Customer Reviews

Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces: 100 Selected Games

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After having read this book, I gather that Rubinstein was a great positional player, tactician and an endgame virtuoso. Especially in Rook endgames his skills were unmatched. A lot of the games you see Rubinstein win a pawn out of the middle game skirmishes or weaken the opponents pawn structure and then grind them out slowly in an endgame, while his opponent waits like a goat ready to be fed to the lions. Also a lot of the games have a lot of nice tactics so you get to enjoy some combinations while you go through his games. Rubinstein mostly used to play Queens pawn games so you get to see a lot of Queens Gambit in his games, and study his approach to the Queens Gambit. With the black pieces he used to play the kings pawn to e5 mostly for defence, sometimes the Alekhine or the French, but mostly to e5. So you get to see his take on the Ruy Lopez, Four Knights and other king pawn openings like the Scotch. After reading this book, I am considering looking at other titles about Rubinstein, as his play was excellent, and at under $10 you cannot beat the value you get for the book. The only downside is that it is kind of hard to follow the games in descriptive notation, but after you go through like the first ten or fifteen you get practice, and dont end up making mistakes when moving the pieces.

This a Dover reprint. Usually, Dover does not make changes to the format of its reprints, but this one needed it, and badly. The diagrams are small and old-fashioned and the moves are in descriptive notation. This usually does not bother me. Though I cannot tell you why, it bothers me here. As to content, Hans Kmoch's annotations are a bit skimpy in places. He assumes a knowledge level beyond a beginner's so be warned. The games are vintage Rubinstein: crystal clear strategical plans, superb middlegames and faultless endings. Should you wish for a book on this Polish genius and you have deep pockets look for the volumes by John Donaldson. If on a budget this present book will suffice.

This is a book of a truly great player's games by a truly great author. (by the way, the reviewer from Sweden who deducted 2 stars for a few very minor notation issues is out of line giving this bookk 3 stars). Rubinstein's games are wonderful teaching tools: his games have a clarity like those of Capablanca, but his opening repertoire is more in line with what the intermediate player might play. Kmoch gives plenty of variations to challenge you, and many of these games have liong endings. At the price, this is one of the most valuable books in chess literature. This book is relatively unknown, but it has been around a long time. Note that Hans Berliner credited a careful study of this book with his development of "The System." Not that Rubinstein or Kmoch are to be blamed for the idiosynacies of that book; but the point is to show that this book has influenced players and authors. It is a great book.

Just a clarification regarding Matthias Nilsson's correction of R(K)-K2 into R(1)-K2. The former is also correct, and was used frequently in old books. (K) refers to the King square, that is, K1. This notation is used extensively, for example, in Richard Reti's Masters of the Chessboard, where he routinely writes R-K to mean R-K1.

Poland's greatest player Akiba Rubinstein (1882-1961) is one of my three favorite chessplayers (the other two being Karpov and Kramnik). He was certainly the strongest player in the world from 1907 to 1912 (though Emmanuel Lasker fans would disagree), until his mental illness set in and slowly diminished the Genius he possessed. Personally, I find Winkelman's opening to be emotionally stirring and incredibly well-written.

Then, THE GAMES.

For those of you who love "hackers" like Morphy or Tal or (to a lesser extent) Kasparov, please try to appreciate the supreme refinement that went into Rubinstein's play. Many of his games are enormously complex, but in a beautiful, elegant way. And if you doubt that Rubinstein could attack like the three aforementioned champions could, look no further than Rotlewi-Rubinstein from Lodz, 1907 (Game #6 in this book). You will find this game and notes to it all over the internet, as it contains one of the 10 or so GREATEST COMBINATIONS EVER PLAYED.

Yes, the book written in Descriptive Notation (many of the great classics of chess literature are written in this "language"). Yes, you may question the diagrams and print in the book. And yes, there are some typos, etc. But so what? To study chess without knowing about great non-champions from the past (others are Schlecter, Marshall, Pillsbury, Chigorin, Niemzowitsch, Keres, etc.) is akin to studying classical music without a knowledge of who Bach was.

Kmoch was an excellent analyst. Rubinstein's end games and combinations are worthy of our admiration and study. This book is a good value.

While this book may have an old-fashioned presentation, the content is first rate. As I went through this book I lost track of the number of times where I wondered "But what if Black plays PxB?" only to see a note saying "If PxB, then White wins with ...". The fellow seems to pitch his notes at a level that is reliably helpful to the average-to-good player.
Also, as far as I know, there are no poor Kmoch books. All of them seem to be lucid and helpful. Get this book-it's cheap! If you like it, then grab others by the same author, you won't be sorry!
When I read the book, I was rated about 1800 USCF, but even much higher rated players will be amply repaid from the study of this book.

It is no accident that the most skillful player of rook endings always managed to end up in them, 50 % of his endings were rook endings. There were many other noteable examples where players always seemed to be in the ending of their predilection. A great way to study the rook endings in this book is to assemble all of your text books on rook endings. Then cover up the moves of the games in the this book. After every reply, guess what Akiba would have played. After you have finished, look at the moves you missed and write down what you think their functions were. Then open all of the rook endings books and try to link up their examples to the positions in the game you played. Study logical follow ups to procedures that arise from these endings. Wait a while and play over the game again. Notice how the great master is taking into account many nuances that only become visible much later. This book is a great deal at this price and there is more than ample material to develop great depth to your game.

Presumptive readers should be warned about the number of errors the author has committed in the notation which makes this book much harder to read. Page 14, move 34, there is 34 R(K)-K2 when it should be 34.R(1)-K2.
Next is note to move 40 line b looks like: [44...R-B2?] 45.R-B8ch R-B1 46. R(B8)-b7)-45.K-Kt3 R(B5)-B7 etc ,when it should look like this: (44-R-B2? 45.R-B8ch R-B1 46.R(B8)-B7) 45.K-Kt3 R(B4)-B7

When playing through the second game I noticed 3 more
1. 16.B-Kt2 should be 16.B-KKt2
2.Note to whites 20th move after "19-Kt-Kt3 (not 20. Q-Kkt3" forgetting to add 20. KtxKt before bracket.
3. 20-Kt(B)-R2 should be 20-Kt(1)-R2

Apart from that, Rubinsteins games are good and well chosen and I
would have given this book 5 stars if it wasnt for the notation errors

Matthias

If you want to study one of the greatest players who ever lived, this is the best book to do it from. Period.