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  A wonderful miniature (14 moves!) ... by Akiba Rubinstein. 


  Click  HERE  to see an explanation of the symbols that I commonly use when I annotate any chess game.  

  Click  HERE  to replay this game.      (Click  HERE  to see a "star-dot-pdf" / Adobe copy of my analysis.)   

  Click  HERE  to see my video channel on the "You-Tube" channel.    (Click HERE to see my YT video on this game.)  


Click  HERE  to see a game where this opening is also played, and analyzed in some detail.  


  Georg Salwe (2350) - Akiba Rubinstein (2534) 
 [C50] 
  Lodz, Poland; 1903.  

sal-rub_lodz07.medal.gif, 06 KB

  [A.J.G. ]  


The position after 14.Nxd4, is the POTD for Tuesday; February 18th, 2014.   
(See http://www.chessgames.com.) 

The ratings are gathered from the information found on the "Chess Metrics" website.   
(The page - on that website - for Akiba Rubinstein, he is listed as #19 all-time. The CG page ... for this player.)  

     1.e4 e52.Nf3 Nc63.Bc4 Bc54.Nc3 d65.d3 Nf66.0-0,   

Thus far, all the moves have been perfect, and conform to the four basic principles that govern the opening phase of the game.   
(Opening = Giuoco Piano / Italian Game.)   

 

salwe-rubin_pos-1.jpg, 53 KB

   r1bqk2r/ppp2ppp/2np1n2/2b1p3/2B1P3/2NP1N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 0 6   

 

For good coverage of the lines, see MCO-15, beginning on page #18 ... and all columns and notes. 
 [All of these moves were 'normal' (and also 'book') at the time that this game was played.]  

 

               [ The move of: RR 6.h3!?,  would have prevented all of the problems associated with the pin of the Knight on f3. ]   

 

     6...Bg4("Pin ... and win!")    

Rubinstein immediately begins to pressure White's K-side, the only drawback, is that after h2-h3, Black may be obligated to swap off his LSB. 

 

          [ RR 6...Na5!? - Fritz 13. ]   

 

     7.Be3(Square control.)   

White begins to dispute the key central squares. (d4)   

 

               [ Perhaps a more accurate line would have been: 
                
RR 7.h3 Bh58.Bg5 h69.Bxf6 Qxf610.Nd5 Qd811.c3,  "+/="   
                 with a solid plus for White, albeit a relatively small one.   
                 (The source for this line = the ChessBase "Power-Book.") 

                 GM Pavel V. (2515) - GM Ruslan ; (2300?)   
                  [C50] / RUS-chT / Briansk, RUS; (R#3), 1995. 
(0-1 in 37 moves.)
                  
Replay this game ... on the CG website. ]   

 

     7...Bb6(Solidity.)   

Rubinstein liked "clean" Pawn structures, and perhaps did not want a set of doubled QBP's. 

               [ RR 7...0-0; - Fritz 13. ]   

 

      8.Kh1!?(Safety?)   

Perhaps Salwe felt that his King would be a little more secure in the corner ... ... ...     

 

               [ Probably a little better was:  RR 8.h3 Be6; "~"  - Fritz 13. ]     

 

     8...Qd7(Jacking up?)    

Rubinstein brings his Queen into the foray, perhaps the main intent of this move is to discourage White from pushing his KRP forward. 
(Black - now - might sack on h3, and get 2 Pawns and an attack ... for the piece. Rubinstein also has played a trump card, which says: 
 "I might castle Queen-side.")   

 

               [ RR 8...Nd4!?; - Fritz 13. ]   

 

     9.a3!?(Saving the LSB?)    

This moves does a lot of different things. For one, White might be suggesting, that if Black were to try to castle on his right, then White would respond with b2-b4 and a Pawn Storm.   

 

               [ RR 9.h3, - Fritz 13. ]    

 

     9...Nd4!(Pressure!)    

Black slams the Knight into the outpost-square, both Fritz and Houdini agree that this is best.   

 

     10.Rb1?!(Probably - '?')   

I don't know what White thought that he was doing in this position, however, this is just too slow.    
[I could endlessly speculate as to what Salwe intended with this move. In the end, it is all just guesswork, so I leave to the reader, 
 and his/her imagination, as to exactly what the intent of Rb1 actually was.] 

So many have focused in on other moves, this appears to be the real culprit behind White's misery, Salwe's position 
slowly gets worse from this point on. 

 

               [ It looks like White had to play BxN/d4 here:    
                 >/= 
10.Bxd4[] Bxd4;  11.h3 Bxf3;  12.Qxf3 c6;  "~"  (unclear)    
                 when Black looks OK, and may have seized the initiative.    
                 However, at least White would have not had to throw in the 
                 towel at move 14! (As he did in this game.)
]   

 

     10...h5!?(Interesting.)    

Rubinstein - perhaps sensing his opponent's distress in this particular position - begins to probe White's K-side.     

 

               [ Fritz 13 gives the following line of analysis here:   
                 (>/=) 
RR 10...Bxf311.gxf3 Qh312.Bxd4 Bxd4;    
                
13.Rg1 0-014.Rg3 Qh415.Qf1 g616.Ne2 Bb6;    
                
17.Kg1 c6;  "=/+"  when Black is solidly better,    
                  however, there is no forced win in sight.
]     

 

Now White, in order to ease the pressure on his center and K-side, must swap on d4.   

     11.Bxd4!(Best/forced.)    

All the engines agree that White had to play this move. 

