Jacques Mieses vs Geza Maroczy (1902)

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Jacques Mieses vs Geza Maroczy
Monte Carlo (1902), Monte Carlo MNC, rd 19, Mar-08
Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation. Maroczy Attack (B18) · 0-1

White to move.

ANALYSIS [x]

0-1

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1

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Jul-03-10		Chessical: A game Marco should have won, having obtained a significant advantage from the opening. Maroczy seems to have underestimated Marco's play on the K-side and especially against <f7> <17. Qf3!> Nbd7 18. Nxf7 Qxd4+ 19. Be3 Qxb2 20. Rd1 Rac8 21.Ne5+ Kh8 22. Rxd7 Maroczy's <29...Rxf7!> wins in a neat fashion.

Nov-03-24		KEG: As <Chessical> has correctly pointed out on this site (back in 2010), Mieses had good chances to win this game as a result of Marovzy's underestimation of White's attacking chances. Mieses blew his winning chances on move 17, then got in trouble with his poor 26th and 27th moves, and then blundered away the game (perhaps because of the approaching move-30 time control) on move 28. After this blunder, Maroczy quickly and effectively wrapped up the game ("in neat fashion" to quote <Chessical>). Amazingly, Maroczy and Mieses had only played once before Monte Carlo 1902. They drew their 19th round game (in which Maroczy had White) and then Maroczy won this replay of the earlier game. Maroczy's win here, coupled with Pillsbury's loss on the same day to Marco, left Maroczy 0.75 points ahead of Pillsbury (on the weird scoring system used at this tournament) with two rounds to play. All Maroczy now had to do in order to clinch first place was to defeat the over-matched von Popiel in Round 20 and then not lose to Tarrasch in the final round. Maroczy checked both of these boxes and therefore ended up 0.25 points ahead of Pillsbury at the finish. Mieses could be a dangerous attacking player, but he never once managed to win a game against Maroczy in 18 tried (ten losses and eight draws). Anyway, here's the game: 1. e4 c6 The Caro-Kann might not seem a good way to play for a win, but Maroczy had a history of winning even endgames and probably decided all he needed to do was to avoid an opening or middle-game accident. As it turned out, his strategy almost backfired. If he thought Mieses would not be able to create serious attacking play against the Caro--Kann, he was soon to get a rude awakening. 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. f4?! click for larger view The "normal" aggressive line here for White is 6. h4. Of course, Mieses could have obtained a small edge with 6. Nf3 or 6. c3 or 6. Be2, but such moves were not Mieses' style. The text is not bad, and was perhaps chosen to try to rattle Maroczy, In that regard, the move seems to have worked--for a while. 6... e6 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. Ne5 click for larger view While there is nothing wrong with this move, one would have expected Maroczy to handle it with ease. He would seem to be fine after 8...Be7 or 8...Nbd7. But for whatever reason, Maroczy chose to keep his Knight bottled up for this and his next eight (8) moves. This strange departure from Maroczy's normal sound play almost cost him this game--and first prize in this tournament. 8... a6? It is on the King-side that Maroczy faced risk. He did, however, luck out for a while. Mieses could now have posed serious problems for Maroczy with 9. h4! But, instead, Mieses woodenly played: 9. Bc4 Be7 This move didn't really spoil anything for Maroczy, but he could have saved himself a lot of trouble with the immediate 9...Nbd7. Sometimes even great players forget to develop their pieces in time. Thus far, however, Maroczy was in no serious trouble. 10. 0-0 0-0 click for larger view So far a fairly placid game. The undeveloped Knight on b8 thus far is only a mild eye-sore. But now the game became highly interesting, and Maroczy's undeveloped Knight was soon to become a near catastrophe for him.

Nov-03-24		KEG: Post II 11. f5 The positional 11. c3 or the attacking 11. h4 look like better choices. The text is certainly not bad, and wound up misdirecting Maroczy who--for once--seemed to misjudge the position: 11... exf5 12. Nxf5 BxN 13. RxB click for larger view White has some attacking chances here, but nothing too serious if Black plays the seemingly obvious 13...Nbd7. Even experts such as Maroczy need to adhere to the rule every beginner is taught: develop your pieces...especially your Knights. But... 13... c5?! Just about everything is wrong with this move. But even so, Black's game is not lost...yet: 14. c3! Well played. This left: click for larger view Now, surely, Maroczy would develop his b8-Knight resulting in a difficult but probably holdable position. But... 14... b5? Granted, 14...cxd4? would lose to 15. Bxf7+ RxB (forced) [15...Kh8 16. Rh5 and Black can resign (16...NxR?? 17. QxN)] 16. Qb3 Qd5 17. QxQ NxQ 18. NxR leaving White the exchange to the good. The text, however, was nearly as bad. Come what may, Maroczy had to play 14...Nc6 or 14...Nbd7. 15. Bb3 cxd4 16. cxd4 16. Qf3! would have posed nearly impossible problems for Maroczy. The text left: click for larger view White's attack is formidable, and Maroczy had to defend with either 16...Nbd7 or maybe 16...a5 (so the Rook can come to a6). But: 16... Qb6? This lemon should have been fatal for Black: click for larger view 17. Qf3 would now be very strong for White. But I would have expected so strong a tactical player as Mieses to find: 17. Bxf7+! RxB 18. Qb3! Qxd4+ 19. Kh1 Qd5 20. QxQ NxQ 21. NxR winning the exchange and the game. But from here, Mieses played like a zombie: 17. Bg5? Nc6 Finally the Black b8 Knight enters the game. Black's position is now probably salvageable. But with Mieses clearly confused about the position, White's game soon sunk like a lead weight. 18. Kh1? White would still be better with the fairly obvious 18. NxN, e.g., 18...QxN 19. Qb3 Ra7 20. Re1 Bd8 21. Kh1 Rd7 22. d5 Qd6 23. Bf4 Qb4 24. Bd2 Qd6 25. Bc3 leaving White with the two Bishops and still some attacking prospects. After the text, however, Maroczy's problems should have been over: click for larger view Now, with 18...Nxd4 19. BxN NxR 29. BxB NxB 21. Nxf7 g6 22. Qe2 Qf6 23. Ne5+ Kg7 24. Nd7 Qg5 25. NxR RxN with what looks like a draw. But... 18... Rad8? Very sloppy. Now, for the final time in the game, Mieses could have seized a (small) edge: click for larger view But Mieses still seemed to be playing in a fog, and from this point Maroczy began playing like the fine player we all know he was. With this, the result would soon become inevitable.

