The Nuremberg tournament, which was one of the last major chess events of the 19th century, was organized by the local chess club and was timed during the Great Industrial Exhibition of 1896. World champion Emanuel Lasker won convincingly and took home the first prize of 3,000 gold marks. Rudolf Charousek finished twelfth out of nineteen participants, so he did not reach the prizes, as only the first seven places were paid. Even so, his debut on the international stage can be considered a success thanks to a great win over Lasker, who lost just three games in the tournament. Lasker was so impressed by the loss to Charousek that he reportedly declared, “I will defend my title against this young man one day.”
We can at least recall Charousek’s memorable victory in the romantic style of the King’s Gambit Accepted.
Although Rudolf Charousek was considered a Hungarian chess player and is mentioned in foreign language literature with the first name Rezso, this native of Prague never forgot his Czech roots and wrote letters home exclusively in Czech. His promising chess career was sadly ended four years later when he died of tuberculosis at the age of just 26.