Black should lose a pawn now: 12.
Bxe4! dxe4 13. Nxe4 Bxg5 14. Nexg5. Perhaps then-World Champion Alexander Alekhine wasn’t sure how to disentangle his knights after 14. ... Nf8. The way to do that would have been 15. Ne4! Bf5 16. Nfd2 Bg6 (or 16. ... Qe7 17. f3) 17. Rfe1! (17. f3? f5 wins the e3- pawn) followed by 18. f3 and 19. Qb3. The game continuation was 12.
Bf4? f5? (It was not too late to correct the mistake and return with 12. ... Nef6, with a passive but solid position.) 13. Nxd5! The Rubinstein Trap again! 13. ... Bd6 14. Bxd6(14. Qb3! Kh8 15. Bxe4 Bxf4 16. Bxf5 or 14. ... Bxf4 15. Nf6+! Kh8 16. Nxe8 was even stronger, with a completely winning position.) 14. ... Nxd6 15. Nf4 and White eventually converted his extra pawn into a full point.
Sometimes the Rubinstein Trap
can look a bit different. Consider the following position from my game against an expert-level player.
Gurevich-Regue Farran, 2015
WHITE TO PLAY
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
a b c d e f g h
White evidently has a big lead in development. In fact, Black’s pieces (except his pawns) were placed the exact same way after move 7! He then castled kingside, came under a strong attack, and played Kg7, Rh8,
Kf8, and Ke8! So how do I punish my opponent for his strange play? Take a moment to figure it out!
Remembering the Rubinstein
Trap, I found 19. Nb5! As usual, 19. ... cxb5 loses the queen after 20. Bc7, but now ignoring the pesky knight is even harder: I have twin threats of Nc7+, winning the Exchange, and Bc7. Black should have played 19. ... Nb6, allowing the fork and losing eventually. The alternative he chose was even worse: 19. ... Kf8?! 20. Bc7! Qe8 21. Nd6 1-0 Black re- signed since there is no way to save the queen (if 21. ... Bxd6, then just 22. Bxd6+). In its various forms, the Rubin-
stein Trap has claimed hundreds of victims. I hope that my explanation will ensure that some of your future opponents join that list! But in the meantime, do be careful—you could be next!
Chess Life Kids April 2016 5
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