Last week, in the context of the discovery of the chessboard of Sir John Tenniel, the Times related a famous, possibly apocryphal story in which Aron Nimzowitsch mounted a table after yielding to a lesser player, shouting ‘why must I lose to this idiot?’ Nimzo is also in the news after the recent publication of a detailed monograph on his wilderness years in the Baltic and Scandinavia between the start of the first world war and his re-emergence into tournament play in the mid-1920s. The monograph (Aron Nimzowitsch on the Road to Chess Mastery 1886-1924) by Per Skjoldager and Jorn Erik Nielsen, is fascinating on Nimzo’s notorious disputes with Dr Tarrasch (Freud to Nimzo’s Jung) and gives many previously missing games against Scandinavian amateurs.
Nimzowitsch-Tarrasch; San Sebastian 1912; French Defence
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in