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Geza Maroczy vs Frank Marshall
Karlsbad (1907), Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) AUH, rd 10, Sep-02
Four Knights Game: Spanish. Rubinstein Variation (C48)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-13-04  nikolaas: I can't believe there's no comment on this game. How Maróczy uses his queen here! Fantastic! This is really essential endgame stuff.
Aug-11-04  Shah Mat: agreed. not much for black to do here.
Aug-11-04  Stavrogin: One of Maroczy´s forgotten ones. It is a shame he doesn´t get more cred. He was the best in the world for several years.
Aug-11-04  acirce: <It is a shame he doesn´t get more cred.> I agree with that. <He was the best in the world for several years.> I doubt that.
Jul-13-05  aw1988: Personally, I feel the game is over-rated; though it is pretty nonetheless.
Jun-09-06  FENfiend: certainly technical.
Jun-09-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: This is real classics of Queen endings. It is quite often quoted and used as an instructive material in end game textbooks. Maroczy had demonstrated perfectly here the importance of Queen's activity in this type of endings.
Jun-09-06  FENfiend: <Honza Cervenka>, do you have any other classics you might recommend?
Jun-12-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: <FENfiend> Try this one Karpov vs Kasparov, 1984
Jun-16-06  FENfiend: thanks!
Jan-15-08  Hanada: <Acirce> Check Chessmetrics.com

Geza was the best in the world for a while.

Jul-24-08  RookFile: <Geza was the best in the world for a while. >

Please.

Jan-29-09  Billy Vaughan: http://db.chessmetrics.com/CM2/Summ...

Chessmetrics gives Maróczy as the highest rated player for most of 1904 to 1907, just above Tarrasch and safely ahead of anybody else.

It also lists Maróczy as the 11th strongest player ever for 1, 2, and 3-year periods. Above, among other people, Smyslov, Steinitz, Tal, Keres, Spassky.

Jan-29-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <Billy Vaughan: http://db.chessmetrics.com/CM2/Summ...

Chessmetrics gives Maróczy as the highest rated player for most of 1904 to 1907, just above Tarrasch and safely ahead of anybody else.>

Yes, but a certain E. Lasker was inactive from 1904 to 1907. Chessmetrics downgrades your rating when you don't play.

Maroczy was certainly a powerhouse in these years. But in the tournament from which this game is taken, he was edged for first place by Akiba Rubinstein. Here is perhaps his best result of all, Ostend 1905:

http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scac...

Jan-30-09  Billy Vaughan: Yeah, there are other reasons one might not consider Maróczy the best during that type, particularly because, like Morozevch, he was able to beat up on lower-rated players for points but never picked up a positive score against a World Champion. In the tournament you linked to, he went 13.5/14 on the bottom seven players but only 6/12 on the top six.

Whether or not he was the strongest, though, he was certainly a player to be feared.

Mar-03-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  NM JRousselle: This game is an absolute classic!

Maroczy may have been the greatest master of the Queen ending in the history of chess. From what I can tell, he never lost a queen ending.

Mar-03-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <NM JRousselle: Maroczy may have been the greatest master of the Queen ending in the history of chess. From what I can tell, he never lost a queen ending.>

Being skeptical of "always" or "never" statements, I had to look this up. A check of the <cg> database shows 40 games in which Maroczy was involved in a ♕+♙ ending with no other pieces on the board. His record in those games was +19 =17 -4, or 68.75%.

That's good right there, but it gets better. In three of the losses, the ♕+♙ stage lasted an insignificant number of moves; the game had already been decided when that ending was reached:

1) Maroczy vs Marshall, 1903, after <53.a8Q>:


click for larger view

Both sides had just promoted. Marshall played 53...Qg2+ immediately transposing into a won ♔+♙ ending.

2) Lasker vs Maroczy, 1924, after <48...Qxh5>:


click for larger view

Maroczy resigned after 49.Qe5+ Kg8 50.Qxf5.

3) Kashdan vs Maroczy, 1931, after <32.bxc3>:


click for larger view

The game continued 32...Qc4 33.Qxc4 bxc4 34.f4 1-0

4) These can be discounted, but there is one true queen ending that Maroczy lost: Saemisch vs Maroczy, 1929, after <45...Qxf5>:


click for larger view

White eventually won on move 104--but only because Maroczy, in a drawn position, overstepped the time limit after 14 hours of play.

So while it's not literally true to say Maroczy <never> lost a queen ending, his performance was certainly close enough.

Mar-13-13  Aditya Bhan: 41.Qb7 would have won the black queen.
Mar-13-13  Garech: <Aditya>

41...e4!

-Garech

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