He was born in 1880 in Warsaw (then in the Russian Empire) and spent his early years in England where he learned to play chess. After return to Warsaw, he became one of the strongest Polish players.
Flamberg played his first strong tournament in Łodz (a Quadrangular) in 1906 and finished 3rd, behind Akiba Rubinstein and Mikhail Chigorin and aheas of Georg Salve.
In 1910, he won the Warsaw championship ahead of Rubinstein, but lost a match to him (+0 –4 =1). In 1913, he drew a match with Duras (+1 –1 =0) and won a match against Bogoljubow (+4 –0 =1), both in Warsaw.
The following game was one of his notable games because it was significant in the history of theory...his countryman David Prepiorka commented, "When one examines the opening moves and the subsequent course of the game, it is almost incredible that it was played in 1914...the double fianchetto of the Bishops, the operations on both wings, and later on the maneuver with the black Knights and the posting of the Queen on the long diagonal, all these ideas are, as we know, considered the very latest achievements of the Hypermoderns."
The Hypermodern Period was in vogue during the period of 1919-1928, bit it did exist in its early development in 1914, but its development was delayed because of WW I. His opponent in this game was Stepan Levitsky (1876-1924), a Russian master.
[Event "All-Russian Masters. St. Petersburg"] [Site ""] [Date "1914.01.16"] [Round "?"] [White "Alexander Flamberg"] [Black "Stepan Levitsky"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A47"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "1914.??.??"] {E17: Queen's Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 {A solid defense in which black tries to control the light squares in the center with pieces is in the Hypermodern style.} 3. g3 {A popular reply that contests the long diagonal.} Bb7 {The idea of playing ...Ba6 became popular in the 1970s and another idea is ...Bb4+ aining to exchange the less useful dark-squared B ha also been tried.} 4. Bg2 e6 5. O-O Be7 6. b3 O-O 7. Bb2 d6 8. c4 Nbd7 9. Nbd2 c5 { At the time the originality of these opening moves was revolutionary.} 10. Ne1 {Flamberg's idea is that the the whole game is based on the control of e4 and so he wants to eliminate light squared Bs in the belief that his K will be safe abd that he will win the battle for e4. The move is not at all bad, but nowadays white usually plays 10.e3 with a solid position. It seems Flamberg's idea has more potential.} Qc7 {Hardly bad, but simpler would have been 10... Bxg2} (10... Bxg2 11. Kxg2 cxd4 12. Bxd4 Rc8 13. e4 Qc7 {with a completely equal position.}) 11. Rc1 {White has several reasinable moves here (for example, 11.e4), but the idea of the text is that it discourages black from central P exchanges as long as his Q is on the c-file.} Bxg2 12. Nxg2 {The position is completely equal. Black could now safely play 12...cxd4, but plays ot safe instead and removes his Q from any potential danger.} Qb7 13. Ne3 { Again, this position is so even that black has a number of reasonable moves.} cxd4 14. Bxd4 Nc5 {Black's plan of retaining control of K5 is logical, but unfortunate in its conse- quences. He misses the last opportunity to play ... P- Q4.} 15. Qc2 Nce4 16. Nxe4 Nxe4 17. Qb2 {Hypermodern stuff...the posting of the Q on the long diagonal to supports the B.} e5 {This leaves him with a backward d-Pawn on the semi-open file and a bad B, but it's a profoundly well played move that closes the diagonal.} 18. Bc3 {Very nice. He is hoping Levitsky will tale the B leaving white with a good N against black's bad B.} Bg5 {18...Nxc3 would be positional suicide.} 19. f4 exf4 20. gxf4 {Black's last maneuver has enabled him to render white's e-Pawn backward and, at the same time, rein-forced his control of e3 because white can no longer play f3. For his part, white has pressure on black's d-Pawn and a a beautiful square for the N on d5. The f-file also has some potential for him. All on all, the position ids equal/} Bf6 21. Bxf6 Nxf6 22. Rcd1 Qe4 23. Rf3 {Both players have been pursue their respective goals.} Nh5 {One annotator who evidently based his comments on the game's outcome called this move a desperate bid for counterplay. That's hardly the case, but the move is a bad seed and white now gets just a wee bot of an advantage. 23...Rfe8 would have kept the engine evaluation at 0.00. 23...Nh5 offers white a P capture which he wisely avoids taking.} 24. Nd5 (24. Rxd6 {would not be wise because after} Nxf4 25. Qd2 Rae8 26. Kf2 g5 {black has plenty of play.}) 24... Rae8 25. Kf2 {A real Master move! White protects his e-Pawn and at the same time makes room for the R on the g-file. He also threatnes Re3.} Qf5 26. Rg1 f6 {The threat was Rg5, but a better way to prevent it was with 26...h6. After the text white gains a small advantage.} 27. Qb1 Qc8 {One annotator opined that the exchange of Qs would yield white a favor-able ending and obviously Levitsky agreed, but they were both wrong! Exchanging Qs was exactly the right course to heep the chances equal. Now white treally does have the advantage, but that's not to say black is lost.} 28. Qd3 {Threatening to win the Knight by Rh3, but it allows black the equalizinf advance of his f-Pawn. White should have prevnted black's next move by advancing his own f-Pawn.} f5 29. Qc3 Kh8 {Black is starting to collapse. His intention probably was to play ...Rg8, but he is in for a surprise. Correct was 29...Qd8} (29... Qd8 {remains equal.} 30. Rg5 Nf6 31. Nxf6+ (31. Rxf5 Ne4+) 31... Rxf6 32. Rfg3 g6 33. h4 d5 34. cxd5 Re4 {with equak chances.}) 30. Rh3 {[%mdl 2048] White now has a virile attack.} Nf6 { [%mdl 8192] After this black is lost.} (30... Qe6 {is a better chance.} 31. Qf3 Nf6 32. Nc7 Ne4+ 33. Kg2 Qd7 {White is clearly better, but black could fight on.}) 31. Rxg7 {[%mdl 512] A magnificent conclusion.} Kxg7 32. Rg3+ Kh6 33. Nxf6 Re6 34. Rg5 {Black cannot parry the mating threats.} Qc5+ 35. Kf1 { It's mate, so black resigned.} 1-0
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