Geza Maroczy was one of the strongest players of the early 20th century, and is known for his mastery of queen endings. Below, I explore his life and games.
Photo: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, George Grantham Bain Collection, [LC-DIG-ggbain-36944 DLC], Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Table of contents:
Biography
Early life
Geza Maroczy was born in the town of Szegedin, in the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, in 1870. He attended the Polytechnic School of Zürich, and while there, learned to play chess around the age of 15. About five years later, he found a chess book in a library in Zürich, and studied it closely.
Maroczy’s early progress was shown with a tournament victory in Budapest in 1892. Three years later, the chess world took notice of the promising Hungarian player when he won another tournament in Budapest, before also taking first place in the final section of the 7th British Amateur Championship in Hastings.
Nuremberg and London
In 1896, Maroczy took part in an incredibly strong tournament in Nuremberg. Many of the world’s strongest players competed, and so Maroczy was not among the favourites. However, he achieved an excellent result, finishing in 2nd place, behind only the World Champion Emanuel Lasker. Famous names such as Pillsbury, Tarrasch, Janowski, Steinitz, Schlechter and Chigorin finished below Maroczy, highlighting his incredible result.
Maroczy shared 2nd place with Janowski and Pillsbury, again only behind Lasker, at the strong tournament London 1899. His excellent results at Nuremberg and London confirmed that Maroczy had joined the world elite.
The turn of the century
The turn of the century saw Maroczy continue to improve his chess. He shared 3rd place with Marshall, behind only Lasker and Pillsbury, at Paris 1900. This was followed by shared 1st at Münich with Pillsbury and Schlechter, after the round robin phase, although he did not take part in the tiebreaks.
Monte Carlo
In 1902, Maroczy finished in clear first ahead of a world class field for the first time, at the strong tournament in Monte Carlo. At the 1903 edition of the tournament, he achieved a very respectable 2nd place finish behind Tarrasch, while 1904 saw him take clear first again, ahead of Schlechter and Marshall. Maroczy’s trio of good performances at the Monte Carlo tournaments of 1902-1904 greatly enhanced his reputation.
1905
1905 was a particularly successful year for Maroczy. He finished 2nd behind Schlechter at the 1904/5 Kings Gambit tournament in Vienna. Maroczy then finished in clear first at the incredibly strong tournament at Ostend, 1,5 points ahead of a field which included such famous names as Janowski, Tarrasch, and Schlechter. This was followed by yet another 1st place finish, this time shared with Janowski at the Barmen tournament.
A missed opportunity
In February 1906, Maroczy travelled to America to give a tour of simultaneous exhibitions. In April, he met Lasker, and his consistent run of impressive successes allowed him to negotiate a match for the World Championship. However, the match did not end up taking place, possibly because Maroczy was unable to meet the $500 deposit. Later that year, he finished 2nd in the very strong multi-stage tournament held in Ostend.
Despite the disappointment of not having the chance to compete for the World Championship, Maroczy continued to perform well at top level events. In 1907, he shared 2nd with Schlechter behind Leonhardt at Copenhagen, and then took 2nd again behind Rubinstein at Karlsbad. The following year, he shared 1st with Duras and Schlechter at Vienna. However, despite this success, over the next few years Maroczy began to play much less often.
A break from chess
Perhaps out of practice, Maroczy finished in shared 11th place at the famous tournament San Sebastian 1911. The following year, he achieved a respectable shared 3rd place at the Budapest Queens Gambit Declined tournament. He followed this up with 2nd place, with an impressive 11/13 score, behind only Vidmar at Budapest later that year. Despite remaining one of the world’s strongest players, Maroczy then took an extended break from chess, focusing on his professional work.
After the First World War, the turbulent times Hungary was going through caused Maroczy to lose his job. He returned to tournament chess as a way to improve his financial situation. He spent some time in the Netherlands around this time, and began to coach the rising star Max Euwe.
