Unexpected Discoveries

 

Aron Nimzowitsch. Credit: Wikipedia.

Sometimes chess discoveries just happen. A close relative (who shall remain nameless for privacy reasons) regularly visits an old woman (ditto) every second weekend. The old woman keeps speaking about how she had a "famous chess player" in her family. 

Since "famous" and "chess player" are very relative terms - especially when, as in this case, the old woman is from Eastern Europe - I paid no particular attention but asked the relative to ask on her next visit, just in case. 

The relative sent me a message the other day. "He was her grandmother's brother. He had a weird name... something like 'Nimzowitsch'?! Does that mean anything to you?" The relative also mentioned the old women showed her a book the player wrote, in case that helps me out. 

Nimzowitsch and Science Fiction

 

In the famous science fiction story, "Catch that Zeppelin!" Fritz Leiber describes an alternate history where WWI ended differently, WWII never happened, electric cars and Zeppelins come instead of gasoline-based cars and planes, etc. The protagonist, Adolf Hitler, is a famous Zeppelin designer in that world, although some of his bigotry against Blacks and Jews remains even in this nearly-ideal world. 

The chess connection? Aaron Nimzowitsch, the "world chess champion" in this world, is the resident master in the chess rooms aboard one of the luxury Zeppelin, the Ostwald, named after the Nobel-prize winning physical chemist. 

The story's point is that there are "inflection points" in history, where a minor change in the past makes significant changes in the future. Did Leiber hear the story that Nimzowitsch considered himself the "crown prince of chess," and saw changing him to world champion such a minor change? It should be noted here that, as Edward Winter points out, the evidence for Nimzowitsch ever making such a claim is at best sketchy.

"Ganef:" The other Side of the Story

 

Mr. Herbert Halsegger had notified us that he had found the "Ganef" story - from the "older British player"'s point of view. In the Weiner Shach-Zeitung of Jan. 1933, pp. 18-19, in an interview with Viktor Teitz, Teitz reminisces about Burn, Blackburne, and others. In this version, Blackburn speaks of a "younger player" who exclaimed that "the old Ganef managed to swindle me after all!" and Blackburne finally asks the crucial question, whether a Ganef is a gentlemen or not. 

One problem with the claim that this is Blackburne is, as Mr. Halsegger notes, only played with Nimzowitsch twice, and beaten him once (St. Petersburg, 1914). Calling that game a "swindle" - if, indeed, that is the game - is somewhat of an exaggeration. Computer analysis says Nimzowitsch had an advantage at one point, but was certainly not clearly winning. Another problem is that the story, oddly, comes in several versions, but seems to often only mention one of the players, never both. 

Added 29/10/21: Mr. Halsegger notes Edward Winter had investigated the issue, as can be seen in Chess Notes #6513.  that the story has several versions, and sometimes mentions both the (alleged) players - always Blackburne, but with various opponents and observers. 

A Porat Interview, a Najdorf Quip, and a Nimzowitsch Story

From an interview with Yosef Porat by Yosef "Tommy" Lapid, Ma'ariv, Oct. 19th, 1962, p. 11, brought to our attention by a frequent correspondent:

Botvinnik is very modest and doesn't demand special treatment... Bobby Fischer the American is the exact opposite: incomparably vain, a show-off. Success had gone to his head...

Najdorf lost to Fischer in the [1962] Olympiad. After the game, in which he blundered, I've heard him say: 'I always told myself there's only one chess player I need to fear - Najdorf.'

Nimzowitsch once played in an international tournament against an old English player and got into difficulties. He muttered [in Yiddish]: 'this alter ganef [literally, 'old thief'] tricked me after all...' the English player understood the entire sentence except for the word ganef [thief] but all present didn't want to explain it to him. So finally he asked if a ganef can be a gentleman or not.

The last anecdote was shared by Porat in good faith, but unlike the other two, he was of course not a witness. Is there any proof of the actual occurrence of this 'once' story? 

