Unheralded Players, Forgotten Tournaments

     In his early days Fred Reinfeld wrote some excellent chess books, but they didn't sell so he took to writing junk, a trend not a few chess authors today have followed, and it made him a comfortable living. 

     One characteristic of a lot of Reinfeld's chess books was that he neglected to give details about the game such as the date, tournament and names of the players! 

     The following game is an example, but at least we know the names of the players and since the game was published in January, 1943, no doubt it was played in 1942, but the tournament was not given. 

     The player of the white pieces was given only as "M. Fish" while black was played by "S. Rubinow", who we know was Sol Rubinow, a Master who was born in New York City on November 6, 1923 and died on February 22, 1981. 

     It’s difficult to say exactly how good Rubinow was because his heyday which was before there was a rating list. However, after the advent of the rating list, he became a Life Master. When the USCF published its first rating list in November of 1950, Rubinow was rated 2243, which at that time was considered "Expert", not Master. 

     Chess was not his only interest. He was also a master bridge player and he became very prominent at his job...he was an authority on biomathematics, which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of living organisms to investigate the principles that govern their structure, development and behavior. That's opposed to experimental biology which deals with the conduction of experiments to prove and validate the scientific theories. I hope that clears up any questions about Rubinow's day job. 

     Beginning in 1964, Rubinow was a professor of biomathematics at the Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences. He was noted for research and papers papers on cancer research. 

     In 1943, he was intercollegiate chess champion. In 1952, he won the Massachusetts State Championship. He also took part in several U.S. Championships. 

     Dr. Rubinow died at the age of 57 at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center after having been hospitalized for two months following complications resulting from brain surgery. 

     Alas, the master Rubinow managed to lose to Fish in the following short, sharp, exciting game. It was, as Reinfeld stated, a fascinating game, but it was not the lopsided beating that he insinuated. 

 

 

