Geza Maroczy vs Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1900)

Geza Maroczy vs Harry Nelson Pillsbury
Munich (1900) · Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo. Canal Variation (C50) · 0-1

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explore this opening	find similar games	13 more Maroczy/Pillsbury games
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Oct-15-03		Kenkaku: 25. Nxd1 is a colossal blunder, quite uncharacteristic of player of Maroczy's caliber.

Jul-03-06		notyetagm: Black To Play: 25 ... ? click for larger view Maroczy's previous move was the terrible blunder 25 xd1??. Why is this a blunder? Putting this minor piece on the back rank <INTERFERES> with the communication of the White c1-queen and e1-rook. The White c1-queen is now undefended and lined up with the Black c5-queen through the White c2-pawn. Therein lies the problem. The only White piece preventing Black from winning a whole queen with ... c5xc1 is the White c2-pawn, <BLOCKING> the c-file to cut-off the line of attack of the Black c5-queen at c2. But if that White c2-pawn <BLOCKS> the c-file, who defends the d3-square against the knight fork 25 ... d3! ? Nobody. With 25 ... d3! Black wins a whole exchange with a simple knight fork due to the pin down the c-file. <The defensive power of a pinned piece is merely illusory.> The White c2-pawn, <BLOCKING> the c-file to meet the threat of ... x, only -pretends- to <DEFEND> the d3-knight forking square.

Jul-03-06		notyetagm: Damn shame: Maroczy loses this game -solely- because his White c1-queen is undefended and lined up with the Black c5-queen through his White c2-pawn. But such is the nature of tactical errors. No matter how strong you are, if you make a tactical mistake then you lose. This game is a good reminder that you need to pay particular attention to things being lined up. Things being lined up are as dangerous as things being loose.

Jul-03-06		notyetagm: With 25 xd1?? it looks like Maroczy was planning to activate his knight with a future e3 and then f5. But this -strategy- contained a major -tactical- flaw which Pillsbury pounced on with 25 ... d3!.

Jul-03-06		RookFile: You play over a game like this, and then look at chessmetrics, which 'reliably' informs us that Maroczy was a stronger player than Petrosian. Then you grab a beer and get drunk, and wonder why the whole world went crazy.

Jul-03-06		Ziggurat: <You play over a game like this, and then look at chessmetrics, which 'reliably' informs us that Maroczy was a stronger player than Petrosian.> Who says it is reliable? It's inevitable that a rating system like Chessmetrics yields some strange artifacts. Any other rating system assigning retrospective ratings is doomed to absurdities like Suhle being rated higher than Morphy. It's just something we have to deal with.

Jul-03-06		notyetagm: This game is a good reminder that you need to pay particular attention to things being lined up. <Things being lined up are as dangerous as things being loose because something has to meet the threat because things are lined up by breaking an alignment or keeping a line closed!>

Sep-20-10		GrahamClayton: Maroczy withdraw from the tournament prize play-off on the advice of a doctor due to exhaustion after this game. His performance in this game seems to back this up.

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