On 4 April, Lasker stated the sun caused "a state of fatigue and dizziness". One week later, the claim was that, "the hot, glaring sunlight that makes it difficult to do hard mental work." He shifted attention to the style of play. Referencing his preference for combinations, he stated that balanced positions failed to "stimulate his imagination" (regten meine Phantasie). He claimed that he had achieved the ability to deal with such positions, but it had been difficult for a long time. The "heat and the dazzling shine of the April sun" makes him more prone to error in such positions. He resolved to train harder and smarter in preparation for the remaining games. He describes the temperature more specifically on 18 April: "a temperature of 32 degrees Celsius in the shade [89°F], when the nights are only slightly cooler and a mild south wind is blowing" (Lasker 1922, 15, 21, 24).
Abridged versions of Lasker’s dispatches to Amsterdam’s De Telegraaf were published in English in late April and throughout May in London’s Sunday Times (Winter 2019b). Then, Lasker reprinted his original German dispatches in Mein Wettkampf mit Capablanca (1922). These complaints in his book on the match provoked a reply from José Raúl Capablanca that was published in British Chess Magazine (October 1922).
Capablanca states that his reply is not “in the order of controversy,” but so, “chess historians will have true premises from which to work” (Capablanca 1922, 376). Capablanca’s retort was that such temperatures as Lasker claimed were reached only during the hot days of August, not April. He stated that with a northern breeze blowing from the water to the casino, which was near the beach, the temperatures were at or below 20°C (68°F). “In such cases one feels chilly. I remember that on two occasions we had to close the windows because the air was too cool, yet he claims it was too hot” (Capablanca 1922, 379).
Thanks to the extraordinary decades-long work of Edward Winter, today we have easy access to many primary sources from this match and post-match dispute. Winter also appends weather tables to his article, “Capablanca’s Reply to Lasker” (updated 6 August 2019);* Capablanca's article in BCM is also reproduced in Winter's book, Capablanca (1989, 112-115). We can discern from these tables that Lasker’s blunder in game five took place when the Havana temperature was just below 23°C (73.4°F). It had been 23.4°C at 8:00 pm 30 March, approximately when Lasker would have arrived at the playing venue for the resumption of game five. An hour into play at 10:00 pm, the temperature was 23.2°C, and then was 22.7°C at midnight.
As the blunder in game five was Lasker’s 45th move and the time control was 15 moves per hour, and Lasker states that he had fifteen minutes to think, the blunder likely took place a bit before 11:00 pm. The humidity was 77 at 10:00 pm and had risen to 82 at midnight. There was no appreciable breeze, having dropped from 3.0 kph from the east before game time to 1.4 kph at 10:00 pm, and then 2.4 kph from the SE at midnight. The breeze slowly increased to 6.0 kph through the morning of 31 March, but only began to come from the north when the records show 4.0 kph ENE at 2:00 pm.
From such data, we know that when Lasker blundered, the temperature was warm, the air was humid, and there was no breeze. Neither Lasker’s complaint, nor Capablanca’s reply, however, accurately describe the conditions at the critical moment. Lasker exaggerates the severity, while Capablanca dismisses it with minimizing inaccuracies.
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| "La Playa Casino beach resort in Marianao." Ramiro A. Fernández Collection. Courtesy of Cuban Heritage Collection University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida. |
Capablanca’s reply in British Chess Magazine also highlight the “ideal conditions” of the playing venue (Capablanca 1922, 379). The Casino de la Playa (or Casino de Marianao) was, as he notes, near the beach and the room where they played opened up in that direction. In his introduction to Capablanca’s book on the match, journalist Hartwig Cassel described the playing conditions.
Lasker’s chauffeur, Angel Albear, recalled fifty years after the match that he would pick up the champion at 7:45 pm. Miguel A. Sánchez published an interview he conducted with Albear in Havana University’s Alma Mater (February 1971). Drawing on that interview, and notes from an unpublished interview conducted by Jesús S. Suárez also from 1971, he adds some information in José Raúl Capablanca: A Chess Biography (2015) that offers a clearer perspective. Sánchez notes that before the games, Lasker, “liked to sit and meditate on one of the benches in the garden, or simply chat with fans or personalities of the Havana Chess Club who were there” (244).
Albear's memories also include trips for the Laskers into the heart of Havana in mid-afternoon for meals. That would have been the heat of the day. Sánchez informs us that Lasker was first put up in the Hotel Trotcha, where north facing rooms never received direct sunlight. However, a few days later Lasker moved to a less-expensive guest house about a mile away, "owned by a Jewish lady whose surname, according to Albear, sounded similar to Lasker's: Laisker or Lasiher" (Sánchez, 242, 245). It seems that Lasker's trips into the business district in mid-afternoon was due to the quality of food at the guest house, which would have had a more limited kitchen than the hotel. One of Lasker's journeys into the business district was to a cigar factory founded by Hermann Upmann, credited with the innovation of packing cigars in cedar boxes.
As mentioned in my notes to Game 8, Cassel faulted Lasker's journalistic work as distracting him from the work at hand--playing chess. Cassel also stated that Lasker, "made it a practice to come to the business part of the city for luncheon when it is hottest in town, on the plea that the food given to him at the hotel was not palatable" ("Gratitude", 101). Cassel thought Lasker should rest during the day. He credits Lasker's level of activity during the heat of the day--both journalistic work and enjoying the hospitality of Havana--for his state of exhaustion late during the playing time. As noted in my other posts in this series, the playing time was 9:00 pm until 1:00 am.
