Geza Maroczy (GAY-zaw MAHR-otsee) was born in Szeged, Hungary on March 3, 1870.
He learned chess a a school boy.
He developed his game while studing engineering at the Polytechnial in Zurich in the 1890s, but he did not complete his engineering degree.
He played in his first chess tournament, in Budapest, in 1894.
In 1895 he won the amateur championship at Hastings. Harry Pillsbury won the master's event.
In 1895 he defeated Charousek in a match in Hungary. He won 6, lost 2, drew 6.
In 1896 he took 2nd place at Nuremberg, behind Emanuel Lasker, but ahead of Tarrasch and Pillsbury.
In 1897 he was a Professor of Mathematics in Budapest.
In 1902 he won at Monte Carlo with a 14 3/4 score, ahead of Pillsbury, who had 14 1/2. The quarter of a point was for the first draw. Draws after that were 1/2 point.
In 1905 Maroczy challenged Lasker for the world championship match. In April 1906, he and Emanuel Lasker signed an agreement to play a match for the first to win 8 games. The match fell through. New York chess circles tried to raise the money for the match stakes, but failed. The Havana Chess Club agreed to fund and host the match, but a revolution broke out in Cuba and the deal fell through. The opportunity for a match never game again. In 1907 Lasker played the weaker Frank Marshall, instead, and won with 8 wins, no losses, and 7 draws. The purse was for $1,000.
He retired from chess play in 1908, perhaps ranked number 2 in the world. He later resumed his chess career.
In 1909 he wrote the first thorough book about Paul Morphy. It was published in Leipzig.
During World War I, he suffered from extreme poverty.
In 1919 he was accused a Communist in Hungary and was dismissed from his job as a senior officer at a savings bank. He later moved to Hastings, England.
In 1921, he started coaching Vera Menchik who became the Woman's World Chess Champion in 1927. He also began giving simultaneous chess exhibitions.
In the Netherlands, he coached Max Euwe.
He later moved to New York and directed the 1927 New York International.
He returned to Hungary in 1927 and played for Hungary in the Chess Olympiad.
In 1931, during a chess tournament in Bled, he challenged Nimzovich to a pistol duel at dawn Nimzovich refused.
In 1935 and 1937 he was the tournament director for the Alekhine-Euwe match.
In 1945 he lived in an overcrowded shelter in Budapest. He later contracted pneumonia and almost died.
In 1946 he and his wife left Hungary for Amsterdam, but could go no farther than Vienna.
In 1947 he made it to Amsterdam., but later returned to Budapest.
His last tournament was in 1947. He played at a tournament in Baarn at the age of 77, after a retirement of over 10 years. It was at Baarn where he was quoted as saying, "The world has gone downhill since I was young. When I look around me nowadays, I am glad that I myself am going downhill."
In 1950 he was awarded the Grandmaster title at the age of 80. Maroczy was on the first FIDE list of 27 chess grandmasters.
He died in Budapest on May 29, 1951 at the age of 81.
Maroczy was fluent in Hungarian, German, and English.
In 1974 Hungary released a chess stamp with a drawing of Geza Maroczy playing chess.
In the 1985, Korchnoi claimed that he played Maroczy through a medium.
