Charousek had a short career, dying at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. Reuben Fine wrote of him "Playing over his early games...you cannot help feeling a grievous, oppressive sense of loss, of promise unfulfilled".
Born near Prague, at the age of five weeks his family moved to Debrecen, Hungary, where he became a naturalized Hungarian citizen.
He learned to play chess at the age of 16 while studying law and he is said to have copied out the voluminous Handbuch des Schachspiels by hand, unable to afford his own copy.
Despite the lack of competition during that time he soon became a strong player and also qualified as a lawyer.
In 1893, he entered a correspondence tournament in which he shared first place with another up and coming (and later great) Hungarian player, Geza Maroczy. He joined the Budapest chess club where he frequently played Maroczy and other prominent players of the day.
An almost unknown player, his style was between two schools of chess. Way back in 1946, Reinfeld and Horowitz published Chess Strategy and Tactics and in it they made the observation that like the masters of the Morphy-Anderssen period, he often played the King's Gambit. But, unlike them, he rarely won brilliantly with it. Instead, in gambit openings he introduced the concept of positional motifs and playing for the ending.
They reached the conclusion that based on a careful examination of his games, he represented a contrast to the popular conception of him as a belated Romanticist.
The following game is an exception.
Lamentably, the game was superficially annotated as I discovered when going over it with Stockfish and Komodo. The game turned out to be much more complicated than their notes indicated. I don't want to disparage Reinfeld and Horowitz because it's a complicated game and 1) they didn't have engines and 2) if one wanted to dig deeper into the game, it's possible that my notes might not bring to light all of the bountiful possibilities!
It should be noted that this was a casual game played during the 11th DSB Kongress held in Cologne in 1898. In that tournament, won by Amos Burn, Charousek tied for second with Chigorin and Cohn. Their individual game was drawn.
Rudolf Charousek–Amos Burn1–0C39Casual Game, CologneCologne GER1898Stockfish 15
King's Gambit Accepted 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.f3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.e5 g7
In the primitive days of Morphy black played 5...h5. Most modern players, if
that's the right term for it since the King's Gambit is so rare, is 5...Nf3 6.d4 f6 7.xg4 White has played 7.Bxf4, 7.Bc4 and 7.Nc3 here all of which are
reasonable. 7.h5 is an interesting try. d6 8.h6 xh6 9.xh6 dxe5 10.c3 exd4 Here white has two plausible moves. 11.xf4 11.d5 xd5 12.xd4 0-0 13.xd5 xd5 14.exd5 e8+ 15.f2 11...dxc3 12.xd8+ xd8 13.g5 7...xe4 Not good. Correct was 7...Nxg4 with equal chances. 8.xf4 e7 Besides
the discovered check he also threatens 9...Qb4+ But. these threats are easily
met so he should have castled. 8...0-0 9.c3 e8 10.e3 d5 11.cxd5 g3 12.xg3 xd5 13.f4 c5 with approximate equality. 9.e2 Now if 9...Qb4+
10.c3 and the b-Pawn is defended. In the book both Reinfeld and Horowitz
missed the winning move...as did the players! 9.e3 and there is no good
defense against the threatened Nd5 d6 9...c6 10.f5 f6 11.g4 f8 11...g8 12.d2 xd2 13.xd2 d5 14.xg7+ xg7 15.xc8+ e7 16.e1+ wins...
it's a mate in 7 12.e5 and white is winning. 10.d5 d8 11.d3 f6 12.bc3 xd5 13.xd5 c6 14.e2+ e6 15.e3 xd4 16.f5 xb2 17.xd6+ f8 18.b1 c3+ 19.d1 White's position is far superior. 9...xd4 An
improvement. 9...d6 10.e3 e6 11.c3 0-0 12.f3 d5 13.d3 c5 14.xe4 dxe4 15.g3 cxd4 16.d6 d8 17.cxd4 e8 18.d5 d7 19.c3 a6 20.0-0 c8 21.f2 f6 22.af1 h8 23.h5 c5 24.h6 Black resigned. Walbrodt,C-Burn,A
Vienna 1898 10.c3 g7 This looks reasonable, but it's wrong. 10...c6
allows black to equalize after 11.e3 This has lost it's punch. Correct is
11.Nd2 with equality. g3 12.xg3 xe3 13.xc7 c1 Black is better. 11.e3 A strong move, especially in combination with the following
maneuver. White has good compensation. 11.xc7 d5 12.xb8 xg4 13.xg4 xc3+ 14.e2 xe2+ 15.xe2+ xe2 16.xe2 xb2 Black is winning. 11...e6 Reinfeld and Horowitz claimed that black had no better way of guarding
against the threatened invasion of the N, but that's not the case. Apparently
they were referring to the "threat" of Nf5. Prevents Nd5. 11...d6 prevents
Nf5 but loses to 12.d5 g4 13.xg4 f6+ 14.xe7 xg4 15.f5 0-0 16.e2
White has won a piece. 11...f6 This defense is his best chance. 12.f5 xe2+ 13.xe2 0-0 14.xc7 e8 15.d6 b6 16.e7+ h8 17.f3 c6 Black's
position is unattractive, but it's holding together just fine. 11...f6 12.a3 This is the preferable answer to black's last move. d6 13.0-0-0 c6 14.g4 e6 White has two plausible continuations to maintain the initiative: 15.
