Friday, August 6, 2010 at 8:44PM Right here. As always, the show is free (free registration required), available on-demand for the next month or so, and requires no special software to watch. This month's crop of games focuses on gambits and other sharp openings, including the Marshall Gambit, the Smith-Morra and the Sveshnikov Sicilian.
Friday, August 6, 2010 at 4:33PM (1) We start with the British Championship. In yesterday's round 10, Michael Adams beat Simon Williams to clinch clear first, and in the last round drew comfortably with Peter Wells to finish things off. In fact, he was even winning against Wells, but decided on a safety-first finish.
In this position, Adams (Black) is winning material, so it's up to Wells to prove that his counterplay against Black's slightly exposed king is enough. After 23.Rh5 Bxb1 24.Bxc4 (as played in the game), 24...Be4! seems to leave White with insufficient compensation. For instance:
(A) 25.d5!? and now Black must be a little careful. If 25...exd5??, then it's mate in three by 26.Ba6+, 27.Qb5+ and 28.Qb7#. If 25...Bd5?, then 26.Ba6+ is good for a draw, e.g. 26...Kb8 27.Qb5+ Ka8 28.Rxd5 exd5+ (good thing it's check!) 29.Kf1 c6 30.Qxc6+ Kb8 31.Qb5+ Ka8 (31...Kc7?? 32.Qb7+ Kd6 33.Bc5+ wins) 32.Qc6+ etc. But Black can win with 25...Rxd5! White can recoup the exchange, but after 26.Bxd5 there's no perpetual, Black's king is safe and he's two pawns up.
(B) 25.Rc5 is also sensible, getting the rook around Black's king before a move like ...Bd5 or ...Rd5 shuts it out on the kingside. It appears that the calm 25...c6 is good enough to put out White's fires, though: 26.Ba6+ Kd7 27.b5 Ke8! 28.bxc6 Qc7 29.Bb7 Rd5 and White's fun is at an end. Winning may not be easy, but Black can try forever while White suffers.
(C) 25.Ba6+ is the most direct path, but after 25...Bb7 26.Bxb7+ Kxb7 27.Rb5+ Kc8 28.Qa6+ Kd7 29.Qa4 Ke8! the king has scampered off to safety, as White lacks a meaningful discovered check.
Instead of going for the win, Adams preferred a riskless draw; understandable if a slight pity for those of us who wanted to see him put a cap on his demolition of the field. (Plus it threw away a nice batch of rating points, which is pretty important as he tries to get back into the Linares club.) The game concluded 24...Rd5? 25.Bxd5 exd5+ 26.Re5 Qd6 27.Re8+ Rxe8+ 28.Qxe8+ Kb7 29.Qb5+ Kc8 30.Qe8+ and drawn. His score of 9.5/11 was a great success, a rating points boon and left him a point and a half ahead of Nicholas Pert, who took clear second.
(2) Svidler-Nielsen. It only took Peter Heine Nielsen 16 games to get warmed up (6 rapid, 10 blitz), but on the final day of their four-day match (or on the second day of their second match, if you prefer) he finally came alive. On the first day of the blitz match they were forced to play 1.b3, on the second day they were allowed to play whatever they wanted to. (Shockingly, they never did play another 1.b3 game.) Nielsen came out firing, winning the first two games and three of the first four. Svidler managed to stop the bleeding, but was only able to even the session at 5-5. The blitz finished with Svidler the two-day winner 12-8, and if you merge those scores with the rapid games he won 16.5-9.5.
(3) Politiken Cup. Eight rounds (of 10) are finished, and Rodshtein and Ganguly lead with 7 points, half a point ahead of eight other players, including top seed Eljanov.
(4) Arctic Circle Challenge. After seven rounds (of 10), Bartosz Socko leads with an impressive 6.5 points. Manuel Leon Hoyos has 6, and six players, including Monika Socko - Bartosz's wife and the defending champ - are on 5.5. Top seed Loek van Wely is in the next group, with 5 points.
