In his first tournament outside the USSR, the Hastings International Chess Congress 1934–35, Botvinnik achieved only a tie for 5th-6th places, with 5/9. He wrote that, in London after the tournament, Emanuel Lasker said his arrival only two hours before the first round began was a serious mistake and that he should have allowed ten days for acclimatization. Botvinnik wrote that he did not make this mistake again.