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.
[Event "Casual Game, Cologne"]
[Site "Cologne GER"]
[Date "1898.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rudolf Charousek"]
[Black "Amos Burn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C39"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "1898.07.31"]
{King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Bg7 {
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 Nf6 7. Nxg4 {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 Bxh6 9. Rxh6 dxe5 10. Nc3
exd4 {Here white has two plausible moves.} 11. Bxf4 (11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. Qxd4 O-O
13. Qxd5 Qxd5 14. exd5 Re8+ 15. Kf2) 11... dxc3 12. Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. Bg5) 7...
Nxe4 {Not good. Correct was 7...Nxg4 with equal chances.} 8. Bxf4 Qe7 {Besides
the discovered check he also threatens 9...Qb4+ But. these threats are easily
met so he should have castled.} (8... O-O 9. Nc3 Re8 10. Ne3 d5 11. Ncxd5 Ng3
12. Bxg3 Qxd5 13. Bf4 c5 {with approximate equality.}) 9. Qe2 {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. Ne3 {and there is no good
defense against the threatened Nd5} d6 (9... c6 10. Nf5 Qf6 11. Qg4 Bf8 (11...
Rg8 12. Nd2 Nxd2 13. Kxd2 d5 14. Nxg7+ Rxg7 15. Qxc8+ Ke7 16. Re1+ {wins...
it's a mate in 7}) 12. Be5 {and white is winning.}) 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. Bd3 Nf6 12.
Nbc3 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 c6 14. Qe2+ Be6 15. Ne3 Bxd4 16. Nf5 Bxb2 17. Nxd6+ Kf8 18.
Rb1 Bc3+ 19. Kd1 {White's position is far superior.}) 9... Bxd4 {An
improvement.} (9... d6 10. Ne3 Be6 11. c3 O-O 12. Qf3 d5 13. Bd3 c5 14. Bxe4
dxe4 15. Qg3 cxd4 16. Bd6 Qd8 17. cxd4 Re8 18. d5 Bd7 19. Nc3 Na6 20. O-O Rc8
21. Rf2 f6 22. Raf1 Kh8 23. h5 Nc5 24. h6 {Black resigned. Walbrodt,C-Burn,A
Vienna 1898}) 10. c3 Bg7 {This looks reasonable, but it's wrong.} (10... Nc6 {
allows black to equalize after} 11. Ne3 {This has lost it's punch. Correct is
11.Nd2 with equality.} Ng3 12. Bxg3 Bxe3 13. Bxc7 Bc1 {Black is better.}) 11.
Ne3 {[%mdl 1024] A strong move, especially in combination with the following
maneuver. White has good compensation.} (11. Bxc7 d5 12. Bxb8 Bxg4 13. Qxg4
Nxc3+ 14. Be2 Qxe2+ 15. Qxe2+ Nxe2 16. Kxe2 Bxb2 {Black is winning.}) 11... Qe6
{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. Nd5 Bg4 13. Qxg4 Nf6+ 14. Nxe7 Nxg4 15. Nf5 O-O 16. Be2 {
White has won a piece.}) (11... Nf6 {This defense is his best chance.} 12. Nf5
Qxe2+ 13. Bxe2 O-O 14. Bxc7 Re8 15. Bd6 b6 16. Ne7+ Kh8 17. Bf3 Nc6 {Black's
position is unattractive, but it's holding together just fine.}) (11... Nf6 12.
Na3 {This is the preferable answer to black's last move.} d6 13. O-O-O Nc6 14.
g4 Be6 {White has two plausible continuations to maintain the initiative: 15.
Bg2 and 15.g5}) 12. g3 (12. Bxc7 {would be a poor choice. After} d5 13. Nd2 O-O
14. Nxe4 Qxe4 {White's pieces are uncoordinated.}) 12... O-O 13. Bh3 {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... Qa6 {A most unusual
equalizing move!} 14. Nd5 (14. Qf3 d5 15. Bxc8 Rxc8 16. Nd2 Nc5 {with equal
chances.}) 14... Qxe2+ 15. Kxe2 Na6 {with equality. Fascinating!}) 14. O-O d6
15. Nd2 {This eliminates the well placed N and at the same times connects his
Rs. It also threatens 16.Nxf5 which would win.} Nxd2 (15... a6 {[%mdl 8192] A
pass to illustrate the threat.} 16. Nxf5 {Threatens to win with Nh6+!} Nxc3 17.
Qxe6+ Bxe6 18. Ne7+ Kh8 19. Bxe6 Ne2+ 20. Kh1 {White has a won position.}) 16.