(5) U.S. Open. Tonight, all the sections merge. In the traditional, one round a day section, Alejandro Ramirez leads with a 6-0 score. There are no perfect scores in the 6-day, but in the 4-day, with one more quick round yet to be reported, Varuzhan Akobian is 5-0 thus far.
(6) Mainz Chess Festival. Unless you played in one of the simuls today, the interesting part of the festival starts tomorrow. In years past, it was a great big bash with open and invitational events in both Chess960 and rapid, but this year there's just an open rapid event. Still, it's very strong, with stars like Aronian, Grischuk, Shirov and Karjakin participating.
Friday, August 6, 2010 at 1:11PM Karsten Müller and Merijn van Delft, The Chess Cafe Puzzle Book 3: Test and Improve Your Defensive Skill (Russell Enterprises 2010). 216 pp. $24.95. Reviewed by Dennis Monokroussos.
Karsten Müller is well known in the chess world, especially for his endgame books, while Merijn van Delft's primary claim to fame at the moment is his work with the weekly e-newsletter ChessVibes Openings. The current work is primarily Müller's, but both authors are involved in this, the final book of the Chess Cafe Puzzle Book series.
The first volume was a straightforward test-your-tactics book, while the second offered more positionally-based tests. Their latest work tries to help the reader (or perhaps better, the solver) grow as a defender, in part through information and mostly through exercise. There are 12 chapters, the first nine of which offer a mix of instruction and exercise. (A concept is presented, examples are given, and a few puzzles are posed.) Here's an overview of those first nine chapters.
Chapter 1: Principles and Methods of the Defender. This chapter offers the principles of defense at the highest level of abstraction; that is, general tips for the defender that can apply across the widest span of defensive situations. Examples include "chess is not checkers" (i.e. seemingly "forced" captures are sometimes anything but), "the elimination method" (i.e. finding the right move by refuting all the alternatives) and "being not doing" (viz., not helping your opponent by "doing" something that sabotages your own position).
Chapter 2: Defending against an Attack on the King. Here the concepts are a bit more specific, and among the included topics are standard tips like exchanging the enemy's attackers but also subtler notions like using the king as a defender and sacrificing to destroy the harmony of the attacker's army.
Chapter 3: Fighting against the Initiative.
Chapter 4: Perpetual Check.
Chapter 5: Stalemate. The authors divide this into two sections: endgame stalemates (which is further subdivided to include, inter alia, the second-rank defense in the rook and bishop vs. rook ending) and middlegame stalemates.
Chapter 6: The Right Exchange. In chapter 1, the idea of swapping off enemy attackers was noted; on the other hand, if one is down material, the rule of thumb is to swap pawns and avoid trading pieces. These are rules of thumb, not laws, and in a given position the rules of thumb may be completely wrong. The authors offer further guidance on the matter.
Chapter 7: Exchange Sacrifices. The chapter includes (but is not limited to) sections on the "Russian" exchange sacrifice (when a rook plugs up an open file on a square that's inaccessible to enemy pawns, is vulnerable to one or more enemy minor pieces and is protected by two of its own pawns), the blockading exchange sac, plus typical exchange sacs in the Sicilian (...Rxc3) and the French (...Rxf3).
Chapter 8: Defense against a Minority Attack. This is highly specific, but of course very useful to anyone who plays or faces the Carlsbad pawn structure. (This most frequently arises in the QGD Exchange, but can happen elsewhere too, e.g. the Exchange Caro-Kann.)
Chapter 9: Defending Inferior Endgames. Included here are sections on the defender activating his rook and "the [m]ighty [p]assed [p]awn".
Chapter 10 presents some highlights from one of Tigran Petrosian (the 9th World Champion), who is widely recognized as one of the all-time great defenders. Chapter 11 offers 24 "Easy Exercises", aimed as a warm-up for chapter 12: Tests. There are 16 tests, each with eight puzzles, with a (very) approximate rating chart based on the number of correct answers.
