Rudolf Charousek

  

     The Romantic Era chess was a time when the style of play that emphasizes quick, tactical maneuvers rather than long-term strategic planning. The style was popular in the 18th century until its decline in the 1880s. Romantic players consider winning to be secondary to winning with style! 

     Games during the Romantic Era usually opened with 1.e4 with the King's Gambit and Giuoco Piano to folloed. The era is generally considered to have ended with the 1873 Vienna tournament where Wilhelm Steinitz popularized positional play and the closed game thus ushering in the Modern, or Classical, Era. Then in, the 1930s the Hypermodern Era was ushered in

     One forgotten player of the Romantic E`ra was Rudolf Charousek (September 9, 1873 - April 18, 1900), a tragic figure who was known for his many brilliant tactical games. 

     He was born in what is modern day Lomecek which is near Prague, but as an infant his family moved to Debrecen, Hungary, where he became a naturalized Hungarian. 

     He learned to play chess at to age of 16. While studying law in Kassa, he soon became a strong player and during the 1890s he was was on the top ten players in the world. In 1893 he entered a correspondence tournament organized by the Budapest newspaper Pesti Hirlap, in which he eventually shared first place with Geza Maroczy. 

     Unfortunately, his career was cut short when he died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. 

 

     In the following game Charousek neat Chigorin, but they played a tie-break match for sole first place which was won by Chigorin, 3-1.

[Event "Budapest"] [Site ""] [Date "1896.10.13"] [Round "?"] [White "Rudolf Charousek"] [Black "Mikhail Chigorin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C33"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "1896.10.04"] {C33: King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 {Statistically this old move (the Bishop's Gambit) yields slightly worse results than the more popular 3.Nf3. There is very little theory on the Bishop's Gambit and most lines are nameless. The bishop's gambit is the most important alternative to 3. Nf3. White allows 3...Qh4+ 4. Kf1 giving up castling, but castle, but his K is safe and he can gain several tempi on the black Q. White's plan is usually to develop quickly and start an attack on the K-side using the f-file and the B on c4. Many of black's defenses include the move ...d5 attacking the bishop on c4.} Nc6 {More to the point are wither 3...Qh4+ or 4...d5} 4. d4 Nf6 5. e5 { This hasty advance actually works in black's favor.} (5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Nge2 f3 7. gxf3 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. O-O Nxc3 10. bxc3 {Black stands well. Reprintsev,A (2353)-Ismagilov,D (2188) chess.com INT 2022}) 5... d5 6. Bb3 (6. Bb5 Ne4 7. Bxf4 Qh4+ 8. g3 Nxg3 9. Bxg3 Qe4+ 10. Kf2 Qxh1 {Black's position s superior. Koch,J (2484)-Kosten,A (2493) Belfort FRA 2012}) 6... Bg4 (6... Ne4 {was an alternative.} 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bxf4 O-O 9. Nbd2 Bf5 {with equal chances. Lanc,A (2355)-Olsarova,K (2278) Czech Rephblic 2014}) 7. Qd3 Nh5 {Chigorin has initiated a very dangers K-side attack. That Charousek escapes is a miracle.} 8. Nh3 Nb4 {It's odd that Chigorin does not press on with his K-side attack and instead resorts to this diversion on the Q-side which accomplishes nothing. } (8... f3 {was correct when white's best line is...} 9. O-O fxg2 10. Rf2 Qd7 { with a clear advantage.}) 9. Qc3 Na6 {It was too late to play ...f3. The N is now simply misplaced and out of play.} 10. O-O Be2 {[%mdl 8192] A bad miscalculation from which black cannot recover.} (10... g5 {and Black has nothing to worry.} 11. Ba4+ c6 (11... Bd7 {is also playable} 12. Bxd7+ Qxd7 13. Nxg5 Qg4 {but here white has a slight advantage.}) 12. Bxc6+ bxc6 13. Qxc6+ Bd7 14. Qxa6 Bxh3 {As a result of 10...Be2 this capture is not available.} 15. gxh3 ) 11. Ba4+ c6 {White now commences a sacrificial attack against black's vulnerable K which os caught in the center.} 12. Bxc6+ {[%mdl 512]} bxc6 13. Qxc6+ Ke7 14. Nxf4 {With this move Charousek misses the winning continuation.} (14. Nc3 {Bringing another piece into play and threatening Nxd5+ Surprisingly, it's not good enough for more than equality!} Nb4 15. Qb7+ Ke8 16. Nxe2 Rb8 17. Qxa7 Ra8 18. Qb7 Rb8 {draws}) (14. b3 {is a different story...the threat is mate with Ba3+.} Nb4 15. Ba3 a5 16. Nc3 Qc8 17. Bxb4+ axb4 18. Nxd5+ Kd8 19. Qb6+ Ke8 20. Nc7+ {and wins}) 14... Nxf4 15. Bxf4 {Intending Bg5+ and mate.} h6 {This prevents the threat, but is insufficient.} (15... Bxf1 {keeps the balance, but neither side has room for error!} 16. Nc3 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Nb4 18. Bg5+ f6 19. Qb7+ Ke6 20. exf6 Nxc2 {In this complicated position the chances are equal.}) 16. Nc3 {[%mdl 2048] White has strong initiative.} Bc4 {his defends the d-Pawn, but it does not meet white's real threat.} (16... Qc8 { was necessary.} 17. Qxd5 Bxf1 18. Rxf1 Nc7 {ere, at least, black has some remote chances of defending himself.}) 17. e6 Rc8 {Black's position is lost, but this allows a clever finish worthy of a Romantic!} (17... fxe6 18. Rae1 Qc8 19. Bd6+ Kd8 20. Rxf8+ Rxf8 21. Qxc8+ Rxc8 22. Bxf8 Ke8 23. Bxg7 {with a decisive endgame advantage.}) 18. Bc7 {[%mdl 512]} fxe6 (18... Nxc7 19. Rxf7#) 19. Bxd8+ Rxd8 20. Qb7+ Rd7 {Now comes a game winning blow.} 21. Rf7+ {[%mdl 512]} Kxf7 22. Qxd7+ Be7 23. Re1 Re8 24. b3 {[%mdl 32] Trapping the B.} Kf8 25. bxc4 {Black resigned.} (25. bxc4 Bf6 26. Nxd5 Nb8 27. Qd6+ Kf7 28. Nc7 Re7 29. Nxe6 {is utterly hopeless.}) 1-0