Lasker would fire back as Cassel near the end of Mein Wettkampf mit Capablanca, blaming him for the violation of the copyright agreement that reserved publication of the game scores to the players. He even suggests that Cassel ruined William Steinitz's career in the United States as a chess journalist (Lasker 1922, 37). La Nación in Argentina paid in excess of 1000 pesos for the rights to receive daily reports of the moves of the game (Sánchez, 244). Lasker's attack on Cassel makes it seem likely that this money went to the journalist. Perhaps this verbal battle concerning chess journalism and copyright deserves a later post.
As regards the venue of action, I found it the most ideal for a chess match. The players were situated in an absolutely private room, nobody but the referee and seconds being admitted. The room, with a ceiling over twenty feet high, had an exit to the garden where the players could walk about when not engaged at the board and waiting for the adversary’s move. Refreshments of whatever sort were instantly furnished by a waiter, who was assigned to the players, referee, seconds, and reporters exclusively. In short, there never was a chess match played under more ideal surroundings, free from tobacco smoke and noises; the Doctor was so much pleased as to specially refer to the noiseless way in which the director, referee and umpires walked about, never a whisper disturbing either player in their studies at the board. (Capablanca 1977, 5-6)Capablanca echoes the privacy, the garden, the waiter at their disposal, and, “windows in three sides” (Capablanca 1922, 379).
Lasker’s chauffeur, Angel Albear, recalled fifty years after the match that he would pick up the champion at 7:45 pm. Miguel A. Sánchez published an interview he conducted with Albear in Havana University’s Alma Mater (February 1971). Drawing on that interview, and notes from an unpublished interview conducted by Jesús S. Suárez also from 1971, he adds some information in José Raúl Capablanca: A Chess Biography (2015) that offers a clearer perspective. Sánchez notes that before the games, Lasker, “liked to sit and meditate on one of the benches in the garden, or simply chat with fans or personalities of the Havana Chess Club who were there” (244).
Albear's memories also include trips for the Laskers into the heart of Havana in mid-afternoon for meals. That would have been the heat of the day. Sánchez informs us that Lasker was first put up in the Hotel Trotcha, where north facing rooms never received direct sunlight. However, a few days later Lasker moved to a less-expensive guest house about a mile away, "owned by a Jewish lady whose surname, according to Albear, sounded similar to Lasker's: Laisker or Lasiher" (Sánchez, 242, 245). It seems that Lasker's trips into the business district in mid-afternoon was due to the quality of food at the guest house, which would have had a more limited kitchen than the hotel. One of Lasker's journeys into the business district was to a cigar factory founded by Hermann Upmann, credited with the innovation of packing cigars in cedar boxes.
As mentioned in my notes to Game 8, Cassel faulted Lasker's journalistic work as distracting him from the work at hand--playing chess. Cassel also stated that Lasker, "made it a practice to come to the business part of the city for luncheon when it is hottest in town, on the plea that the food given to him at the hotel was not palatable" ("Gratitude", 101). Cassel thought Lasker should rest during the day. He credits Lasker's level of activity during the heat of the day--both journalistic work and enjoying the hospitality of Havana--for his state of exhaustion late during the playing time. As noted in my other posts in this series, the playing time was 9:00 pm until 1:00 am.
Lasker would fire back as Cassel near the end of Mein Wettkampf mit Capablanca, blaming him for the violation of the copyright agreement that reserved publication of the game scores to the players. He even suggests that Cassel ruined William Steinitz's career in the United States as a chess journalist (Lasker 1922, 37). La Nación in Argentina paid in excess of 1000 pesos for the rights to receive daily reports of the moves of the game (Sánchez, 244). Lasker's attack on Cassel makes it seem likely that this money went to the journalist. Perhaps this verbal battle concerning chess journalism and copyright deserves a later post.
Part 14 of a series recognizing the Centennial of Capablanca – Lasker, World Chess Championship, Havana 1921. Access the whole series via WCC Havana 1921.
*Winter credits Yandy Rojas Barrios for finding these tables in the archives of the Climate Center of the Institute of Meteorology in Casablanca, Havana.
References
Capablanca, José Raúl. "My Reply to Dr. Lasker." British Chess Magazine, vol. 42, no. 10 (October 1922), 376-380.
_______. World's Championship Matches, 1921 and 1927. New York: Dover, 1977.
"La Playa Casino beach resort in Marianao." Ramiro A. Fernández Collection. Courtesy of Cuban Heritage Collection University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida.
Lasker, Emanuel. Mein Wettkampf mit Capablanca. Berlin and Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter, and Co., 1922.
Sánchez, Miguel A. José Raúl Capablanca: A Chess Biography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015.
"The Gratitude of Cuba." American Chess Bulletin, vol. 18, no. 5 (May-June 1921), 99-101.
Winter, Edward. Capablanca: A Compendium of Games, Notes, Articles, Correspondence, Illustrations and Other Rare Archival Materials on the Cuban Chess Genius Jose Raul Capablanca, 1888-1942. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1989.
_______. "Capablanca's Reply to Lasker." Chess Notes. https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/capablancalasker.html, updated 6 August 2019.
_______. "Lasker on the 1921 World Championship Match." Chess Notes. https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/laskerhavana.html, updated 6 August 2019.
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