Not too many books have been dedicated to defense in chess, and fewer still have taken a puzzle-based approach, so the book definitely fills a role in the market. Further, it's not just that they've done the thing; they've done it well. The instructional material hits the key topics and the puzzles are both well-chosen and almost all of recent vintage, not rehashes of oldies but goodies. The problems might be a little too challenging for lower-level club players, but certainly anyone 1700-1800 and up can benefit from the book.
Recommended, and available here (and no doubt elsewhere, but not yet on Amazon).
defense in Book Reviews Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 7:50PM On Saturday I bequeathed to the world an unstoppable anti-French Defense weapon, guaranteed to win every time.* That line begins 1.e4 e6 2.Be2, but tonight, in a 1-minute game, I was faced with a terrible question. What do you do if your wily opponent plays something other than 1...e6?
After careful thought, we at Monokroussos Labs, Inc., found a solution to at least one of the alternative cases. Against 1.e4 c5, we play 2.Be2 followed by 3.Bf3 anyway! You can see for yourselves what happened here.**
* Guarantee not valid in the United States or its territories. Or in the surrounding areas. Or basically anywhere on Earth, or any other place people might play chess.
** Yes, I really did play that game, and decided on 2.Be2 just for the amusement value of building on the humorous anti-French post.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 6:56PM It's crazy how much chess is going on - interesting events too, even without any super-GM tournaments underway.
1. In the British Championship, Michael Adams was held to a second draw, and by a "mere" IM at that! Adam Hunt held with White, and has been caught in second by GMs Stephen Gordon and Simon Williams. They all have 6.5/9; Adams has 8. Two rounds remain.
2. Svidler-Nielsen, in blitz with 1.b3: Nielsen got off to a good start, drawing two and winning game three, but then he got steamrolled. Svidler won games 4 and 5, lost game 6, and then won the last four games of the day. As for 1.b3, it managed a 50% score, which seems about right to me. Tomorrow the players will honor chess by playing whatever openings they want, and I'm guessing 1.b3 won't have an encore performance.
3. Politiken Cup: The aforementioned match is part of the same festival, but referring only to the major open, 6 of 10 rounds have been played and there are four co-leaders: Georg Meier, Konstantin Landa, world #8 Pavel Eljanov and Maxim Rodshtein.
4. World Junior: None of the 2600s have lost, but five of the seven have been nicked for a draw after two rounds. It's a long tournament (13 rounds), so we'll revisit that event in a week or so.
5. Arctic Chess Challenge: After five of ten rounds, Bartosz Socko owns the only remaining perfect score. Five players, including Loek van Wely, are half a point behind.
6. Russia-China Match: This starts tomorrow. It's not as strong as it could be, but it's not bad, either.
7. U.S. Open: The tournament has multiple schedules, and only two of the three are underway. The 6-day schedule started yesterday and the 4-day starts tomorrow. Round five of the nine-day takes place tonight; so far, after four rounds, there are four perfect scores, including fellow Indiana resident Jim Dean. (No pressure Jim, no pressure.)
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 6:52PM From Adrian Petrescu:
Thought you mind find the following link interesting. The guy behind ChessMetrics is apparently hosting a competition to devise a replacement for ELO. You write up your algorithm and train it on several thousand historical games, and then you upload it to his server where it will automatically be "tested" based on 7,000 other games with known results, to see how your predictions do.
I'm skeptical that (even if something good comes out of this) the inertia of ELO will ever be overcome. But I thought I'd let you know about it :)
Some relevant links are:
http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/08/04/2014202/Chess-Ratings-mdash-Move-Over-Elo
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 1:00PM Have a look. He makes some good points there (e.g. why didn't FIDE re-open the bidding and why did Mamedyarov maintain his wildcard status after Baku was scrapped), and there's also the incredible possibility that neither Carlsen nor Topalov will play in the Candidates - and not because of Kramnik's presence.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 11:23PM There are plenty of other events taking place; I'll just pick out these highlights for your edification.
