Despite its name, the Lodz Society of Chess Playing Amateurs counted several of Europe's best players among its members; its annual championship tournament frequently spawned noteworthy games. In round six of the 1907 tournament, Georg Rotlewi and Akiba Rubinstein played the Tarrasch Defense.
Georg Rotlewi's short but impressive chess career ended with a diagnosis of neuropathy. Commonly believed to have been strongest player never to play for the World Chess Championship, Akiba Rubinstein's family expected him to become a rabbi, but he turned to chess at a young age; after WWI he played inconsistently, possibly because of a severe social anxiety which worsened over time.
