More Maroczy Technique, Pictures And A Baffling Game
Afternoon everyone. Lots here - I have had nothing else to do!
Still not great here, but on the mend - with thanks to those who have expressed concern.
With time to kill, I revisited this lovely book, which I had dug out for pictures last time.
I spent time looking at some of Maroczy's technical performances when he was at his peak.
Was he any good at his best? I'll give some bits of the statistical analysis here.
The retrospective edoratings for 1905.
Note Neumann on there for later, and I must do something on Berger at some point!
The other retrospective ratings site is chessmetrics. It hasn't been updated in 20 years or so, but it tries to adjust the numbers to be relevant to ratings from this century. Again 1905.
Taubenhaus in there for my friend @Steakanator who recently questioned his historical status.
So, he was pretty strong! Both in the context of the time and in an overall historical overview. The most underestimated player of all time? You could certainly make that case ( all these things are subjective - I don't do GOAT lists!) He suffers in that regard because after he withdrew from the match with Lasker he was off doing other things at the time he would have been at his peak - his tournaments with the likes of Alekhine and Capablanca came years later when he was past his prime.
He also had the same pragmatic approach as Karpov did in the 70's and early 80's - before Kasparov shook things up. He would agree easy, day off, draws with his strongest rivals and save his energies for beating up the others. In Karpov's era that was called 'Tournament Technique'.
His Grandmaster Draw roadshow with Schlechter, for example, is an example of a 'how dull can you get contest'. The exception there was Marshall, who, in the chessgames.com database, he trounced 11-5, with 9 draws.
So, let's go look at Maroczy the technician. First some games I have posted before, starting with my favourite Maroczy game - which has a story behind it.
https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/my-favorite-game-of-number-24-geza-maroczy
Back to the name Wolf - 1 of 3! - later.
An important game from the period I have been looking at, which got him first prize - shared with Janowski iirc - at the incredible Barmen 1905 event.
Not many pictures of von Gottschall to be found - I have him in a number of group photos, but none of really croppable quality, so you get this standard one - albeit the best quality version I can find.
So, onto the games I have been looking at over the past couple of days - no notes because I am not really up to it, but if you want any of them explained, just ask in the comments!
Lets start with Wolf number 1. There were three - somewhere I have a picture with all of them but can't find it. I must index my picture files properly at some point.
It fits with my last blog. The opening set-up was in it's infancy - you can find some background in my blog of my favourite Tarrasch game.
And Taubenhaus, mentioned earlier. A great picture - this version via chessarch.com - from the 1893 new York tournament which my friend @Steakanator will get to in due course he tells me.
Today's quiz - who is left of picture? Easy one! A double Knight endgame - they are amongst the toughest technical endgames in chess ( check out the Botvinnik - Simagin one - possibly the most difficult endgame to play over the board that I have ever studied, and am still baffled by!) Maroczy's technique is pretty much impeccable, apart from 2 slips - he should not have allowed 51.c5! and he could have implemented the winning plan quicker with 64...Kg5.
Augustin Neumann - interesting chess figure - he won the Masters title at Coburg 1904 ahead of some good players - getting the Master title back then was tough.
He beat Vidmar in the play-off match +2 =2 -1. Clearly he was quite a talent. Sadly he died young - in 1906. Vidmar remembers him as a player with a very active style. Well, let's get to the game.
Bonus time! I have this in my files from a while ago, when I was looking at Neumann and doing the primary source stuff. Carlsen analogy.
One against the exotically named Paul Saladin Leonhardt.
For a while he was a very dangerous opponent (he smashed Niemzowitsch in a match as I recall) and his demolition of Maroczy at Karlsbad 1907 was the latter's only loss in the tournament.
Endgame technique isn't all about converting advantages. It also involves being able to defend difficult positions. So, here's one where Maroczy didn't win.
His opponent is one of the forgotten who I really must write about at some point. Johann Berger. An amateur from Graz, he was very strong ( both over the board and in correspondence chess). Digging out this game on chessgames.com it was rather a shock to see his result against Maroczy. +3 =2 -0!! He also wrote an important book on endgames - he defends this one wonderfully.
O.K. On to the feature game - which is a little different to the previous, although the ending has a neat final touch. Another one against Marshall!
I have spent far too many hours in my life sitting at a chessboard going through unannotated games scores trying to understand the games - including this one in the aforementioned book.
Well, sometimes when you do that you get the 'it must be me' feeling. There are games between great players where you don't really believe that these guys moves are as bad as they look! One recent example was following a Carlsen - Anand game. Anand basically had just one trick in the position - easily avoided. Amazingly Carlsen allowed it! Then, even more amazingly, Anand didn't play it!! 'It must be me', I thought. I must be missing something. But quickly turning on the engine it was clear that it was a double blunder by two of the very best. Go figure.
This game is one of those. The first time I looked at it I was just baffled, and believed that very clearly I knew nothing, saw nothing and understood nothing. Well, when you analyse it properly it makes you feel better when you yourself play rubbish chess, and moves you can't explain later.
Have fun with this one!
Three pictures that didn't fit in anywhere, whilst I have the folder open.
