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So the question is therefore who won?
Akiba Rubenstein says "Well, its was Nimzowitsch who was the first to try to make friends again, which makes him a bit of a puff, so I say Capa had it".
Lasker, however, has a different view, he says "The friendship between Mr Rubenstein and Mr Capablanca is well noted, there may be some degree of partisanship which has encouraged Mr Rubenstein to find in favour of his friend".
Akiba Rubenstein later admitted this may be the case. "yes" he laughed "me and old Capa were good mates, but I'm not just saying he'd have done the speccy get cos I'm his mate. No, I've seen Capa in action before and he can go really mental during a fight, 'Capa the tapper' was what a few of us used to call him. Its lucky for Nimzowitsch that Capa didn't lose it. Even though I was his mate, he would still lay one on me if I said something out of line. I mean, you remember that business with Euwe don't you? Well that was Capa for you."
Mr Rubenstein is referring to an incident during a game in 1922 between Capablanca and Dr Euwe. Capablanca had accused Euwe of "looking at him" and threatened to lay him out. Rubenstein continues the story.
"Well, Capa said that Euwe was looking at him and threatened to chin him if he continued. Dr Euwe knew what Capablanca was like and so rather than argue, just fixed his eyes on the chess board so no further misunderstanding could be made. As Capablanca's position on the board deteriorated, Capa then accused Euwe of "looking at his bird". She was there, in the crowd who were watching the game. Euwe then had to sit at a ninety degree angle to the board. It was from then onwards that Capablanca started to turn the game around, however Euwe managed to hang on and eventually win the game.
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Euwe demonstrating he is NOT looking at
Capablanca's bird.
She is the lady with the hat standing behind the chess clocks.
Anderssen is the man standing to her left with hands clasped.
"However", Rubenstein continues "Euwe was a clever bloke and knew what Capa was like and had come prepared. He'd hired the big German Adolf Anderssen to act as a sort of minder. Old Ando was known to be quite useful, and because he had been dead since 1879 he didn't get invited to play in any tournaments so this made him extra mean. So even though Capa was scared of no-one, he would think twice before starting any trouble".
However, this aside, the question still remains - who won the fight?
Alekhine says "I'd say it was a draw. Both men were still standing and the fight was stopped before there was a clear winner. The fact that it didn't ever kick off again seems testimony to the fact that the two had developed a mutual respect for each other, as chess players and as street fighters."
This view seems to have been borne out by history.On hearing of the death of Nimzowitsch in 1935, Capablanca praised his old enemy saying "He wasn't scared of no-one". Nimzowitsch returned the compliment in 1942 when Capablanca died, saying "He was one tough Cuban, that guy".
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story written by Neil Coward
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