Géza Maróczy

Géza Maróczy, around 1906
Association	Hungary
Born	March 3, 1870 Szeged , Austria-Hungary
Died	May 29, 1951 Budapest
title	Grand Master (1950)
Best Elo rating	2820 (May 1906) ( Historic Elo rating )

Géza Maróczy [ ɡeːzɒ mɒroːtsi ] (* 3. March 1870 in Szeged , † 29. May 1951 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian Chess - Grandmaster .

Life

Géza Maróczy initially played correspondence chess . In 1893/94 he and Rudolf Charousek won the first Hungarian long-distance tournament with a large number of players.

Maróczy's first big success was the second place behind Emanuel Lasker in the championship tournament in Nuremberg in 1896. At the beginning of the 20th century he was considered a serious contender for the title of world chess champion , but a competition against Lasker did not take place for financial reasons.

He came third at the championship tournament of the German Chess Federation (12th DSB Congress) in Munich in 1900 , which Harry Nelson Pillsbury and Carl Schlechter won. Then Maróczy won the tournaments in Monte Carlo in 1902 and 1904, Ostend in 1905, Barmen in 1905 and Vienna in 1908. In the following years he was little active in chess.

Due to the political events after the First World War , Maróczy had to leave Hungary. In 1921 he played a competition against the eventual world champion Max Euwe , whose coach he became; the match ended in a draw. He won the tournament in Karlsbad in 1923 (together with Alexander Alekhine and Efim Bogoljubow ) and Hastings in 1924/25. At three Chess Olympiads ( 1927 , 1930 and 1933 ) as well as at the unofficial Chess Olympiad in Munich in 1936 , he was the top player of the Hungarian team (1927 and 1930 no fixed board sequence was prescribed, but Maróczy played all his games on the first board), he won with it the 1927 Chess Olympiad and the 1936 unofficial Chess Olympiad.

In 1950 he was one of the first grandmasters appointed by the world chess organization FIDE .

He was also active in chess literature , u. a. he published a biography of Paul Morphy in 1909 . He also trained Vera Menchik , who became the first woman's world champion in 1927.

He was considered particularly strong in defense and in the endgame , especially in the women's endgame . In the accelerated dragon variant , an opening structure that he published in 1905 is named after him: 1. e2 – e4 c7 – c5 2. Ng1 – f3 Nb8 – c6 3. d2 – d4 c5xd4 4. Nf3xd4 g7 – g6 5. c2 – c4 (Maróczy structure) .

His best historical rating was 2820, which he achieved in 1906. Overall, in 30 different months between 1904 and 1907, it was number 1 in the world rankings.

Game fragment

Géza Maróczy - Max Romih
San Remo 1930

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Position after 40 ... Rd5 – d2

In this position, which emerged from a sharp duel, Maróczy seems to be lost because of the threat of 41.… Rd2xg2 + with an exchange of queens , since Romih was left with a multiple piece. However, Maróczy found another defense that gave him an advantage with a cross chess :

41. Qh6 – h5! Rd2xg2 + 42.Rg6xg2 + Rh8xh5 43.Rg2xb2 and Maróczy, now with a material advantage, won on move 49. Instead of his last move 40.… Rd5 – d2, Romih could have gained an advantage with 40.… Rd5 – d3, since the exchange would take place via h3 instead of g2.

literature

• Maróczy's Hundred Chess Games . Kagan, Berlin 1921. Reprint: Olms, Zurich 1984. ISBN 978-3-283-00173-5 .
• Walter Árpád Földeák: Géza Maróczy, life and teaching . Verlag de Gruyter, Berlin 1971.

Web links

Commons : Géza Maróczy  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Replayable chess games by Géza Maróczy on 365Chess.com (English)
• Literature by and about Géza Maróczy in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kurt Richter : Memories of Géza Maróczy , Deutsche Schachzeitung, Issue 10, July 1951, p. 231 indicates May 28, 1951. Jeremy Gaiges Chess Personalia , however, states May 29, 1951 on p. 270.
2. ↑ The International Tournament Munich 1900 (12th DSB Congress) on TeleSchach (cross table and all games)
3. ↑ Géza Maróczy's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
4. ↑ Géza Maróczy's results at unofficial chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
5. ^ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 74.