Kemeri 1937: A Fateful Sojourn
A sojourn as a journalist that changed Mieses' life forever
Overview
- Tournament: International Master Tournament, June–July 1937
- Location: Ķemeri (Kemeri), Latvia
- Winners: Salo Flohr, Vladimirs Petrovs, Samuel Reshevsky (tied)
- Mieses' Role: Journalist (reporting for newspapers in England, France, Spain and the USA)
- Mieses' Age: 72 years
The Spa Town of Kemeri
Ķemeri was a popular spa resort on the Latvian Baltic coast in the 1930s, known for its sulphur springs and elegant spa house. The town attracted international guests and provided the perfect setting for a high-class chess tournament.
The 1937 tournament assembled the world elite: Besides the eventual winners Flohr, Petrovs and Reshevsky, Alekhine, Keres, Fine and many other top masters competed. At 72, Mieses was not present as a player – his last documented tournament was Margate 1935 – but as a chess journalist, reporting for newspapers in several countries.
The Accident
During his stay in Kemeri, the 72-year-old Mieses was injured while attempting to board an omnibus – he slipped, and one of the wheels passed over his leg. The accident was so severe that false reports of his death circulated.
The earliest source (BCM, September 1937) reports an omnibus (“In attempting to get on an omnibus he slipped, and one of the wheels passed over his leg.”).
He had to spend almost nine months in hospital. The injuries left him with a permanent walking disability that would accompany him for the rest of his life.
When asked what had happened, he later replied laconically:
"It was my turn to move."
The pun works on two levels: in chess, move means making a move on the board; in everyday English, it means physical movement. Typical of Mieses' gallows humour even in serious situations.
The Consequences
Eyewitness Account 1939
An acquaintance visited Mieses in 1939 on a Sunday morning at his lodgings in Camden Town, London. He found a seriously crippled Mieses – a late consequence of the Kemeri accident.
Mieses had recently left Germany under great difficulties and was marked by the flight and his physical limitations.
Despite his disability, Mieses refused to use a walking stick throughout his life. He forced himself to conceal his suffering – a sign of his indomitable will.
Connection to the 1938 Emigration
In June 1938 – barely a year after the accident and four months before the Kristallnacht pogrom – the 73-year-old Mieses left Nazi Germany, with only 15 Reichsmarks in his pocket and a severe walking disability.
The flight to England was particularly arduous under these circumstances. But Mieses did not give up: He continued to play tournaments, won brilliancy prizes and was named FIDE Grandmaster in 1950.
→ More about Mieses' emigration and life in exile
Sources
- British Chess Magazine, September 1937, p. 474 (accident report)
- British Chess Magazine, April 1954 (Obituary)
- D.J. Morgan, British Chess Magazine, September 1976 (emigration)
- Michael Dombrowsky, “Vor 80 Jahren: Kemeri 1937”, ChessBase 2017
- Edward Winter: Chess Notes – Jacques Mieses
More Tournaments
International Debut Hastings 1895
Tournament of the Century Berlin 1897
3rd Place - Home Success Vienna 1898
Emperor's Jubilee Monte Carlo 1903
7th Place Cambridge Springs 1904
8th–9th Place Vienna 1907
1st Place – Greatest Victory! Ostend 1907
3rd–4th Place – World-Class Event San Sebastián 1911
Mieses as Organizer Liverpool 1923
1st Place – Tournament Victory! Baden-Baden 1925
New Beginning After War Kemeri 1937
A Fateful Sojourn Chess Olympiads
London 1927 · Prague 1931