Maróczy in Scotland - 1924

The great Hungarian master Géza Maróczy [3 March 1870 - 29 May 1951] visited Scotland in December as part of an extensive national tour.

From The Scotsman, Monday, 8 December 1924, p 12.
The famous Hungarian master, Maróczy fulfilled a two-days' engagement on Friday and Saturday with the Glasgow Chess Club. On Friday afternoon he played several members individually, and in the evening he gave a simultaneous display at 19 boards - winning 16 and drawing 3. On Saturday the master played two games without sight of the board - in one conducting the defence in a Queen's Gambit Declined against Messrs Gibson and Ogilvie in consultation, and in the other playing white in a Four Knights' game against McKee and Dr Forrester. Maróczy soon worked up a strong counter-attack against Gibson and Ogilvie, and forced their resignation in 24 moves. He also won the second game by fine and accurate play. During the last two months, Maróczy has played 405 games in simultaneous exhibitions, winning 358, losing 4, and drawing 43.

To-day and to-morrow he visits the Edinburgh Central and Edinburgh Ladies' Clubs. On Wednesday he goes to Dundee, and terminates his Scottish visit with an engagement at Greenock.

 

The chess column in the Glasgow Herald of December 13, 1924, page 4, gave the full results of Maroczy's simultaneous exhibitions on his Scottish tour.

Glasgow CC ■ Played 19 boards, won 16, drew 3.
Edinburgh Central ■ Played 24 boards, winning them all.
Edinburgh Ladies ■ Played 24 boards, won 22, drew 2 (Mrs Coast & G. Page of Civil Service CC)
Dundee CC ■ Played 16 boards, winning them all.
Greenock ■ Played 21 boards, won 20, drew 1.

Here are both consultation games Maroczy played without sight of the board in Glasgow, December 6th.

Gibson and Ogilvie - Maróczy
Glasgow, 06.12.1924

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Nc3 Ne4 6.Qc2 f5 7.Bd3 Nd7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.a3 0-0 10.b4 Rf6 11.Bb2 Rh6 12.h3 g5 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.dxe5 Bxe5 15.Bxe4 fxe4 16.Rfd1 Qe7 17.Ne2 Bxb2 18.Qxb2 Bd7 19.Ng3 Rf8 20.Rd2 g4 21.hxg4 e5 22.cxd5 Bxg4 23.f3 exf3 24.gxf3 Bxf3 0-1

Maroczy (Blind) - McKee and Forrester
Glasgow, 06.12.1924

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bb4 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 d6 7.Bg5 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Ne7 9.Nh4 Ng6 10.Bc4 Qe7 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Rb1 c6 13.Qc1 b6 14.f4 Be6 15.fxe5 dxe5 16.Bxf6 Qc5+ 17.Kh1 Bxc4 18.dxc4 gxf6 19.Qh6 Rfd8 20.Rxf6 Qf8 21.Qg5 Rd6 22.Qxe5 Rad8 23.h3 c5 24.Rbf1 Rxf6 25.Qxf6 Rd6 26.Qf4 Qe7 27.h4 Re6 28.Re1 Re5 29.Kg1 f5 30.Qh6 Qe8 31.h5 gxh5 32.Rf1 Rxe4 33.Rxf5 Rg4 34.Qd2 Kg7 35.Rd5 1-0

One game from the simultaneous exhibition in Glasgow.

J. Marshall - Maroczy
Glasgow, 05.12.1924

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.Bd3 Nge7 7.Qe2 Ng6 8.c3 a6 9.Nbd2 Bd7 10.Nb3 Ba7 11.Bg5 Qc7 12.Bxg6 hxg6 13.0-0-0 b5 14.Kb1 Rb8 15.Be3 b4 16.Bxa7 Qxa7 17.Ka1 bxc3 18.bxc3 a5 19.Ng5 Ne7 20.Qf3 Nf5 21.Nd4 0-0 22.h4 Nh6 23.h5 Qc7 24.hxg6 fxg6 25.Qd3 Qc4 26.Qxc4 dxc4 27.f3 Nf7 28.Ngxe6 Bxe6 29.Nxe6 Rfe8 30.Nc5 Nxe5 31.Rde1 Nc6 32.Rxe8+ Rxe8 33.Rh4 [Cannot read this move properly in the Glasgow Herald report. Not certain this is the move indicated. AMcG] 33...Re3 34.Kb2 g5 ½-½

From The Story of Dundee Chess Club by Peter W. Walsh. 1984
...Maróczy visited the club in December [Wednesday the 10th]. Maróczy engaged in two consultation games; he played white against Heath and Spankie on board 1 and black against Thoms and Clare on board 2. Both pairs defeated their great adversary in the afternoon session. However the famous master re-asserted himself in the evening by defeating all seventeen opponents, including Heath, in the simultaneous display.

From The Courier, Thursday, December 11, 1924, p. 3.

Maroczy - CB Heath and D. Spankie (in consultation) [D21]
Dundee, 10.12.1924
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nbd2 Ba6 5.e4 e6 6.Nxc4 Nf6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Be2 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qc2 Nd7 11.a3 Rc8 12.Re1 c5 13.Nd6 Bxe2 14.Nxc8 Bxf3 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.gxf3 cxd4 17.b4 f6 18.exf6 Qxf6 19.Qe4 Nc7 20.Bb2 e5 21.Rac1 Ne6 22.Rc6 Qf7 23.Bc1 h6 24.Rd6 Nc7 25.Qb7 Nf6 26.Kh1 Nfd5 27.f4 Qh5 28.Rxe5 Qd1+ 29.Kg2 Qxc1 30.Rdxd5 Qxf4 31.Rf5 Rxf5 32.Rxf5 Qxf5 33.Qxc7 Qd5+ 34.Kg1 d3 0-1

The British Chess Magazine for January, 1925, p 20 gave the results of Maróczy's visit to Scotland:
Glasgow, +18, =3, no losses (note that this differs from The Scotsman report above); Edinburgh Central, +24, =0, -0; Edinburgh Ladies', +22, =2, -0; Dundee, +16, =0, -0 (different from above). There was result for a display in Greenock, which was supposed to be part of the tour, according to The Scotsman.

Alan McGowan
Historian, Chess Scotland