Rudolf Charousek

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Charousek-Wollner, position after 16...Nc6

Rudolf Charousek (Hungarian: Rezső Charousek) (19 September 1873, Prague – 18 April 1900, Budapest) was a Hungarian-Jewish chess player. A brilliant player, he had a tragically short career, dying from tuberculosis. Reuben Fine described him as the John Keats of chess.

He was one of a few players who had a plus record against Emanuel Lasker, having defeated the world champion at Nuremberg 1896. [ [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1036173 Charousek-Lasker, Nuremberg 1896] ] Lasker was so impressed that he said "I shall have to play a championship match with this man some day". Here is the game:

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 d5 4.Bxd5 Qh4+ 5.Kf1 g5 6.Nf3 Qh5 7.h4 Bg7 8.Nc3 c6 9.Bc4 Bg4 10.d4 Nd7 11.Kf2 Bxf3 12.gxf3 O-O-O13.hxg5 Qxg5 14.Ne2 Qe7 15.c3 Ne5 16.Qa4 Nxc4 17.Qxc4 Nf6 18.Bxf4 Nd7 19.Qa4 a6 20.Qa5 Nf8 21.Ng3 Ne6 22.Nf5 Qf8 23.Bg3 Rd7 24.Nxg7 Qxg7 25.Qe5 Qxe5 26.Bxe5 f6 27.Bxf6 Rf8 28.Rh6 Nf4 29.Ke3 Ng2+ 30.Kd2 Rdf7 31.e5 Nf4 32.Rah1 Rg8 33.c4 Ne6 34.Ke3 Nf8 35.d5 Rd7 36.e6 1-0

Another of his Charousek's games, which grandmaster Andrew Soltis described as "one of the prettiest ever," was the basis for "Last Round" by Kester Svendsen, [ [http://www.wtharvey.com/lastrd.html "Last Round" by Kester Svendsen] ] [Irving Chernev, "The Chess Companion", Simon and Schuster, 1973, pp. 37-44.] which Soltis called " [p] erhaps the finest chess short story." [Andrew Soltis, "From Russia with Love," "Chess Life", October 1993, p. 16.] Here is the game:

Charousek-Wollner, Kaschau 1893 [ [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1036115 Charousek-Wollner, Kaschau 1893] ] 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bc5 6.Nxc3 d6 7.0-0 0-0 8.Ng5 h6 9.Nxf7 Rxf7 10.e5 Ng4 11.e6 Qh4! 12.exf7+ Kf8 13.Bf4 Nxf2 14.Qe2 Ng4+ 15.Kh1 Bd7 16.Rae1 Nc6 17.Qe8+ Rxe8 18.fxe8(Q)+ Bxe8 19.Bxd6# [Punctuation is Soltis's.]

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External links

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