Bg2 and 15.g5 12.g3 12.xc7 would be a poor choice. After d5 13.d2 0-0 14.xe4 xe4 White's pieces are uncoordinated. 12...0-0 13.h3 Better
was 13.Nd2 getting rid of black's one well placed piece. f5 Supporting the N
makes sense, but Stockfish found a unique defense. 13...a6 A most unusual
equalizing move! 14.d5 14.f3 d5 15.xc8 xc8 16.d2 c5 with equal
chances. 14...xe2+ 15.xe2 a6 with equality. Fascinating! 14.0-0 d6 15.d2 This eliminates the well placed N and at the same times connects his
Rs. It also threatens 16.Nxf5 which would win. xd2 15...a6 A
pass to illustrate the threat. 16.xf5 Threatens to win with Nh6+! xc3 17.xe6+ xe6 18.e7+ h8 19.xe6 e2+ 20.h1 White has a won position. 16.xd2 c6 17.ae1 In return for his Pawn white has obtained vastly superior
development and a promising position which he utilizes in impeccable fashion. f7 17...xa2 This gets complicated, but black can probably hold things
together. 18.g2 18.d5 is unclear. For example... d4+ 19.cxd4 xd5 20.g2 xd4+ 21.xd4 xd4 22.d5+ g7 23.e7+ f6 24.g5+ g6 25.e3 c2 26.f4 b4 27.c4 d5 28.e2 c5 Watch this... 29.h5+ f6 30.xh7 e8
White is slightly better. 18...f7 19.g4 White has the initiative, but
with careful play black may be able to survive. 18.g2 This move was
mistakenly praised by Reinfeld and Horowitz, but in reality black now
equalizes. 18.g5 is much more promising. e5 19.xf5 xf5 20.xf5 c4 21.h5 18...h8 It would probably have served black better to have played
18...Be6 19.d5 Preventing the development of the B on c8, but
white had a far better alternative. 19.g4 was also a good try. e5 20.gxf5 f6 21.xe5 dxe5 22.g4 xh4 23.xe5 g7 Black can likely hold his
position together. 19...e5 19...e6 fails 20.xc7 xc7 21.xe6 e5 22.xc6 bxc6 White is winning and curiously there is no way for
black to take advantage of the seemingly stranded R on e6. 19...e5
This looks quite promising ofr the defense. 20.g4 e6 21.gxf5 xd5 21...xf5 22.xe5+ xe5 23.g5 g6 24.xc7 ad8 25.xg6 xg6 26.xf8+ xf8 27.b5 d3 28.e2 f5 29.xd6 h5 30.xb7 xh4 White is better. 22.xd5 g7+ 23.g5 h6 24.g2 f6 25.e6 hxg5 26.xf6 xf6 27.hxg5 White is much
better. 20.g5 20.h5 is much more promising. h6 21.xh6 e6 22.xg7+ xg7 23.g4 with a strong attack. 20...c6 Black should develop by Be6 and
Rae8 21.f4 d5 21...h6 was no better. After 22.e7 c4 23.d1 g8 24.xd6 xd6 25.xd6 White is clearly better. 22.h5 d7 22...c4 was a much better defense. 23.d1 f6 24.xf6+ xf6 25.h6 d7 25...xb2 26.c1 c4 27.h5 d8 28.f4 favors white 25...xh6 26.e7 This cannot be allowed. 26.h5 g5 27.d4+ g8 28.b3 d6 29.c4 f7 29...xh5 30.g7# 30.cxd5 xh6 31.f4 Black has equalized 23.h6
Now follows a catastrophe on the long diagonal once the protecting B is
removed. f6 24.xf6+ xf6 25.h5 d6 26.xe5 A crushing
finish. xe5 27.e1 The Q can no longer guard d4, so black resigns 27.e1 xe1+ 28.xe1 Intending Qe5+ and mate. fe8 Black is a piece down and will
lose in the long run. It's a long process so if you're interested, here is the
finish using Stockfish in a Shootout. 29.d2 e7 30.c4 e6 31.d4+ g8 32.f3 f8 33.f6 f4 34.xf4 dxc4 35.xh7+ e8 36.f8+ d7 37.f6+ d6 38.e4+ c7 39.xe7+ b6 40.b4+ c7 41.d6+ b6 42.d4+ a5 43.h7 b6 44.e5+ d5 45.g4 a6 46.d6 b5 47.c8+ a5 48.h8 a6 49.e3 b4 50.b7+ a4 51.b6 c3 52.c5# 1–0
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