Géza Maróczy

Chessmetrics Ranking: World Number One continuously 1904-1907

Tournament Career: winner of eight super-tournaments:

2x winner of Monte Carlo Chess Tournament

winner of Vienna 1908 Chess Tournament, Karlovy Vary Chess Tournament 1923, Hastings International Chess Congress 1924/25

and a few others…

Chess Olympiads: gold team medal

What earned him this:

The Hungarian defensive magician and one of the absolute best players in the world, Géza Maróczy, is remembered also for the pawn formation named after him. In the first decade of the last century, he had the best results in super-tournaments among all players, making it logical that historical rankings place him as the world’s top player at that time. During this period, he was also supposed to play a match for the world championship with Lasker, but the match conditions could not be agreed upon, and he never got this opportunity.

After 1908, Maróczy decided to retire from the chess world. However, after World War I, he unexpectedly returned and once again celebrated successes. Notably, he led the Hungarian team as the main star on the first board to a gold medal at the first Chess Olympiad in 1927.

Maróczy was the best tournament player of his time, as evidenced by his first or shared first prizes at the biggest events. In Monte Carlo, for example, he surpassed Pillsbury, Tarrasch, Schlechter, Janowski, Chigorin, Marshall, and many others. In Karlovy Vary 1923, he shared the first prize with Alekhine and Bogoljubov, surpassing Réti, Grunfeld, Nimzowitsch, Tarrasch, Tartakower, Rubinstein, and others. And we could continue like this. Simply put, a very exceptional player whose résumé lacks only the world champion title.

Best Games:

Géza Maróczy vs Mikhail Chigorin

Vienna 1903