The Man Who Would Be King

Akiva Rubinstein occupies a unique position in chess history. One of the greatest artists ever to sit down at a chessboard, Rubinstein was also the strongest player never to get a shot at the title of world champion.

The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 1: Uncrowned King focuses on the years 1882-1920, covering Rubinstein’s rise from a modest upbringing to his emergence as Emanuel Lasker’s chief challenger in the last years leading up to World War I. It also examines the effects this conflict had on his sensitive psyche and the way it influenced his play in the post-war years.

This is most definitive work ever done on the first part of Rubinstein’s career, this revised and expanded edition of The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 1: Uncrowned King offers almost 500 games, many of them deeply annotated with notes translated from top players of the pre-World War I era, including Lasker, Tarrasch, Schlechter and Rubinstein. The authors have also made many new annotations to the games and uncovered quite a bit of interesting material including recent discoveries on Rubinstein’s
stay in Sweden after World War I.

This is a re-release of the second edition of The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein, Volume 1: Uncrowned King. First released in 2006, this outstanding work has a wealth of crosstables, archival photos, multiple indexes and thorough bibliography, offering a treasure-trove for the Rubinstein fan and chess aficionado.