Qxd2 Nc6 17. Rae1 {In return for his Pawn white has obtained vastly superior
development and a promising position which he utilizes in impeccable fashion.}
Qf7 (17... Qxa2 {This gets complicated, but black can probably hold things
together.} 18. Bg2 (18. Nd5 {is unclear. For example...} Bd4+ 19. cxd4 Qxd5 20.
Bg2 Qxd4+ 21. Qxd4 Nxd4 22. Bd5+ Kg7 23. Re7+ Kf6 24. Bg5+ Kg6 25. Be3 Nc2 26.
Bf4 Nb4 27. Bc4 d5 28. Be2 c5 {Watch this...} 29. h5+ Kf6 30. Rxh7 Re8 {
White is slightly better.}) 18... Qf7 19. g4 {White has the initiative, but
with careful play black may be able to survive.}) 18. Bg2 {This move was
mistakenly praised by Reinfeld and Horowitz, but in reality black now
equalizes.} (18. Bg5 {is much more promising.} Ne5 19. Nxf5 Bxf5 20. Bxf5 Qc4
21. h5) 18... Kh8 {It would probably have served black better to have played
18...Be6} 19. Nd5 {[%mdl 32] Preventing the development of the B on c8, but
white had a far better alternative.} (19. g4 {was also a good try.} Ne5 20.
gxf5 Bf6 21. Bxe5 dxe5 22. Ng4 Bxh4 23. Rxe5 Qg7 {Black can likely hold his
position together.}) 19... Ne5 (19... Be6 {[%mdl 8192] fails} 20. Nxc7 Qxc7 21.
Rxe6 Be5 22. Bxc6 bxc6 {White is winning and curiously there is no way for
black to take advantage of the seemingly stranded R on e6.}) (19... Be5 {
This looks quite promising ofr the defense.} 20. g4 Be6 21. gxf5 Bxd5 (21...
Bxf5 22. Bxe5+ Nxe5 23. Qg5 Qg6 24. Nxc7 Rad8 25. Qxg6 Bxg6 26. Rxf8+ Rxf8 27.
Nb5 Nd3 28. Re2 Rf5 29. Nxd6 Rh5 30. Bxb7 Rxh4 {White is better.}) 22. Bxd5
Qg7+ 23. Bg5 h6 24. Qg2 Bf6 25. Re6 hxg5 26. Rxf6 Qxf6 27. hxg5 {White is much
better.}) 20. Bg5 (20. h5 {is much more promising.} h6 21. Bxh6 Be6 22. Bxg7+
Kxg7 23. g4 {with a strong attack.}) 20... c6 {Black should develop by Be6 and
Rae8} 21. Nf4 d5 (21... h6 {was no better. After} 22. Be7 Nc4 23. Qd1 Rg8 24.
Bxd6 Nxd6 25. Qxd6 {White is clearly better.}) 22. h5 {[%mdl 32]} Bd7 {[%mdl
8192]} (22... Nc4 {was a much better defense.} 23. Qd1 Bf6 24. Bxf6+ Qxf6 25.
h6 Bd7 (25... Nxb2 26. Qc1 Nc4 27. Nh5 Qd8 28. Qf4 {favors white}) (25... Qxh6
26. Re7 {This cannot be allowed.}) 26. Nh5 Qg5 27. Qd4+ Kg8 28. b3 Nd6 29. c4
Rf7 (29... Qxh5 30. Qg7#) 30. cxd5 Qxh6 31. Nf4 {Black has equalized}) 23. h6 {
Now follows a catastrophe on the long diagonal once the protecting B is
removed.} Bf6 24. Bxf6+ Qxf6 25. Nh5 Qd6 26. Rxe5 {[%mdl 512] A crushing
finish.} Qxe5 27. Re1 {The Q can no longer guard d4, so black resigns} (27. Re1
Qxe1+ 28. Qxe1 {Intending Qe5+ and mate.} Rfe8 {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. Qd2 Re7 30. c4 Be6 31. Qd4+ Kg8 32.
Bf3 Kf8 33. Nf6 f4 34. Qxf4 dxc4 35. Nxh7+ Ke8 36. Qf8+ Kd7 37. Nf6+ Kd6 38.
Ne4+ Kc7 39. Qxe7+ Kb6 40. Qb4+ Kc7 41. Qd6+ Kb6 42. Qd4+ Ka5 43. h7 b6 44.
Qe5+ Bd5 45. Bg4 Ka6 46. Nd6 b5 47. Bc8+ Ka5 48. h8=Q a6 49. Qe3 b4 50. Nb7+
Ka4 51. Qb6 c3 52. Nc5#) 1-0
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