To continue the story, we must turn to the great Dr Siegberg Tarrasch.

"I exitted the playing hall and was much amused to see Mr Capablanca strutting behind Mr Lasker performing what looked like some sort of Vaudeville chicken impression. As Lasker disappeared off in a hackney I think it was, Capablanca then turned to the assembled players there and said "Come on then who's first, I'll have the lot of you" He lurched towards Mr Alekhine and the young man stepped away with some trepidation. Then he turned to Rubenstein who advised Capablanca to calm down. It was at this point that Mr Nimzowitsch appeared from the shadows saying "I'm your huckleberry".

It appeared that Capablanca visibly blanched at this new development as Nimzowitsch was widely known to be 'a bit handy' and was not one to back down from a fight whether it be over the chessboard or just a scrap in the street!

Capablanca walked towards Nimzowitsch saying "Look mate there's no need to..." and then swung a massive right at Nimzowitsch sending his specs flying across the room and causing a small drop of blood to appear at the corner of his mouth. Tarrasch continues: "Nimzowitsch just wiped it away with his sleeve and gave Capa this really evil look. The two men slowly circled each other. I remember Mr Nimzowitsch's cheeks were flushed red and he was breathing heavily through clenched teeth, he was certainly up for this fight. Suddenly he dashed at Capablanca and butted him on the nose with his head."

It seems that using his natural cunning and resources, Capa was quickly able to get Nimzowitsch in a headlock with his left hand and started thumping him with his right hand. It looked like the father of positional chess was in deep trouble and the fight was to finish quickly but Nimzowitsch managed to trip Capablanca up and both men fell sprawling to the ground.

Alexander Alekhine continues the story. "Despite what the record says, I didn't chicken out of that fight with Capablanca, I just stepped back a bit to give myself more room if he came at me. As to the fight, both men fell to the floor I think Capablanca's pocket watch detached itself from his waistcoat and they rolled over it, thus breaking the glass. Mr Nimzowitsch lost several buttons from his waistcoat whilst both men's shirt collars had come loose. They looked like a duo straight from the music hall. It was Capa who recovered first and clambered on top of Nimzowitsch, sitting on his chest and pinning his arms to the ground with his knees. Capablanca then addressed Mr Nimzowitsch thus if memory serves, he said "How would you like a bit of MY system you positional ponce" and started to punch the prostrate Nimzowitsch again and again.

"To this day I don't know how Nimzowitsch did it but he somehow managed to free himself, just as he had a habit of miraculously saving himself from the most perilous traps on the chessboard, he had now upended the great Cuban and the two scrambled quickly to their feet and faced each other again."

Akiba Rubenstein is able to furnish still more details  "Yes the two men were standing face to face, I think I said something poncey like "Come on now, gentlemen, calm down, this isn't the proper way to behave" but Nimzowitsch couldn't hear me, he'd gone totally mental and raising his arms, he let out this weird high pitched shriek and ran at Capablanca.He got him with a terrific punch square on the jaw and Capa fell backwards out of the door. We all quickly followed outside and saw Nimzowitsch again leap at Capablanca   The two foremost Protest Chess masters of our age tumbled down the 8 or 9 steps that formed the entrace to the hotel, kicking, punching and clawing at each other as they fell. I think it was this fall that finished the fight, they were both a bit knackered by it, but as they stood up to start again, both looking the worse for wear and near exhaustion, a group of Muscovite sailors happened to come walking by."

It was these sailors, who took hold of the two men and prevented them starting to fight again. The sailors were highly amused, saying they had never had to break up a fight between two chess masters before, in fact the sailors were usually the ones to be found fighting. Nimzowitsch saw the funny side of this and extended his hand towards Mr Capablanca to end the feud. Capa just looked at him sullenly and turned on his heel and walked away.

     Who won the fight over the Protest Chess game? The verdict

Return to the Protest Chess Home Page