25.Qxf6 R(d)d7 26.Re1 Qb5 27.Rxe8 Qxb3 28.Qxg5+ and wins. <23... Rxd5> The exchange is always lost; e.g.: 23... exd5 24.Ba4 b6 [... Rd6 25.Nf5 ..] 25.Qa6 Rc7 (or ... Rb7) 26.Nf5. No further comments, except as quoted before at the end of the game.

Jun-29-05		tamar: Dr Lasker wrote: <"21... b6 would have been useless. The continuation would have been 22.Qc3 exd5 23.exd5 Qxe2 24.d6+ Rf7 25.Qxf6 R(d)d7 26.Re1 Qb5 27.Rxe8 Qxb3 28.Qxg5+ and wins."> Very nice, but it looked overly co-operative for Black to take a piece and allow the d6+ discovery. So I tried to find an improvement. In the variation starting with 21...b6 it looked viable to me to play 22...Nd6 instead of 22...exd5, but I found that it allows a neat tactical twist at the end. if 21...b6 22 Qc3 Nd6 (instead of opening lines) 23 Ng3 Nb5 24 Qe3 cxd5 25 exd5 exd5 26 Rxd5 Rxd5 27 Bxd5+ Kh8 28 Rxc7 Qxe3 29 Rxh7+ winning a pawn with the desperado rook before capturing the queen on e3 (Tactics checked for accuracy with Shredder 8)

Aug-21-05		Raskolnikov: It is very interesting how Rubinstein played after the 24th move: he had an (only) exchange for a pawn. First he exchanged a pair of rooks, then a pair of minor pieces. He forced to exchange queens with 33.♕c3. Then his rook occupied the 8th rank. I´ve checked 40. ♖:a5 with Fritz and it seems OK for White. The passed a-♙ is strong. Rubinstein chose to exchange all queenside pawns. I suppose Schlechter could have played better, for example 47...♙h4. If 53...♘fe6 then 54.♖e7 with zugzwang. Apropos, Fritz suggests 21.e5 with idea 21...f5 22.♘:g5.

Dec-26-06		Archives: Rubinstein created many wonderful games against Schlechter. Rubinstein vs Schlechter, 1912 Schlechter vs Rubinstein, 1912 Rubinstein vs Schlechter, 1918 Rubinstein vs Schlechter, 1918 It's kind of strange, until Capablanca came onto the scene, Schlechter was considered to be the prime challenger to Lasker's throne. And Schlechter was Rubinstein's b!tch ;)

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