We are skeptical. First, Nimzowitsch is the subject of quite a few such 'once' stories. Second, the opponent and occasion are not specified. Third, we have read at least one other version. In it, Nimzowitsch himself, and not all present, does not want to explain what ganef means. It is added that he quickly agrees that, yes, a ganef can be a gentleman, calming the English player. 

Losing to the Smoking Idiot

Aaron Nimzowitsch. Credit: Wilfried Krebbers 

There are many tales about Aaron (or Aron) Nimzowitsch. One is that he, a non-smoker, complained to an arbiter about his opponent taking out a cigar -- not because he was smoking, but because he was threatening to smoke, 'and the threat is stronger than the execution'. Another is that, after losing a game to Saemisch in a tournament in Berlin, which cost him the first prize, he angrily exclaimed, 'why must I lose to this idiot?'.

The first story, as Edward Winter and others had consistently pointed out, is almost certainly an invention. But the second story is probably true... and there is also both a smoking and an Israeli / Palestinian connection!

The story, first of all, was told to Hans Kmoch by the 'idiot' himself, as Kmoch retells in Grandmasters I have Known -- so we have an actual, indeed the best possible, witness to the event, and it is not one of the infamous 'once' tall tales, indeed often libels, that so disfigure chess history, about how player X 'once' did or said something outrageous.

But what was the occasion? Kmoch does not say. Wilfried Krebbers, the author (or creator) of the excellent nimzowitsch.net site, points out that was a likely a Blitz tournament by the Berlin Chess Association, which took place on Aug. 9th, 1928, in the Koening Chess Cafe, as reported in the Schachwart, Sept. 1928, pp. 168-169.

The Schachwart report adds that the tournament was divided into a smokers' and non-smokers' section. Nimzowitsch, a non-smoker, won his section, and Saemisch, a heavy smoker, won his. Saemisch then went on to defeat Nimzowitsch in the play-off. While the report does not explicitly note any outburst from Nimzowitsch, the facts agree: the tournament did take place in Berlin, and losing to Saemisch did cost Nimzowitsch first place.

The Israeli/Palestinian connection? Israel Barav, the Israeli player and organizer, then Rabinovich ('Rabinowitsch' in the German spelling) and a student in Berlin, played in the same tournament!

He played in the smoking section -- coming in a very respectable 4th place, after three well-known players: Saemisch himself, Ahues, and Kagan (not, of course, to be confused with the Israeli player Shimon Kagan). We thank Ami Barav, his son, for bringing this tournament, as well as its connection to both Barav and the 'losing to the idiot' incident, to our attention. For more on Israel Barav's chess achievements, see his memorial web site.

Nimzowitsch Obituary

Aron Nimzowitsch. Credit: Wikipedia. 

Moshe Roytman informs us that a large, full-page-headline (though on p. 6) obituary of Aron Nomzowitsch in the Yiddish-language Unser Express [אונזאר אקספרעס], 'After the Death of a Great Chess Genius', on April 9th, 1935.

Botvinnik -- then and now

Source: Doar Hayom, 2.3.1928

The frequent contributor Moshe Roytman notes that I was wrong in claiming Botvinnik was first mentioned in the Israeli (or Palestinian) press in the 1930s. Doar Hayom, in fact, mentions the 17-year-old Botvinnik On 12.3.1928, on p. 2, under the headline Jewish Youth a Chess Master in Russia. The article notes Botvinnik's achievements and claiming he began to play chess at the relatively old age of 11, got first prize in a 1st category tournament at age 14, and now got the "master of the USSR" title in a Moscow tournament. His colleagues, it is noted, consider him a chess genius and expect great things from him. 

The same page in Doar Hayom has a note (second headline in the photo above) about "The Nimzowitsch - Alekhine Match", where it is claimed the "Jewish player Nimzowitsch" will play a match against the world champion Alekhine, after he won a tournament in Berlin (the Berlin BSG tournament, where he scored 10/13). As we know things didn't turn out quite that way.

