Going From Winning To Losing

     World Champion Dr. Max Euwe once pointed out that generally speaking tactics (or as we used to call them, combinations) are either hard to see or hard to calculate. Nevertheless, we can improve our ability to see tactics by learning common tactical devices. 

     In the following game Rubinstein places his R on the seventh rank, a strategy that he often used, and got a favorable position. But, then we see how things can go horribly wrong in tactical situations even for a great player like Rubinstein.

     Rudolf Spielmann (May 5, 1883 - August 20, 1942) was an Austrian player of the Romantic School who had a complete mastery of tactics and they often showed up in his games in unexpected and beautiful ways. 

     Spielmann was a newspaper editor in Vienna and in spite of his attacking nature on the board Reuben Fine wrote, "In appearance and personal habits Spielmann was the mildest-mannered individual alive. Beer and chess were the great passions of his life; in his later years, at least, he cared for little else. Perhaps his chess became so vigorous as compensation for an otherwise uneventful life." 

     Known as The Master of Attack and The Last Knight of the King's Gambit, his daredevil play was full of sacrifices, brilliancies and beautiful ideas. 

     In 1934, Spielmann, who was Jewish, fled Vienna due to pro-Nazi sympathies and moved to the Netherlands. In 1938, he went to Prague to be with his brother, but the German army occupied Czechoslovakia only a few months later. Leopold Spielmann was arrested and died in a concentration camp a few years later. One of their sisters also perished in a camp, the other survived the war, but never recovered mentally from the ordeal of it and ended up committing suicide.

     Spielmann was more fortunate. He managed to flee to Sweden with the help of a friend and from there he hoped to eventually reach England or the United States. In order to earn money for the voyage he played exhibition matches, wrote chess columns and a book (Memories of a Chess Master). With the war in full swing and some members of the Swedish Chess Federation being Nazi sympathies who disliked Spielmann, his book was repeatedly delayed and never published.

     As a result, Spielmann became withdrawn and depressed and one day in August 1942, he locked himself in his Stockholm apartment and did not emerge for a week. On August 20, neighbors summoned police to check on him. They entered the apartment and found him dead. The official cause of death was coronary artery disease, aka hardening of the arteries. Others claimed that he intentionally starved himself. 

     Akiba Rubinstein (December 1, 1880 - March 14, 1961) was also a tragic figure. Born in Poland to a Jewish family, he learned to play chess at the age of 14. In 1903 he abandoned his rabbinical studies and devoted himself entirely to chess. 

     Between 1907 and 1912, Rubinstein established himself as one of the strongest players in the world. After 1932 he withdrew from tournament play as his anthropophobia (fear of people) showed traces of schizophrenia (a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally.). It is not clear how he survived World War II in Nazi-occupied Belgium, but it's possible that it was due to the fact that he was confined in a sanatorium. He spent the last 29 years of his life living at home with his family and in a sanatorium because of his severe mental illness. 

      Rubinstein's playing style was primarily positional and his endgame technique was legendary. His knowledge and understanding of Rook endings was far ahead of his time.

[Event "Stockholm"] [Site "?"] [Date "1919.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Akiba Rubinstein"] [Black "Rudolf Spielmann"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A44"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "58"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.04.20"] {Semi-Benoni} 1. d4 c5 2. d5 e5 3. e4 d6 4. Bd3 Ne7 5. c4 (5. Ne2 Qc7 6. Nd2 Ng6 7. a4 Be7 8. Nc4 b6 9. O-O {Black's position is very passive. Kool, G-Kieninger,G Amsterdam 1963}) (5. f4 exf4 6. Bxf4 Ng6 7. Bg3 Be7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Nbd2 Nd7 10. Nc4 {Equals. Kozma,J-Stoeckl,E Munich 1958}) 5... Ng6 6. g3 Be7 7. h4 h6 8. Nc3 {White clearly has the better prospects thanks to black's passive position.} Nd7 9. Nf3 {[%mdl 32]} Nf6 10. Nh2 {Black's position is so passive that Rubinstein has plenty of time to undertake a lengthy N maneuver.} Bd7 11. Nf1 Nf8 12. Ne3 {From here the N eyes f5 and also supports the advance of the g-Pawn} g6 13. Be2 h5 14. Bd2 Qc8 15. f3 Ng8 16. Qc2 Nh6 17. O-O-O Qc7 18. g4 { A near decisive breakthrough.} O-O-O (18... hxg4 19. fxg4 O-O-O 20. g5 Ng8 21. Nb5 {White has the advantage on both sides and his position is strategically won. Black cannot afford to play} Bxb5 22. cxb5 Nd7 23. a4 Rf8 24. a5 b6 25. Nc4 {and white is winning.}) 19. Rdg1 Kb8 20. gxh5 {Also good was 20.g5 keeping black in a serious bind.} gxh5 21. Nf5 Nxf5 22. exf5 Nh7 23. Rg7 { [%mdl 32] The R is going Pawn hunting on the 7th rank. There's nothing wrong with the move and white can claim a slight advantage. But...it will all go horribly wrong. Over his career Rubinstein won many games, especially endings, by establishing a R on the 7th (or 2nd) rank.} ({was another way to grab a P.} 23. f4 e4 24. Bxh5 Rdf8 25. Qxe4 {Here, too, white has slightly the better of it.}) 23... Bf6 24. Rxf7 Bxf5 {With both his Q and R attacked white has no choice except to exchange Qs.} 25. Rxc7 Bxc2 26. Nb5 {This is where white goes astray. The R has no way out so white must give it up for as much as possible.} (26. Kxc2 Kxc7 {leaves white down the exchange.}) (26. Rf7 Bg6 27. Rxf6 Nxf6 { Here, too, white is down the exchange and black is slightly better.}) (26. Rxc5 dxc5 27. Kxc2 {and at least white has some compensation for the exchange in the form of a protected passed Pawn in the center..}) 26... Bf5 {There is no way out for the R.} 27. Bg5 {[%mdl 8192] This move leads to a complete collapse of white's game.} (27. Rf7 Bg6 {wins the exchange.}) (27. Ba5 { save the day!} b6 28. Bxb6 axb6 29. Rc6 {and the best for both sides is to accept the draw.} Kb7 30. Rc7+ Kb8 31. Rc6 {etc.}) 27... Nxg5 {Because white is now without any threats black can go on the attack and wrap things up. A very sudden collapse of white's position!} 28. hxg5 Bxg5+ 29. Kd1 Bd7 {White resigned. It would be hopeless to play on the exchange down for nothing.} ( 29... a6 {would also work.} 30. Rf7 Bh7 31. Nc7 Bg6 32. Rg7 Rdg8 33. Rxg8+ Rxg8 34. Ne6) (29... Bd7 {This forces} 30. Rxd7 Rxd7) (29... Bd7 30. Rxb7+ Kxb7 31. Nxd6+ Kc7 32. Nf7 Bf4 33. Nxd8 Kxd8 {Black is a piece up.}) 0-1