A return to chess
Maroczy made his return to chess in 1920 with a 3rd place finish at Vienna. At the strong tournament in Amsterdam later that year, he shared 2nd place with Tartakower, behind only Réti. Two years later, at the famous tournament London 1922, he finished in shared 8th place. However, Maroczy wrote a book on the tournament, which generations of players have learned from, and which is still well-known today.
Coaching Menchik
In 1923, Maroczy began to coach the promising young player Vera Menchik. Their collaboration proved successful, as Menchik became the Women’s World Champion just four years later, a title she would hold until her death in 1944.
From Karlsbad to London
At the incredibly strong tournament at Karlsbad that year, Maroczy shared 1st place with Alekhine and Bogoljubow, ahead of players such as Réti, Grünfeld and Nimzowitsch. Maroczy also competed at the famous tournament New York 1924, although he finished 6th, with 10/20.
Although Maroczy continued to compete in the next few years, he missed the most important tournaments of the time, like Moscow 1925, Breslau 1925, and New York 1927. However, he won the Manhattan Chess Club Championship of 1926/7. At the first international Olympiad, held at London in 1927, the 57 year old Maroczy played on the first board for the Hungarian team. Under his leadership, Hungary won the gold medal, with Maroczy achieving an impressive 9/12.
Maroczy vs Nagy
According to an account by Capablanca, the new generation of Hungarian players thought themselves to be stronger than Maroczy. As Nagy had recently won the Hungarian Championship, a match was arranged between him and Maroczy, to test out these claims. The match, however, proved to be one-sided, as Maroczy won 6,5-1,5, without losing a single game.
A new decade
Despite this, success, Maroczy was no longer challenging for 1st place at tournaments of the very highest level. He finished in shared 12th at Karlsbad 1929, shared 9th at San Remo 1930, and 11th at Bled 1931. However, Maroczy took an impressive 2nd place at Sarborough 1930, behind only Colle, and ahead of a field which included Rubinstein, Khan, and Grünfeld.
Gold medal and the World Championship
He then won Budapest 1932 with an impressive 13/17 score, and shared 3rd with Stahlberg, behind only Alekhine and Engels, at Dresden 1936. Maroczy’s last major event was the unofficial Olympiad in Münich 1936, where he guided the Hungarian team to another gold medal. Despite playing less frequently, Marcozy worked as a second for Euwe in his World Championship Match against Alekhine in 1935. Their collaboration was rewarded, as his student became World Champion.
Later years
His later years were difficult, as he lived through another world war in the 1940s. Life became very difficult in Budapest, especially as he had entered the 8th decade of his life. Maroczy received the grandmaster title, based on his achievements in the early 20th century, in 1950. He died a year later in Budapest, at the age of 81.
Legacy
Today Maroczy is remembered as one of the strongest players of the early 20th century, as well as the coach of the World Champions Euwe and Menchik. His name is attached to the Maroczy Bind setup for white in the Sicilian Defence. Many of Maroczy’s queen endings are still regarded as classics today, and generations of players have learned from his London 1922 tournament book.
Game Analysis
Lessons from this game:
- It can be worth sacrificing a piece to keep the enemy king from castling and to blast open the centre.
- Every pawn move is a critical moment, as the pawn cannot move backwards to defend the squares which it has just passed.
- A kingside attack is more likely to succeed if the attacking side is castled and their pieces are developed and ready to participate in the attack.
Puzzles
Maroczy – Marco, Paris 1900
Maroczy – Chigorin, Vienna 1903
Tartakower – Maroczy, Karlsbad 1907
Maroczy – Vidmar, Ljubljana 1922
Solutions
Further Reading
To find more about Maroczy’s life and games, the following are useful sources:
Maroczy’s chessgames.com page,
his chess.com page,
this list of his tournament and match performances,
this chessbase article by André Schulz,
this article by Edward Winter,
this description of Maroczy, originally written by Capablanca,
and this article by Edward Winter.
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