And what about the "now"? The Israeli Museum of the Jewish People has just opened a new exhibition about Jews in sports (no doubt it makes light reading, as the movie Airplane already noted)(*). One of the Jewish heroes of sports who gets his own booth in the exhibition? Mikhail Botvinnik. 

(*) Elaine Dickinson: Would you like something to read?
Hanging Lady: Do you have anything light?
Elaine Dickinson: How about this leaflet, "Famous Jewish Sports Legends"?

Alekhine and Antisemitism -- and its Unexpected Results

The controversy about Alekhine's anti-semitic articles is well-known. In short, did he jump or was he pushed -- was he truly a Nazi sympathizer, or did he write his infamous antisemitic articles under pressure? Alekhine claimed after the war he never wrote the articles, and that his name was signed to them without him being able to protest. There is good evidence the articles themselves were written by him, but to what degree he believed what he wrote is still an open question; as per usual, Edward Winter has a very good article on the matter here, and also in his book Kings, Commoners, and Knaves.

Today, Edward Winter's invaluable Chess Notes web site has a photo from AVRO 1938 (scroll down to note # 7191) where Alekhine is seen chatting with Flohr during the tournament. Flohr, of course, was Jewish, and we see here that as late as 1938, at least, Alekhine not only had no problem playing with Jews, but obviously was friendly with them.

Another unexpected story of how Alekhine's antisemitic articles in fact helped at least one person survive during the holocaust has been given in Forward magazine in the article "Encounter with Alekhine" by Michael Feuer. The author's father, Otto Feuer, had found an article by Alekhine discarded in the camp's latrine:

One day, in the Buchenwald latrine, Otto came upon what he thought was a miracle of sorts: There on the ground was a page from a recent German chess magazine, undoubtedly discarded by an SS guard, with an article by, of all people, Alekhine. Otto’s mood soared — until he began reading. Then he discovered that Alekhine had become a rabid anti-Semite and Nazi sympathizer. The article was all about the evils of “Jewish chess.” Otto sank into an especially low depression. But then there was another uplift, because it occurred to him that if he was still capable of experiencing both joy and sorrow, it must mean that not even the Nazis could destroy his humanity. And this awareness, that he was still human, gave him hope and the will to continue. 

The article is worth reading also for the excellent photo of Alekhine later in his career.

Does the AVRO photograph prove Alekhine was not an antisemite "in his heart" (whether or not he wrote the  infamous antisemitic articles)? Not necessarily. Foward also has another article about the other great antisemite in chess, Bobby Fischer. They argue the solution to the mystery of Fischer's rabid antisemitism coexisting with his friendship with many individual Jews is that for him "Jew" was just a name for "enemy". Being paranoid, anybody he suspected of having slighted him in the most trivial way instantly became an "enemy", and thus a "Jew", and thus part of the worldwide "Jewish conspiracy" against him.

Fischer's case is extreme, but we all know bigots who say 'some of my best friends are Jews' despite the fact that they despise Jews. They are not lying about their friendships; their mistake is to think this proves they are not bigots. It is possible that Alekhine's friendship with, and public praise of, Jewish players he knew were genuine, and that his belief that "Jewish chess" is a menace was equally honest. Jeremy Spinard's Anti-Semitism in Chess gives the example of Emil Diemer, of Blackmar-Diemer gambit fame, who was a Nazi party member and an antisemite, yet was a close friend of the Latvian Jew Nimzowitsch.

So Alekhine's defenders cannot use this "contradiction" as proof that he didn't mean what he say in his antisemitic articles. Does this condemn Alekhine? In my view, no.

1). First, if his friendship with Jewish players is no proof his antisemitic articles did not reflect his actual view, it of course does not prove his articles did reflect his views. That he might have believed what he wrote is no proof that he did.

