Rubinstein — Mieses
Bad Kissingen, 1928
- Akiba Rubinstein (1880–1961)Polish grandmaster (1950) and, by retrospective ratings, the world's strongest player in the early 1910s. War cancelled his 1914 title match with Lasker, and in 1930 he led Poland to Olympiad gold.
- Jacques Mieses (1865–1954)German-British grandmaster (1950) and winner at Vienna 1907; the Mieses Opening (1. d3) bears his name. He fled the Nazis for Britain in 1938 and in 1950, aged 85, became the oldest of FIDE's first grandmasters.
In the next example, Rubinstein's opponent could not accept the threatening position of the enemy's central pawns and decided to destroy one of them, even though this carried great danger. Rubinstein had foreseen this possibility and punished his opponent with a tactical technique.
Black's last move was 14...♕d8-e7. Here is what Nimzowitsch wrote about this move in the tournament book: "...wanting at all costs to win a pawn, but the trouble is that winning this pawn means losing the game":
- 15.
- Black persists in this plan, deciding to destroy the defender of the central pawns — the c3 knight
- Nimzowitsch recommends this move, to counter the e4-e5 breakthrough. It seems White's position would still be preferable here too, thanks to the strong central pawns
- 16.
- Consistent, but bad
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.
- Black has helped White seize the important a1-h8 diagonal. On top of that, new trouble struck: the e-file opened, and the knight that had taken the central pawn came under a pin
- 19.
- 20.
- 21.
- 22.
- 23.
- 24.
- Black resigned
A strong central pawn position can hold not only through piece support, but also through various tactical threats. Finding such tactical moments is of course harder than simple defenses, but you have to look for them.
In this example, the opening of lines (files and diagonals) after the central pawn's destruction is typical, and it is what doomed the "attacker."