Geza Maroczy vs David Janowski (1899)

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Geza Maroczy vs David Janowski
London (1899), London ENG, rd 15, Jun-19
Scotch Game: Schmidt Variation (C45) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Given 13 times; par: 86 [what's this?]

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Jan-22-05		organist: The ending of this game (moves 38 on), with light annotations is given in Reinfeld's "The Complete Chess Course" pp 393-4.

Sep-11-05		alexandrovm: random game of today, for me: White seems to have a well coordinated "attack" against black; then they enter into a queen's ending with an extra pawn for white, plus two connected pawns on the queen side. Nice game by "Geza"

Mar-14-09		YoungEd: I got here from Random Game too! Maroczy just seems to have his way the whole game. This is how the Scoch is supposed to work; I wonder why it doesn't see more top-level action.

Mar-15-09		An Englishman: Good Evening: A similar example of Queen dominating Queen occurs in this classic from Paul Keres. J Rejfir vs Keres, 1956

Jan-21-17		KEG: Maroczy played for a draw from the start. His handling of the Scotch Game is further evidence for keypusher's analysis concerning the poor play by White in this tournament. Lest there be any doubt, here was the position after Janowski's 9th move: click for larger view Not exactly a Garry Kasparov aggressive use of the Scotch! Solely as a result of Janowski's efforts to complicate, Maroczy managed to trade down to a Queen and pawn ending in which he was a pawn up. But this ending was still a clear draw until Janowski got greedy on his 35th move. The position after Maroczy's 35. Qe1 was: click for larger view Janowski had a draw with 35...Qc2, but--being Janowski--tried for more with 35...Qc5. This was fatal, and Maroczy, through skillful play, sacrificed two pawns on the King's side to get a winning attack with his two Queen's side pawns. Maroczy's one slip was his 48. Qc7 (instead of the powerful pawn push 48. a4). But Janowski missed his chance on move 49 with 49...f5 instead of the far better 49...d3 (he would still have been lost, but Maroczy's task would have been more difficult). After that, Janowski was off to the races with his b-pawn. Maroczy's handling of the ending (even with his one slip)was instructive, but his passive handling of the White pieces suggests he was fearful of engaging Janowski in a tactical fight. This game moved Maroczy into 2nd place half-way through the tournament, and the point he got here was an important step in his eventual success of winding up in a tie for 2nd place with Janowski and Pillsbury.

Jan-21-17		ughaibu: Does anyone know when Maroczy's reputation as a queen ending wizard dates from?

Sep-20-21		iron john: keg,if 35..qc2,what about 36.qe5 ?

Sep-28-21		KEG: <iron john> Black draws after 36...Kg8 37. Qxd4 Qb1+ 38. Kf2 Qxa2+ followed by 39...Qxb3

Sep-28-21		Honza Cervenka: <Not exactly a Garry Kasparov aggressive use of the Scotch!> Well, Geza was not exactly Gazzalike type of aggressive player. If a player is not heading just into the sharpest line or the most comlex position, it does not mean that he has only peaceful intentions and that he is playing for draw, especially if he faces a dangerous tactician like Janowski. He played a fine positional game here trying to exploit worse Pawn structure of black. It is true that in the course of game he did not have any significant advantage, as black had all the time sufficient piece activity for balancing shortcomings of his Pawn structure, and that the game was decided only by Janowski's mistake in the Queen ending but this is not uncommon in games between equals at this level.

Sep-28-21		KEG: <Honza Cervenka> I see your point and you may well be right. But we must recall that while opening theory has advanced exponentially since 1899 the Scotch was quite well known in those days and so fine a theoretician as Maroczy almost surely knew which lines were drawish. Another possibility is that Maroczy was happy to reach a drawn ending against Janowski in which the latter might overreach after which Marocy's superb endgame technique might grind out a win. All in all, it is always dangerous to do what I am wont to do, i.e., guess what players were thinking over a century ago. In this regard, however, I just can't help myself.

Sep-28-21		Honza Cervenka: <KEG> Maroczy was an 1.e4 player (he was not playing it exclusively, but by far most often) but the Scotch Game he played rarely. The only other his game in the database, which reached the position after the 5th move of black is Maroczy vs Tartakower, 1920, where he played "Tartakower's" 6.Nd2. As far as I know Mieses line with 6.e5 he never tried. And on the other side he was quite successful with Four Knights Game and he was also playing French Exchange. So I guess that it was rather a matter of style from his part than anything else.

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