Nov-03-24		perfidious: <KEG>, even the main lines after 6.h4, while long and heavy on theory, do not offer much in the way of opening advantage for White. Black's best chance appears to be 7....Bd6. Opening Explorer

Nov-03-24		KEG: <perfidious> 7...Bd6 looks fine to me, but I likewise have no problem with Maroczy's actual 7...Nf6. It was only beginning with his 8th move that he began to court trouble. I agree that 6. h4 yields little edge to White. It just seems like the best way if White is hell-bent on attack, as Mieses (true to form) seems to have been here. I prefer it to Mieses' 6. f4, though neither move would be my choice against an opening that allows White to build up a good position without taking any risks.

Nov-03-24		KEG: Post III 19. BxN? This makes no sense to me. The only way for White to emerge with any remaining advantage here seems to be 19. NxN QxN 20. Qe2 leaving him with the two Bishops and at least some semblance of an attack (more than compensating in my view for the isolated White d-pawn). 19... BxB click for larger view 20. Qh5?! Mieses seems to have still be operating under the delusion that he had a viable attack. He should have headed for a draw with 20. Bxf7+ [20 Nxf7 amounts to the same thing] RxB 21. NxR KxN 22. Qb3+ Kg6 [or 22...Ke7 23. Re1+ Kd7 24. Re6 Nxd4 25. RxQ NxQ 26. axN Kc7 27. RxB gxR with a likely draw] 23. h4 Rf8 (but not 22...Ke8?? 23. Qe6+ Kf8 24. d5 and White wins). After the poor text, the ever-alert Maroczy quickly and easily reduced to a position where he was now the one with the small advantage: 20... NxN Obviously forced 21. dxN g6 Forced. 22. Qg4 Forced. 22... Bg7 23. Rxf7 Best. 23... RxR 24. Rf1 Kh8 Forced 25. RxR 25. BxR was perhaps marginally better. The text left Maroczy some practical chances to play to win (though the game should with best play still be a draw), the position now being: click for larger view 25... Qe3 Now Mieses had to play with care to stay out of trouble. 26. Rf1 Not any sort of mistake, though 26. Qf4 was perhaps a bit more accurate. 26... Qxe5 click for larger view Given the presence of Bishops of opposite colors, a draw is still the expected outcome. But Mieses, still dreaming of some sort of attack, first erred (on move 27) and then blundered away the game (on move 28). 27. Bf7 "This move loses the game." (Hoffer) I agree that there were a number of simpler choices for White (e.g., 27. Bc2; 27. h3; 27. g3; or even 27. Rb1). But even after the unnecessarily risky text, Mieses didn't need to lose if he kept his head. 27... Rf8 click for larger view The position is starting to look scary for White. But he was still probably OK with 28. Qd1 because of the Bishops of opposite colors (e.g., 28....Qxb2 29. Bb3) But Mieses still wanted to storm the barricades, went overboard with a wild attacking notion, and then instantly fell victim to Maroczy's precise play, as I will discuss in my next post on this game.

Nov-03-24		KEG: Post IV 28. h4? This simply hangs a pawn and allows Black to simplify down to an easily won King and Pawn ending. It is precisely the sort of move NOT to make against so fine a technician as Maroczy. click for larger view Black to play and win. 28... Qe7! Decisive. 29. Qf4 There is nothing better for White than this hopeless effort. 29... RxB! "Wins in a neat fashion" (<Chessical>) click for larger view 30. QxR Qxh4+ Picking up the hanging pawn en route to wiping out all of the pieces on the board. 31. Kg1 Bd4+ click for larger view Game over. 32. Rf2 QxR+ 33. QxQ BxQ+ 34. KxB Kg7 click for larger view No way Maroczy was going to blow this easy endgame win. 35. Kf3 Kf6 36. Kf4 g5+ 37. Ke4 h5 38. b4 h4 39. a3 The last tempo at Mieses' disposal. 39... Ke6 click for larger view Zugzwang. Here Mieses resigned. The game in fact had been over since his dreadful 28th move.

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