Maróczy Bind
Encyclopedia
The Maróczy Bind is a pawn formation
Pawn structure
In chess, the pawn structure is the configuration of pawns on the chessboard. Since pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and thus largely determines the strategic nature of the position.-General observations:Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such...

 in chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

, named after the Hungarian grandmaster Géza Maróczy
Géza Maróczy
Géza Maróczy was a leading Hungarian chess Grandmaster, one of the best players in the world in his time. He was also a practicing engineer.-Early career:...

 and primarily, but not exclusively, played against the Sicilian Defence
Sicilian Defence
The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...

. It is characterized by white pawns on c4 and e4, with White's d-pawn having been exchanged
Exchange (chess)
In the tactics and strategy in the board game of chess, an exchange or trade of chess pieces is series of closely related moves, typically sequential, in which the two players capture each others pieces. Any types of pieces except the kings may possibly be exchanged, i. e. captured in an...

 for Black's c-pawn. White's c- and e-pawns control the d5 square, making it difficult for Black to free his position with ...d5; Black often settles for the less active ...d6 instead. Black often employs a Hedgehog formation against the Bind.

History

The first game known to feature the Maróczy Bind was Swiderski–Maróczy, Monte Carlo 1904. Oddly, no games are known where Maróczy played it as White. However, the 1906 March–April issue of the Wiener Schachzeitung reproduced from Magyar Sakklap Maróczy's annotations to the game Tarrasch
Siegbert Tarrasch
Siegbert Tarrasch was one of the strongest chess players and most influential chess teachers of the late 19th century and early 20th century....

–Marshall, Nuremberg (match) 1905 (which began 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 a6 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Be2 Bg7 6.Nc3 Nc6). "On four consecutive moves (moves 3–6) Maróczy stressed the value of the move c4."

For several decades, it was generally considered tantamount to a positional blunder
Blunder (chess)
In chess, a blunder is a very bad move. It is usually caused by some tactical oversight, whether from time trouble, overconfidence or carelessness. While a blunder may seem like a stroke of luck for the opposing player, some chess players give their opponent plenty of opportunities to blunder.What...

 for Black to allow the Maróczy Bind. For example, Harry Golombek
Harry Golombek
Harry Golombek OBE , was a British chess International Master and honorary grandmaster, chess arbiter, and chess author. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. He became a grandmaster in 1985.He was the chess correspondent of The Times...

, in Capablanca's 100 Best Games of Chess (1947), gave a question mark to Black's fourth move in the line 1.e4 c5 2.Ne2 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6, a form of the Accelerated Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defence, stating that 4...Nf6 was "necessary" to make White block his with 5.Nc3 and thus avoid the Bind. Golombek gave an exclamation point to 5.c4, establishing the Bind, explaining "This strong move gives White control of the centre and Black must grovel about to find a counter-attack." Reuben Fine
Reuben Fine
Reuben Fine was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the early 1930s through the 1940s, an International Grandmaster, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology.Fine won five medals in three chess Olympiads. Fine won the U.S...

, writing in 1948, also considered the Bind very strong for White.

Beginning in the 1950s, the Maróczy Bind became less feared as new methods were found for Black to combat it. The ninth edition of Modern Chess Openings
Modern Chess Openings
Modern Chess Openings is an important reference book on the chess openings, first published in 1911 by the British players Richard Clewin Griffith and John Herbert White...

(1957) stated that Black had "worked loose" from the strictures of the Bind. Larry Evans
Larry Evans
For the football player of the same name, see Larry Evans .Larry Melvyn Evans was an American chess grandmaster, author, and journalist. He won or shared the U.S. Chess Championship five times and the U.S. Open Chess Championship four times...

 wrote in the tenth edition (1965) that in response to the Accelerated Dragon, the Maróczy Bind "was once considered a refutation but now has lost much of its punch. White retains an advantage in space but Black's position is fundamentally sound." That remains the prevailing view, but some recent writers still emphasize that Black must find active counterplay or else be "strangled". However, John Nunn
John Nunn
John Denis Martin Nunn is one of England's strongest chess players and once belonged to the world's top ten. He is also a three times world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician....

 and Joe Gallagher observe:
Although the Maroczy Bind is slightly passive for Black, players such as Larsen
Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...

, Petursson and Velimirović
Dragoljub Velimirovic
Dragoljub Velimirović is a Serbian and former Yugoslav chess grandmaster, born in Valjevo.-Biography:...

 have shown that by patiently waiting for a lapse of concentration from White this line can offer winning chances for Black. The theoretical opinion is that White should maintain a slight advantage, but no one should believe that this is a line in which White cannot lose.

Common opening lines

Common opening lines that reach a Maróczy Bind position include:
  • The Accelerated Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defence: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6, followed by 5.c4. (See diagram.)
  • The Taimanov
    Mark Taimanov
    Mark Evgenievich Taimanov is a leading Soviet and Russian chess player and concert pianist.-Chess:He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1952 and played in the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953, where he tied for eighth place. From 1946 to 1956, he was among the world's top...

     Variation of the Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6, followed by 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4.
  • The Kan Variation of the Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6, followed by 5.c4.
  • The Petrosian
    Tigran Petrosian
    Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his playing style because of his almost impenetrable defence, which emphasised safety above all else...

     Variation of the Queen's Indian Defence: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4 8.Nxd4.
  • The Classical Variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence
    Nimzo-Indian Defence
    The Nimzo-Indian Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:This hypermodern opening was developed by Grandmaster Aron Nimzowitsch who introduced it to master-level chess in the early 20th century. Unlike most Indian openings the Nimzo-Indian does not involve an immediate fianchetto,...

    : 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 c5 5.dxc5, later followed by e4.
  • The Moscow Variation of the Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7 Qxd7 5.c4, followed by d4 and ...cxd4.
  • In the Hedgehog formation, the opponent (typically White) has a type of Maróczy Bind, for example: 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.Nc3 e6 6.0-0 a6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.e4 Be7 10.b3 Nbd7.
  • The Chekhover
    Vitaly Chekhover
    Vitaly Chekhover was a Soviet chess player and chess composer. He was also a pianist.- Composing career :...

     Variation of Sicilian Defence: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. c4.
  • The Advance Variation of the Smith-Morra Gambit Declined: 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 d3 4.c4.
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