High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (12 December 1882 in Stawiski, Poland – 15 March 1961 in Antwerp, Belgium) was a famous Polish chess Grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. He was scheduled to play a match with Emanuel Lasker for the world championship in 1914, but it was cancelled because of the outbreak of World War I. In his youth, he astonished the chess world, defeating many famous players, including Capablanca and Schlechter - however, his later life was plagued by mental illness.