Wednesday, July 23, 2008

More Diemer Tidbits

I'm sure there are many anecdotes to illustrate Diemer's eccentricity. Here are a few more which, I believe, came to me from Gerard Welling.
  • In one of the Beverwijk / Wijk aan Zee tournaments Diemer created a stir by tumbling down from the player’s podium in the excitement of making a move. He hurt his head and was put in the hospital, from which he was allowed to play his next three games. He won them all.
  • In another Wijk aan Zee event it was difficult to find him a place to stay. As a last resort he was given access to an old, cold tower with some sort or portable heat, and an enormous key. He was appointed Schlossherr Diemer (man of the castle), and despite the crude accommodations, was quite content.
Diemer played in several Hastings Chess Congresses, winning the Major A tourney two years running (1935/36 and 1936/37). A complimentary remark on Diemer’s strength in combinations, made by Alekhine at one of the Hastings Congresses, still made Diemer as happy as a child, even as an old man. This was particularly true since he so admired Alekhine, whom he had first come to know while helping with the publicity for the world champion's 1934 match with Bogoljubov in Baden Baden.