| Chess Siberia |
Nabokov's Luzhin and his prototypes. Disclosing the mysteryby Boris Schipkov
Reading the novel "Luzhin's Defence" of Vladimir Nabokov with attention, is possible to notice, that the surnames of the characters are similar to hieroglyphs, these surnames already mean much for connoisseurs. We encounter more difficulty with the main character of the book. The surnames Luzhin and Alekhine have 4 identical letters, besides both bookish Luzhin and the world champion Alekhine had an aristocratic origin as well as Nabokov. But, certainly, Luzhin is a very narrow-minded man. He has not finished a grammar school, has read few books, he was interested almost in nothing except chess. The phrases of Luzhin are strange. Alexander Alekhine has received an excellent versatile education and he, himself, wrote excellent chess articles and books. Luzhin is a collective image. In 1924 the Berlin master Curt von Bardeleben has parted with life like Luzhin, having thrown himself out of the window. But Bardeleben was already sixty two as against the thirty-year-old Luzhin. But all the same, there is another chess player who is the basic prototype of Luzhin. In the novel there is a direct hint at him. The bride of the main character has told the mother that she has made friends with the famous chess player Luzhin. Her mother answered: "It is probably a pseudonym - some Rubinstein or Abramson ". And really, Akiba Rubinstein has not received good education, he was afraid of making grammar mistakes, therefore he made almost no comments on the games and did not write articles even about tournaments. He had few contacts with people, spending all his time on chess. In 1932 Rubinstein has played in his last tourmnament in Rotterdam after which doctors forbidden him to play chess and participate in competitions. In Nabokov's book the doctor said, "as soon as it is possible to reason with Luzhin it is necessary to convince him that the blind passion for chess is disastrous for him and that he needs to give up this profession for a long time".
It is necessary to notice, that Nabokov finished his novel in 1929, therefore converning Rubinstein it looks like a prediction. In the famous game Rotlevi - Rubinstein, Lodz 1907 Rubinstein beautifully sacrificed a queen and a rook, and in the final position his contender could also take a bishop. The description of a similar combination is in the book of Nabokov: "He has won, having sacrificed, one after another, a queen, a rook and a knight ".
© 2000 Boris Schipkov |