Now one might think that Salwe was going to try and make a game of it, he seems to be back on the right track.   

 

               [ 11.Na2 Bxf312.gxf3 Qh3;  "-+"  (Black is winning here.)   
                  (Black has the threat of  ...Ng4;  just as he did in the game.) ]    

 

     11...Bxd4(Total dominance.)   

Black has the much better game here, no matter what you might think ... or what the engines say.    

 

salwe-rubin_pos-2.jpg, 52 KB

   r3k2r/pppq1pp1/3p1n2/4p2p/2BbP1b1/P1NP1N2/1PP2PPP/1R1Q1R1K w kq - 0 12   

 

Black can improve his position with moves like ...c7-c6; and then castle on the Queenside. Then Black has the idea of trying to open the h-file with ...P/h5-h4-h3.    

 

     12.Ne2?(Ugly!)    

White already had a difficult game, and Salwe was probably a good enough player to readily grasp this.    

Most lower-rated players ... or players who have never played a single tournament game ... 
do not realize, that sometimes you will make your position worse while trying to wiggle out of a bad position.   

The net result of White's Ne2? is that his Bishop-Pawns get doubled on the King-side, and his position is much degraded as the overall result.   

 

               [ Fritz 13 offers two possible improvements for White:   
                    #1.)  RR 12.Kg1, with the idea of P/h4, 13.h3.  
                    #2.)  RR 12.Nd5, (paring down). ]    

 

Rubinstein - of course - does not hesitate to double Salwe's Pawns near his King.    

     12...Bxf3; ('!')  13.gxf3 Qh3;    

The engines already show that Black has the much better game. 
(With correct play, saving White's awful position may not even be possible. In such positions, players will often drop their guard and blunder.)   

 

salwe-rubin_pos-3.jpg, 50 KB.

   r3k2r/ppp2pp1/3p1n2/4p2p/2BbP3/P2P1P1q/1PP1NP1P/1R1Q1R1K w kq - 0 14   

 

Study this position carefully. After just a few minutes of careful reflection, it becomes obvious that White is in a lot of hot water here.    

     14.Nxd4?(Ooops!!!)   

White was expecting Black to (automatically) recapture on d4, when then he will have time to defend by playing the simple play of R/f1-g1.    

 

salwe-rubin_pos-4.jpg, 49 KB.

   r3k2r/ppp2pp1/3p1n2/4p2p/2BNP3/P2P1P1q/1PP2P1P/1R1Q1R1K b kq - 0 14   

 

This position was the POTD on Tuesday; February 18th, 2014.   

I should remark that I have seen many players make this type of mistake. You become so fully conditioned to your opponent's recapture during an exchange, that you will not stop and look for an "in-between move." (A Zwischenzug.)   

 

               [ White had to play: >/= 14.Ng1[],  but after Black plays: 14...Qh4; "/+"   
                  Black is much better here. 
(And probably winning.) ]    

 

Now Rubinstein plays an utterly brilliant and unexpected shot.   

     14...Ng4!!White resigns(0-1)    

(After f3xg4, Black opens the h-file, and mate is not far off.)   

 

salwe-rubin_pos-5.jpg, 49 KB.

   r3k2r/ppp2pp1/3p4/4p2p/2BNP1n1/P2P1P1q/1PP2P1P/1R1Q1R1K w kq - 0 15   

 

A very nice miniature by the great Akiba Rubinstein.   

 

     [ The mighty Fritz shows that White can delay mate, however, he cannot prevent it.    
        For example: 
14...Ng4!!15.fxg4[] hxg416.Bxf7+ Kxf717.Nf3 gxf3;  
       18.Qxf3+ Qxf3+
19.Kg1 Qg4+ 20.Kh1 Rxh2+!21.Kxh2 Rh8#.     
          (This analysis line is actually longer than the real substance of the game!)
]    

 

     0 - 1      

 

 

   Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2014.  All rights reserved.    


          If you enjoyed this miniature, please see all my pages on "shorties" ... (games that were played and lasted 25 moves, or less).  

         [Short games, Volume I.]     [Short games, Volume II.]     [Short games, Volume III.]     [Short games, Volume IV.]    


Other great games - some that I have annotated - all played by Akiba Rubinstein: 

  1. A truly great game by Rubinstein, where he crushes Hirsch in just 21 moves.  

  2. One of the greatest games of all time, Rubinstein's masterful & brilliant crush of Rotlwei. 

  3. Rubinstein destroys Hromadka in a King's Gambit opening.  

  4. An article on Impala Chess, I wrote a letter to them on the topic of Rubinstein ... and his games. 

  5. A chess collection (of games) that I did that are probably some of the greatest games of the great master, Rubinstein.  


The analysis for this page was prepared with the excellent programChessBase 10.0. 
    (I now have ChessBase 11.0; I also used MANY different chess engines ... during the course of my analysis!)   
      ---> My main engines - for this game - were Fritz 13, Deep Shredder, and Houdini 3.0.  

    The HTML was polished with several different tools and programs, (mostly FP)  ...  the text was checked for spelling with MS Word. 


Go ... or return  ...  to my  Home Page  for this site.  

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(You could also use the "back" button on your web browser. Click here ... to go to the page with my games.)  

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  Copyright (c) LM A.J. Goldsby I  
   Copyright © A.J. Goldsby, 2014.  All rights reserved.  

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This page was first generated in: February, 2014. 
Final format and posted on: Saturday; February 22nd, 2014.  
This game was last edited, altered or saved on:  April 14, 2014 11:20 AM


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