Championship Match Postponed?

Was the fifteenth game of the World Chess Championship scheduled for Saturday, 23 April 1921? Perhaps it was scheduled for Friday. In either case, it did not occur. It seems from the narrative in José Raúl Capablanca: A Chess Biography (2015) by Miguel A. Sánchez that Capablanca appeared at the Casino de la Playa ready to play game 15, but that Lasker failed to appear. Sánchez is not explicit that Capablanca appeared and waited, but is quite clear that Lasker did not arrive. Newspapers covering the event reported that per Lasker's request, game 15 was postponed until Tuesday, 26 April 1921.

Sánchez presents an Associated Press story concerning this postponement, and asserts, "the explanation provided to the press was not true. It was a means to buy time, trying to save face for Lasker, and not inform the public or the press what was really happening" (250). He notes that Lasker had already decided to resign the match, but that Judge Alberto Ponce, the referee, and others of the committee, spent the weekend attempting to convince Lasker to continue.

I spent some time scanning the pages of the New York Evening Post, searching for what had been reported there. There was nothing specifically about the match between the conclusion of game 14 and an announcement of Lasker's pending resignation on 27 April. The lengthy Saturday edition did carry a game played in New York Metropolitan League competition that included a snarky comment about the style of play in Havana.

This post is number 25 in my centennial series on the World Chess Championship in Havana. 

Vigorous tactics, offering a refreshing contrast to the conservatism displayed at Havana, were the order of the day in the Metropolitan League match, which decided the interclub championship once more in favor of the I.L. Rice Progressive Chess Club. Among the most forceful attacks carried out was that by Oscar Chajes, champion of the club, against Alfred Schroeder of the Brooklyn Chess Club.
Herman Helms, "Over the Chess Board"

Chajes was a naturalized American originally from Austria, according to Sánchez (182). His loss to Capablanca in the Rice Chess Club Tournament (11 July 1913) is presented in the José Raúl Capablanca: A Chess Biography. Also presented is his loss in the 1915 American National Tournament, where Chajes finished third behind Capablanca and Marshall (214-215). Schroeder also has a loss to Capablanca from the Rice Memorial Tournament (29 January 1916) in the book (218).

While neither are top masters, they occupy the tier below Capablanca and Marshall who helped keep the Cuban relatively sharper in his play through World War I, while Lasker suffered a lack of play and other stresses (see "Lasker arrives in Havana").

Helms, who annotated this game, was the founder and publisher of American Chess Bulletin. He had some competitive success over the board. Among his games at chessgames.com are a win over Frank Marshall and a draw with Capablanca.

Chajes,Oscar -- Schroeder,Alfred [C61]
Metropolitan League New York, 04.1921
[Helms,Herman]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4

A somewhat bizarre defence popularized by the late H.E. Bird of London, who played many stirring games with it against the veteran Blackburne in the long ago.

White to move

4.Nxd4

White more often continues with 4.Bc4 Nxf3+ (Bird was wont to play 4...Bc5 5.Nxe5 Qg5 and no doubt frequently caught an unwary opponent in this trap: 6.Nxf7 Qxg2 7.Rf1 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Nf3#) 5.Qxf3 Qf6 6.Qg3.

4...exd4 5.0-0 g6

Not the most likely continuation. Preferable is 5...c6 6.Bc4 Nf6 7.d3 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Re1+ Be6.

6.d3 Ne7 7.c3 Bg7

Black tries to avoid yielding the centre to his opponent, who invites 7...dxc3.

White to move

8.e5

A bold proceeding and worthy of the best tenets of the romantic school.

8...c6 9.Ba4 Bxe5

He must either do this or play 9...dxc3 which would have been the less valorous, but wiser.

10.Re1

Black to move

10...d6

If 10...Bf6 then 11.Bh6; or 10...Bd6;
Or if 10...Bg7 11.Qe2 f6 12.Bb3 d5 and White may continue with 13.cxd4 (or 13.a4 in either case giving Black a playable game.)

11.Bg5 Be6

If 11...f6 12.Bh6 -- threatening 13.h4

12.Bb3

Very well played and going directly to the heart of the conundrum.

12...h6 13.Bh4 g5 14.Bxe6

Black to move

14...fxe6

If 14...gxh4 15.Bh3 with the better game.

15.Bg3 Bxg3 16.hxg3 Qb6

If 16...Qd7 17.Qh5+ followed by cxd4.

17.Rxe6 Qxb2 18.Nd2 b5

In order to prevent Nc4 by White

White to move

19.Qh5+ Kd7 20.Rae1 Rh7 21.Qg4

This powerful stroke leaves Black without any defense.

Black to move

21...Kd8 22.Rxd6+ Ke8 23.Qd7+ 1-0

In my view this game is interesting, but sloppy. The dismissive, "refreshing contrast to the conservatism" of the world championship match, asks for a style of play that should horrify us at the top levels. I prefer the draws that come from accuracy.

Sources

Helms, Herman. "Over the Chess Board." New York Evening Post (23 April 1921), 20.

Sánchez, Miguel A. José Raúl Capablanca: A Chess Biography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015.