Akiba Rubinstein

Akiba Rubinstein was born on December 1882. He was a brilliant Polish grandmaster who was famous at the beginning of the 20th century. He was Jewish and chose to devote himself entirely to chess, instead of finishing his studies and becoming a rabbi as his family planned. This decision came in 1903 after he won fifth place at a tournament in Kiev.

Between 1907 and 1912, Rubinstein flourished. In 1907, he won at Karlovy Vary and also tied for first at St. Petersburg. In 1912, he set a record by winning five consecutive major tournaments: San Sebastian, Piestany, Breslau (the German championship), Warsaw and Vilnius. Back then, it was common practice for the reigning world champion to handpick his challengers. Emmanuel Lasker never gave Rubinstein a chance to play for the world championship due to the fact that he was unable to raise enough money to meet Lasker's financial demands. A poor showing at St. Petersburg in 1914 further damaged his plans to become world champion. The emergence of an alternative challenger by the name of Jos Ra l Capablanca and the outbreak of World War 1 ultimately ruined his plans.

He was still an elite grandmaster after the war, yet his results lacked their previous formidable consistency. Despite his decline, he was able to win at Vienna in 1922, ahead of Alexander Alekhine, future world champion, and who was the leader of the Polish team that won the Chess Olympiad at Hamburg in 1930 with the splendid record of 13 wins and 4 draws. Rubinstein also went on to win an Olympic silver a year later.

After 1932, due to his schizophrenic tendencies becoming prevalent, he withdrew from tournament play. He left behind no literary heritage like the other great grandmasters, although he lived for almost 30 years afterwards. This may be attributed to his mental problems. He died on March 15, 1961 in Antwerp, Belgium.

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