<November 19. The small town of Ermelo had prepared the day very well. Among other things, they sent 3 cars to Amsterdam to pick the whole company up. The cars drove in a single file. But their file was divided by a Amsterdam traffic policeman and one car lost connection to the others. The driver was non-local and didn't know the exact address. He arrived at the Hotel Carlton to pick up Alekhine with a delay of almost an hour. All the others had already gathered there.

Great nervousness esnued as Alekhine was nowhere to be found. His wife was present and explained with agitated tone, that her husband considered the delay an insult and would not play that day. This dispute took place in publicity, in the lounge. The <Reisemarschall> (possibly travel organizer) of the committee did not accept that. He explained that they would arrive amply 2 hours before the start of the game in Ermelo. Apart from that, he only wanted to negotiate with Alekhine personally.

Finally, they found Alekhine. There was no doubt that he stood under the influence of alcohol which was not uncommon for him. In earlier years, Alekhine had been observed in such a state. Then, he is will-less and calm. When he is drunk, you can hardly argue with him and that day also, he didn't cause any trouble, agreeing to play.

They asked him whether he wanted to travel to Ermelo by car or train and he chose train. His second Salo Landau was entrusted to bring him to Ermelo. Furthermore, the committee decided to start the game half an hour later to compensate for the earlier delay. The others left, while Alekhine went to sleep. He was supposed to come to Ermelo about 1 h 15 min prior to the game but didn't show up. They were informed via telephone that Alekhine had missed the train and had to wait for the next one. This would suffice to reach the playing hall in time (7 pm). In the meantime, Alekhine had slept well and also in the train he appeared well-rested.

Now he claimed that he would only play under moral protest. The committee refused to register this statement and suggested to let a physician decide whether Alekhine was capable of playing or not. Alekhine refused. The game began. Kmoch says that Alekhine's appearance did not make a good, but also not an unsual impression on him. He played calmly and his behaviour during the game gave no reason for complaints to opponent and officials.

During the opening, after about 10-15 moves, Euwe disappeared together with his wife without attracting attention and remained absent for about 15 min. He said later that he needed fresh air to fight his inner unrest. The audience hadn't noticed his disappearance, but the organizers and reporters had. There were different speculations, e. g. that he wanted to resign the game and end the match. This news was relayed to Amsterdam.

In the afternoon, the committee held a press conference without coming to a clear conclusion. It was said that a drunken player should not be allowed to play and countered that thereby the players would have the means to overthrow the programme at will. Some eyewitnesses disputed that Alekhine was intoxicated during the game. You can argue about the condition of someone used to alcohol, especially if the alcohol consumption had taken place some hours before. Several experts reported that they hadn't observed something unusual about Alekhine's play during game 21. The debate ran dry and people left.>