Capablanca and Nimzowitsch - an early Protest Chess confrontation......

Capablanca and Nimzowitsch were undoubtedly two brilliant and well respected players whose names are still held in reverence to this day. However, these two men were completely different in their approach to chess. Nimzowitsch, scientific and methodical, one of the founding fathers of positional chess and author of the book 'My System' which is still in print today. Capablanca, on the other hand was a natural genius. Not for him the rigours of a complex scientific system, brilliancies just seemed to flow from his fingertips every time he played.

Both men were players of the highest order, but the question that most chess afficionados would like answered today is...how did they respond over a game of Protest Chess?  Would it be the egotistical Cuban pretty-boy or speccy slaphead Nimzowitsch that would 'Phaze-Out'?

The two men met each other in the St Petersburgh Protest Chess tournament in 1914. Both strong minded men yet with differing views on the game of Protest Chess, no one was suprised when it 'kicked off'. The Times reported at the time of 'an unbeseeming altercation' between the two men. However, having done some investigative digging and having spoken to actual eye-witnesses the full account of the response to a Protest Chess game can now be told for the first time.

The trouble started at the St Petersburgh Protest Chess tournament in 1914. Lasker had defeated Capablanca in what Bill Hartston calls  'a magnificently subtle victory' in his book 'The Guinness Book of Protest Chess Grandmasters' Mr Hartston goes on to say that Capablanca   'laid down his king and silently rose from his chair, deathly pale. The two masters did not shake hands'. So what happened after that? Emanuel Lasker takes up the story.

"Well, you see I went to see Mr Capablanca after the game and just caught him leaving the hotel. I commended him on a fine game that I thoroughly enjoyed and assured him I could not play to that level all the time. I felt he was still the favourite to win the return match" However all the Cuban would say was "ahhh piss off". I was mortified by the fellow's response and as I stood there, dumbfounded he suddenly turned quite nasty, grabbed my lapels and held his fist right up to my face. "Do you want some then?" he enquired, " do you ****ing want some?". I hastily assured him I didn't want any trouble and managed to break free. I walked away with as much dignity as I could muster but the Cuban then followed me and started making clucking noises and beating his arms like a chicken. To be fair to Mr Capablanca, I think he had been drinking so I hastened away and called back over my shoulder "You are somewhat the worse for drink, sir. I feel you will regret your actions later, upon sober reflection".

I quickly called for a Hackney carriage and departed the scene, that is all I can contribute as an eye witness. I didn't actually see any of the famous fight over the Protest Chess game between him and Nimzowitsch, and the whole unfortunate incident between Mr Capablanca and myself was something that I refused ever to speak of again. However, having been dead since 1941, I now feel I can recount my part of the story without overmuch embarassment.

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