Rotlewi versus Rubinstein is a game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

played between Gersz Rotlewi and

Akiba Rubinstein Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1 December 1880 – 14 March 1961) was a Polish chess player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Rubinstein was granted the title International Grandma ...

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

on December 26, 1907. It features a brilliant queen and rook

sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

by Rubinstein to . The game was dubbed Rubinstein's Immortal Game by Hans Kmoch.

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

described the game as "Rubinstein's truly 'immortal' game" and "his most famous creation".

The game

White: Gersz Rotlewi Black: Akiba Rubinstein

Opening Opening may refer to: Types of openings * Hole * A title sequence or opening credits * Grand opening of a business or other institution * Inauguration * Keynote * Opening sentence * Opening sequence * Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...

: Tarrasch Defense, Symmetrical Variation ('' ECO'' D32)
Łódź, Poland, December 1907 otes are based on ''The Big Book of Chess'' by Eric Schiller, and other referenced works.">Eric_Schiller.html" ;"title="otes are based on ''The Big Book of Chess'' by Eric Schiller">otes are based on ''The Big Book of Chess'' by Eric Schiller, and other referenced works. 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. c4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. a3 a6 8. b4 Bd6 9. Bb2 0-0 10. Qd2 :

Tartakower criticizes this as a loss of : "The queen will soon have to seek a better square. The most useful move is 10.Qc2." 10... Qe7 :This move sacrifices a pawn, but 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Nxd5? accepting the sacrifice allows 12...Nxd5 13.Qxd5 Rd8! with a strong attack. 11. Bd3 dxc4 12. Bxc4 b5 13. Bd3 Rd8 14. Qe2 Bb7 15. 0-0 Ne5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 :Threatening to win a pawn by 17...Bxh2+! since 18.Kxh2 allows the Fork (chess)">fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to h ...

18...Qd6+ followed by 19...Qxd3. 17. f4 Bc7 18. e4 Rac8 19. e5 Bb6+ 20. Kh1 Ng4 :Black is trying to attack White's . Both bishops, the knight, and soon the queen are attacking squares near White's king. 21. Be4 Qh4 22. g3 (see diagram) Rxc3 :White's bishop on e4 is defended by both his queen and knight, but his queen must also defend h2 against ...Qxh2. Black sacrifices to remove the knight, causing White's queen to be overloaded defending both e4 and h2. Chernev wrote "It's only the beginning. You ain't seen nothin' yet. Kmoch gives this move three exclamation marks. We can hardly do less."''Chess Review'' 1954, vol. 22, p. 288 23. gxh4 :White has little choice but to accept the sacrifice of Black's queen, since 23.Bxc3 and most other moves lose to 23...Bxe4+ 24.Qxe4 Qxh2#, and 23.Bxb7 loses to 23...Rxg3. 23... Rd2!! (diagram) :Black deflects White's queen from defending the bishop on e4 by sacrificing a rook in addition to the queen. White has to take the rook because White's queen is pinned against the h2-square, for example: :* 24.Qe1 Rxh2# :* 24.Qxg4 Bxe4+ 25.Rf3 Rxf3 (threatening 26...Rf1#) :** 26.Qxf3 Bxf3# :** 26.Qg2 Rf1+! 27.Rxf1 Bxg2# :* 24.Rfe1 or 24.Rae1 lose to 24...Bxe4+ 25.Qxe4 Rxh2# :* 24.Bxb7 Rxe2 25. Bg2 (forced) Rh3 and ...Rxh2# 24. Qxd2 Bxe4+ 25. Qg2 Rh3! :Black ignores the fact he can take White's queen and instead forces mate soon by ...Rxh2#, despite being down in by a queen and rook for two . White resigns.

References

Bibliography * * * * *{{Citation, title = 500 Master Games of Chess , last1 = Tartakower , first1 = Savielly , last2 = du Mont , first2 = Julius , author1-link = Savielly Tartakower , author2-link = Julius du Mont , year = 1975 , orig-year = First published 1952 , publisher = Dover Publications , url = https://archive.org/details/500mastergamesof00tart , url-access = registration , via =

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

, ISBN = 0-486-23208-5

External links

Game score
at Chessgames.com 1907 in chess 1907 in Poland December 1907 sports events in Europe Chess games 20th century in Łódź

The game

See also

References

External links