[Event "Unknown"] [Site "?"] [Date "1942.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "M. Fish"] [Black "Sol Rubinow"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B56"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "1942.??.??"] {Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 {[%mdl 32]} 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 {Unusual, but not bad.} Ng4 {Black usually play 6...e6, but the text, which tries to take advantage of white's last move actually gives better results in practice.} 7. Bc4 {Normally white would play 7.Bb5 or even 7.Bg5. Instead, white is aiming for sharp play even if it means burdening himself with double isolated e-Pawns and a weakened King's position.} Nxe3 8. fxe3 Ne5 {The alternative is 7...e6, but from e5 the N cannot be driven off and it also guards f7.} 9. Bb3 g6 {Reinfeld was critical of this because he thought Rubinow was underestimating white's attacking potential. He suggested, without any analysis, 9...Be6 saying it was much safer. Actually, there is nothing at all wrong with 9...g6 and I suspect that the suggested 9...Be6 was a misprint ant it should have read simply 9...e6.} (9... Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Nxe6 { and white is winning.}) (9... e6 10. Nf3 {Black must not play ...Nxf3 because it reinforces white's weak Ps.} Qb6 11. Qd4 Nd7 {Black has a positional advantage.}) 10. O-O Bh6 {Reinfeld blasted this move claiming black need not be in a big hurry to take the e-Pawn because it's a weakness that's not going away. He recommended 10...Bg7 instead. In fact, both moves have been played in this position, but Reinfeld does seem correct in his assessment that 10...Bg7 would be better.} (10... Bg7 11. Nf3 O-O 12. Qd5 e6 13. Qd2 b6 {Black is much better. Rothe,G (2171) -Miroshnichenko,E (2670) Reykjavik 2011}) 11. Nd5 { This turns out to be a poor choice that allows black to gain the upper hand.} ( 11. Nf3 {is a safe alternative after which black can't claim any advantage.} Bxe3+ 12. Kh1 Bg4 {White can play it safe with 13.Qe1 or he can try the spectacular} 13. Nxe5 Bxd1 14. Nxf7 Qa5 15. Raxd1 (15. Nxh8 Bg4 16. Nf7 Bd4 17. h3 Bxc3 18. hxg4 Bxb2 19. Rab1 {favors black.}) 15... O-O 16. Nd8+ e6 17. Rxf8+ Kxf8 18. Nxe6+ Ke8 19. Rf1 Rc8 20. Nd5 {In this complicated position the only good line is...} Qd2 (20... Bh6 21. c3 {Black has no good moves and white is winning!} a6 22. g3 {Black is running out of moves.} Rc6 23. Nf6+ Ke7 24. Ng8+ Kd7 25. Nxh6 Rc8 26. Rf7+ Kc6 27. Bd5+ Kb5 28. Nd4+ Kc5 29. Rxb7 {mates in two. } Qb6 30. b4+ Qxb4 31. Ne6#) 21. Rf8+ Kd7 22. Rf7+ Kc6 (22... Kxe6 23. Re7#) 23. Ba4+ b5 24. Nd8+ Kc5 (24... Rxd8 25. Rc7#) 25. Ne6+ Kc6 (25... Kc4 26. b3#) 26. Nd8+ {draws.}) 11... O-O {This position was reached in a game many years later!} 12. Qe1 (12. Nf5 gxf5 13. exf5 e6 14. fxe6 fxe6 15. Qh5 Bg7 16. Rxf8+ Bxf8 17. Rf1 exd5 18. Bxd5+ Kh8 19. Be4 h6 20. h3 Bd7 21. Rd1 Qg5 {White resigned, Plank,P (2083) -Levin,F (2523) Bad Woerishofen 2003}) 12... a5 { A waste of time according to Reinfeld. True, it loses black's advantage. Better were either 12...e6 or 12... Bg7 and black keeps his positional advantage.} 13. Qh4 {This attack on e7 equalizes for white, but not more.} Kg7 14. Nxe7 Bxe3+ (14... f6 {was neither better nor worse. Five Shootouts from this position resulted in five draws, For example...} 15. Nd5 a4 16. Nf4 Bxf4 17. exf4 axb3 18. fxe5 bxa2 19. exf6+ Rxf6 20. Qxf6+ Qxf6 21. Rxf6 Kxf6 22. Kf2 Be6 23. Ke3 d5 24. Nxe6 Kxe6 25. exd5+ Kxd5 26. Kd3 g5 27. c4+ Kc5 28. Kc3 Ra4 29. Kb3 Ra8 30. Kc3 Ra4 31. Kb3 Rb4+ 32. Ka3 Rxc4 33. Rxa2 Re4 34. b3 h5 { This position is a draw,}) 15. Kh1 Ng4 {Reinfeld commented that had Rubinow seen what was coming he would have played 15...Bxd4 and white has a perpetual. He claimed that Rubinow felt he deserved more than a draw and that while Rubinow's positional judgment was correct, he played poorly tactically. Reinfeld was of the opinion that had Rubinow taken the trouble to consolidate his position and secure it from attack, he would have undoubtedly been able to utilize his positional advantage.} (15... Bxd4 {and white does have to take the perpetual.} 16. Qf6+ Kh6 17. Qh4+ {etc.}) 16. Ndf5+ {In spite of Reinfeld's twaddle, THIS position is equal IF black finds the correct move... which he does not.} gxf5 {[%mdl 8192] The tactical error of which Reinfeld spoke; it loses the game. It should be mentioned that even at this early stage Rubinow was in time pressure.} (16... Bxf5 {The only move.} 17. exf5 {Black is on a tightrope...again he must find the only move that does not lose.} Nf6 18. fxg6 fxg6 19. Nd5 Nxd5 {No other move is satisfactory. Whether white exchanges Qs or not, the chances are equal.}) 17. exf5 Kh8 18. Bxf7 {Very pretty says Reinfeld, but very bad says Stockfish!} (18. Rae1 {White has a massive advantage. For instance...} Bd4 19. f6 Bxb2 20. c3 Bxc3 21. Bc2 h6 22. Re4 { with a winning attack.}) 18... Qb6 {[%mdl 8192] After this gaffe there is no salvaging the game.} (18... Bf2 {Pure wizardry! It saves the game!} 19. Rxf2 ( 19. Qxg4 Qxe7 20. Rxf2 Qxf7 {...and black has won a piece and much more than likely will win the game.}) 19... Nxf2+ 20. Kg1 Ne4 {Now it's white's turn to save the game and there is only one way it can be done.} 21. Bg6 Qb6+ 22. Kh1 Nf2+ 23. Kg1 Ne4+ 24. Kh1 {black has to take the draw.}) 19. Qxg4 Rxf7 { He overlooks the mate, but it doesn't matter because the game is now beyond hope.} (19... Bh6 20. Qh5 Qe3 21. Ng8 {and black has little choice but to play} Rxg8 22. Bxg8 Qg5 (22... Kxg8 23. Rae1) 23. Qxg5 Bxg5 24. Be6 {with a won ending.}) 20. Qg8# {A fascinating game.} 1-0