Karpova: <tamar: 1908 is a pivotal year in Rubinstein's life. You can see the power in games like these, but his results lagged.>Well, he won the Fifth All-Russian Championship 1907/08 (the tournament in which the immortal game against Rotlewi was played).
He came in fourth in Vienna 1908 (ahead of players like Teichmann, Spielmann, Tartakover, Marshall, Mieses, Salwe, Alapin and Reti) and produced some real classics.
He won a match in May 1908 against Teichmann with 3.5-2.5
He came in fourth in Prague 1908 (ahead of players like Teichmann, Maroczy, Marshall, Salwe, Janowsky, Alapin, Mieses and Spielmann) and produced some real classics.
He won the Triangular tournament in Lodz 1908 with 1.5 points ahead of Marshall and 3 points ahead of Salwe (Rubinstein won both of his mini-matches).
He won a match against Marshall in Warsaw 1908 with 4.5-3.5.
Sure, the two fourth places were not that great after his good showings in 1908, but they were no catastrophes either and his great results against former WC contender Marshall are something to be proud of.