2). Second, suppose it is conclusively proven -- say, by the discovery of a personal letter to a friend where Alekhine declares he hates "Jewish chess" -- that Alekhine meant what he said in those articles. If this were a contradiction with his friendhip with, and published praise of, Jewish players, we would be forced to conclude he was an enormous hypocrite, praising and being on friendly terms with many people he actually despised! This would be a worse condemnation of Alekhine's character than any belief, however foolish or mean-spirited, he held about the evils of "Jewish chess". But, I argue, it is quite possible that his friendship with Jewish players is genuine even if he was an antisemite about Jews "in general".

Hon's "Chess Openings"

Image Credit: A.P.

Shaul Hon's book Ptichot be'Sachmat (1957) [Chess Openings] was a very popular book in Israel -- it reached a fourth edition in 1968, unprecedented for a Hebrew-language chess book. It is notable for a few things:

1). Its first section (pp. 3-40 in the 1968 edition) give a very interesting, if by today's standards somewhat inaccurate, history of chess in the world in general and among Jews (whether in Israel, Palestine, or elsewhere) in particular. Specifically, Hon actually asked and received a reply from Israel's chief rabbi in 1957, 'The honorable Rabbi Dr. Itzhak (Isaac) Ha'Levi Herzog', as Hon calls him, about chess in Judaism. The Rabbi's reply was that despite certain rabbis who forbade chess, most authorities in Judaism do not forbid (and often even encourage) chess playing, so long as it satisfies certain conditions -- e.g., not playing for money, not on the Shabbath, it does not become an obsession that stops one from studying the Torah, etc.

2). He has an interesting theory (pp. 49-55, ibid) about why the chess pieces are placed or move as they are -- e.g., that rooks are in the corners since that's where the heavy forces would be in the battle, etc. He thinks that pawns capture diagonally because archers would try to hit armored men from the side!

3). The cover for the 1968 edition was by the well-known Israeli caricaturist "Dosh" (Kariel Gardosh).

4). The book, like many books at the time printed in Israel, tried to "Judaise" chess a little bit -- emphasizing the importance of Jewish masters over that of non-Jewish ones, especially those like the anti-semitic Alekhine. E.g., about 1. e4 Nf6 Hon writes (my translation, p. 113 ibid):

This defense is mistakenly named after Alekhine... in reality it was already practiced in the 1880s, but achieved no success. Only after the Jewish Aron Nimzowitsch published a series of articles before WWI calling for the development of pieces over pawns in the opening [i.e., the hypermodern school -- A.P.] -- only then did this defense's time arrive. Alekhine used it successfully in the international tournament in Budapest 1921 and it received his name, but in reality Alekhine mixed the tactical form of this defense with Nimzowitch's strategic ideas. 

Whenever any Jewish player is mentioned, their Judaism is emphasized. E.g., when Tarrasch is mentioned, his Judaism is emphasized, but not, of course, his conversion to Christianity in 1909 (as when discussing 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2, p. 104); and Hon even divided chess history as a whole into the 'romantic stage', the 'strategic stage' -- 'starting with the appearance of the Jewish Steinitz' -- and the 'modern stage' -- developed 'mostly by Jews: Nimzowitch, Reti, Breyer, Dr. Tartakover -- joined later by non-Jews' (p. 24).  

Jews contributed a lot to chess, true, but saying chess would, in effect, be still in the 19th-century romantic school if it weren't for them (as Hon is implying) is hardly established fact.

Nimzowitsch's Hebrew Signature

Credit: Davar 3.5.1935

In a obituary to Aron Nimzowitsch published in Davar, 3.5.1935 (editor: Moshe Marmorosh), there appears a photo of Nimzowitch with his name signed in Hebrew letters. Apparently this is supposed to be his own signature in Hebrew (or Yiddish). It is almost certain that Nimzowitch, a European Jew, spoke and wrote Yiddish (and perhaps Hebrew), but are there other examples of his signature in this language?