Akiba Rubinstein – "The Endgame God"

Akiba Rubinstein (1880–1961) was a Polish chess legend. In his prime (1912), he was likely the strongest player on Earth, winning five major international tournaments in a single year.

He is the ultimate Positional Player. He specialized in accumulating small advantages and converting them in the endgame with machine-like precision. His rook endgame technique is still the standard by which modern GMs are measured.

It is one of the great tragedies of chess history. He secured a match with Emanuel Lasker for 1914, but World War I began, canceling the event. The momentum of his career was lost forever.

Yes. The Rubinstein Variation of the French Defense and the Nimzo-Indian Defense are still top-tier main lines today.

His 1907 game against Rotlewi is a masterpiece of combination. He sacrificed his Queen and Rook to deliver a mate that looked like it came from another dimension.

In 1912, he won five consecutive major international tournaments (San Sebastian, Pistyan, Breslau, Warsaw, Vilna), a record of dominance that stood for decades.

His handling of Rook and Pawn endings was flawless. His game against Lasker (St. Petersburg 1909) is the textbook example of how to win a "drawn" rook ending.

He defeated Emanuel Lasker, Jose Raul Capablanca, and Alexander Alekhine in individual games, proving he was their equal.

Along with Paul Keres and Viktor Korchnoi, he is widely considered the strongest player never to wear the official crown.

He led the Polish team to a Gold Medal at the Hamburg Chess Olympiad, scoring a phenomenal 15/17 on board one.

He revitalized the French Defense with lines that prioritized solid pawn structures and piece activity.

His setup (4.e3) in the Nimzo-Indian is arguably the most solid and enduring way for White to play against the Nimzo.

In his later years, he suffered from severe social anxiety (anthropophobia). He would famously leave the board after making a move to avoid sitting opposite his opponent.

He spent World War II in a sanatorium in Belgium, which likely saved his life from the Nazi occupation.

At San Sebastian 1911, he defeated Capablanca in a brilliant endgame, handing the Cuban prodigy one of his rare losses.

Modern challenger Boris Gelfand considers Rubinstein his chess hero and modeled his entire style on him.

A famous trap in the Queen's Gambit Declined (involving a Queen sacrifice for a mate threat) is named after him.

Before Karpov, there was Rubinstein. He showed the world how to restrict opponent's pieces until they suffocated.

He was a pioneer of the Meran system in the Semi-Slav, showing it could be played for a win with Black.

His games taught the chess world the golden rule of endgames: "Activity is worth more than a pawn."

He tied for first place with World Champion Lasker, a result that shocked the world and established him as the heir apparent.

He was known for his intense study of the game, treating it with a religious devotion ("The Spinoza of Chess").

He also contributed to the theory of the Four Knights Game and the Vienna Game.

Today, every Grandmaster studies Rubinstein to learn endgame technique. If you want to improve your endgames, start here.