3.5 As the table shows, Alekhine did not suffer a single loss, whereas Schmidt lost two games: one against Georg Kieninger and one against Alekhine. The two later tournament winners, Schmidt and Alekhine, met each other in the fourth round and in this game Schmidt had what he later described as his most "unforgettable chess experience". According to Schmidt, Alekhine in this game "moved a rook and just took the move back". (See Eva Regina Magacs, Michael Negele, Paul Felix Schmidt: A Winning Formula, Exzelsior Verlag, Edition Randstein 2017, p. 106). What happened?
Alekhine shared his version of the events in this game with Francesco Lupi, who then retold Alekhine's tales to the chess public in the British magazine CHESS. Alekhine probably overlooked the simple mate after 31.Rb8+ because he had drunk too much cognac during the game. In his account of the incident Alekhine more or less openly admits that he was drunk during the game, but he provides a different explanation for the "J'adoube" on move 32.