Akiba Rubinstein (born 12 December 1882, died 15 March 1961 in Antwerp) was a brilliant Polish chess master and a famous grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 19 days remaining. ... 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Cathedral of our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, Antwerp) in the Handschoenmarkt, in the old quarter of Antwerp is the largest cathedral in the Low Countries and home to a number of triptychs by Renaissance Belgian painter Rubens. ... A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he can nearly always beat players of the general strength found in chess clubs, who themselves typically can nearly always prevail against the level of play generally possessed by the average player in the general population. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

He was Jewish, and his family planned for him to become a rabbi, yet he did not finish his studies and chose to devote himself to chess entirely. The decision came in 1903 after he won fifth place at a tournament in Kiev. Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbī) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished, (in knowledge). In the ancient Judean schools the sages were addressed as רִבִּי (Ribbi... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... A monument to St. ...

Rubinstein flourished especially from 1907 to 1912. Beginning from his win at Carlsbad in 1907, through a shared win at St. Petersburg in the same year, he culminated it in a record string of wins in 1912. He won five consecutive major tournaments that year: San Sebastian, Bad Pistyan, Breslau (the German championship), Warsaw and Vilnius. 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... the traditional English name for the city and spa Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic Carlsbad, California Carlsbad, New Mexico, with Carlsbad Caverns National Park nearby Carlsbad, Texas ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... Geography > Europe > Spain > Basque Country > Guipúzcoa San Sebastián with sailboats Statue of Jesus on Urgull Mountain San Sebastián (Donostia in Basque) is the capital city of the province of Guipúzcoa, in the Spanish autonomous community of Basque Country. ... Wrocław. ... Warsaw (Polish Warszawa, (?), in full The Capital City of Warsaw, Polish: Miasto StoÅ‚eczne Warszawa) is the capital of Poland and its largest city. ... Location Ethnographic region DzÅ«kija County Vilnius County Municipality Vilnius city municipality Elderate Number of elderates 20 Coordinates 54°40′N 25°19′E General information Capital of Lithuania Vilnius County Vilnius city municipality Vilnius district municipality Population (rank) 540,318 in 2005 (1st) First mentioned 1323 Granted city rights...

At the time when it was common for the reigning world champion to handpick his challengers, Rubinstein was never given a chance to play Emmanuel Lasker for the world championship because he was unable to raise enough money to meet Lasker's financial demands. His plans were damaged by a poor showing at St Petersburg (1914), and ultimately ruined by the outbreak of World War I and the emergence of an alternative challenger in José Raúl Capablanca. Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player and mathematician, born at Berlinchen in Brandenburg (now Barlinek in Poland). ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Combatants Allies: • Serbia, • Russia, • France, • Romania, • Belgium, • British Empire and Dominions, • United States, • Italy, • ...and others Central Powers: • Germany, • Austria-Hungary, • Ottoman Empire, • Bulgaria Casualties 5 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) 3 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) World War I, also known as the First World... Time Magazine, December 7, 1925 José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (November 19, 1888 – March 8, 1942) was a Cuban world-class chess player in the early to mid-twentieth century. ...

After the war Rubinstein was still an elite grandmaster, but his results lacked their previous formidable consistency. Nevertheless, he won at Vienna in 1922, ahead of future world champion Alexander Alekhine, and was the leader of the Polish team that won the Chess Olympiad at Hamburg in 1930 with a superb record of 13 wins and 4 draws. A year later he won an Olympic silver. Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Slovenian: Dunaj, Croatian and Serbian: Beč Romanian: Viena, Hungarian: Bécs, Czech: Vídeň, Slovak: Viedeň, Romany Vidnya;) Vienna is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Alexander Alekhine Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (sometimes spelled Aljechin) (in Russian, Александр Александрович Алéхин), (October 31 or November 1, 1892 – March 24, 1946) was a chess master and a former World Chess Champion. ... The Chess Olympiad is a chess event which has been officially organised by FIDE since 1927 and takes place every second year. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

After 1932 he withdrew from tournament play, mostly because his schizophrenic tendencies (he was suffering from anthropophobia) ultimately became prevalent. Although he lived for almost 30 years afterwards, he left behind no literary heritage like the other great grandmasters, which may be attributed to his mental problems. 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... The English suffix -phobia is used to describe fear or hatred (the latter is often ignored) of a particular thing or subject. ...

He was one of the earliest chess players to take the endgame into account when choosing and playing the opening. He originated the Rubinstein System against the Tarrasch Defense variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.c4 e6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6 (Rubinstein - Tarrasch, 1912). He is also credited with inventing the Meran Variation, which stems from the Queen's Gambit Declined but reaches a position of the Queen's Gambit Accepted, with Black one move ahead. The Tarrasch Defense is a chess opening characterized by the opening moves 1. ... The Queens Gambit Declined (QGD) is, in its broadest sense any variation of the Queens Gambit chess opening where Black does not play the Queens Gambit Accepted, 2. ... The Queens Gambit Accepted, commonly abbreviated to QGA, is a chess opening characterized by the opening moves 1. ...

Today, he certainly has no shortage of lines named for him. The "Rubinstein Attack" often refers to 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e3 0-0 6 Nf3 Nbd7 7 Qc2. The Rubinstein variation of the French defense arises after 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 (or 3 Nd2) dxe4 4 Nxe4. The Rubinstein variation of the Nimzo-Indian is the most popular line of the Nimzo: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3.

Further reading

• Donaldson, John and Nikolay Minev (1994). Akiba Rubinstein: Uncrowned King, International Chess Enterprises. ISBN 1879479192.

• Chernev, Irving (1995). Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games, Dover. ISBN 0486286746.

John W. Donaldson is an international master of chess. ... Irving Chernev (1900-1981) was a prolific Russian-American chess author. ...

External links

• Rubinstein's games at chessgames.com
• Rubinstein's games at muljadi.org
• 10 Critical Positions from His Games