Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein was a Polish chess player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Rubinstein was granted the title International Grandmaster in 1950, at its inauguration.
Rubinstein c. 1907/1908
Rubinstein in simultaneous chess exhibition, Tel Aviv, 1931
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Ding Liren, who defeated his opponent Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 World Chess Championship. Magnus Carlsen, the previous world champion, had declined to defend his title.
Ding Liren of China, the current world champion (2023)
A depiction of the chess match between Howard Staunton and Pierre Saint-Amant, on 16 December 1843.
Louis de la Bourdonnais, the world's strongest player from 1821 to his death in 1840
Howard Staunton, generally reckoned the world's leading player of the 1840s