First, Michael Adams continues to look like a steamroller at the British Championship. He now has 7.5/8 after grinding Stuart Conquest into submission and leads by a point and a half with three rounds to go. Only Adam Hunt is even that close, so if Adams beats him tomorrow he'll have guaranteed himself at least a tie for first. Of course Adams was always a big favorite there, but it's nice to see him doing so well again after several years in the wilderness. On the live top list, he's back to #17 in the world. He has been higher (he has been as high as #4 in the world), but he's headed in the right direction.
Second, Peter Svidler finished off his rapid match with Peter Heine Nielsen with a win (with Black) and two draws (with White), good for a 4.5-1.5 overall victory. Tomorrow they start a two-day blitz match, and unfortunately all tomorrow's games will start with 1.b3?! (Motto: It's not as bad as 1.g4.) This will be done to honor Bent Larsen, who immortalized 1.b3 with games like this:
Larsen-Spassky, Russia vs. The Rest of the World (Beograd 1970):
1.b3(?!) e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nf3?! e4 5.Nd4 Bc5 6.Nxc6 dxc6! 7.e3 Bf5 8.Qc2 Qe7 9.Be2 0-0-0 10.f4? Ng4 11.g3 h5! 12.h3 h4! 13.hxg4 hxg3 14.Rg1 Rh1!! 15.Rxh1 g2 16.Rf1 Qh4+ 17.Kd1 gxf1Q+ 0-1
(Yes, I know that Larsen is a legend of the game. But I admire him as a chessplayer because of his excellence and fighting spirit, not because he was an efficient fish-killer with 1.b3.)
Third, the real World Junior (the U-20) has just started. No super-GMs, but 7 2600s isn't bad!
Monday, August 2, 2010 at 4:31PM 1. In the British Championship, super-GM Michael Adams resumed his winning ways, quickly defeating GM Stephen Gordon with the Black pieces. Gordon had a small edge out of the opening, but his aggressive plan with 20.f5, 21.Ng4 and 22.f6 was perhaps a bit too aggressive. The resulting position was easier for Adams to play, but White was only slightly worse until he uncorked 29.Rd1?? This allowed a tactic straight out of a beginner's book.
It's always amazing how easy it is to walk into such things when one is worse or playing a stronger player; had Gordon been Black he'd have spotted it in a second himself. As for the solution, I'll trust all of you to figure it out on your own.
Almost all the other top boards drew, but Stuart Conquest beat Danny Gormally to remain a single point behind Adams. They'll play next round, with Adams enjoying White.
2. Politiken Cup: After 4 rounds in the open event, nine players still have perfect scores: Rodshtein, Landa, Hector, Postny, Carlstedt, Cmilyte, Hillarp-Persson, Brunello and Krasenkow. As for the Svidler-P.H. Nielsen match, it's looking grim for the national hero. After what looked like a narrow escape in game 1 with White, Nielsen lost very quickly in game two and again (but more slowly) in game three. 2.5-.5 Svidler, with three more rapid games tomorrow.
3. Tromsø: Another fine open event, the Arctic Circle Challenge, is taking place in Tromsø, Norway. There are lots of GMs (but no Magnus Carlsen), including Loek van Wely, who leads a group of 11 with 3/3. The event goes 10 rounds.
4. Computers: Martin Thoresen's latest engine-engine event is almost finished. This one was a drawfest, and while it's not yet clear who the winner will be, it is clear that it won't be Rybka 4, which drew all its games and can finish no better than tied for second. (I know that the sample size is too small to draw any serious conclusions, but it's still unusual not to see Rybka win an event.) [UPDATE: It's just the first cycle that's almost finished. It's a double round robin.]
UPDATE:
5. The U.S. Open is underway, which will be of interest primarily to U.S. readers. Here's the website.
6. The 22nd World Correspondence Championship is over, and it was won by Aleksandr Surenovich Dronov of Russia. He won on tiebreak over Juergen Buecker of Germany. Both players had 11.5/16, half a point ahead of Joop van Oosterom (a.k.a. Jeroen Piket, some say - English version here).
Monday, August 2, 2010 at 4:05PM Geza [sic - Géza is correct*] Maróczy, London 1922 (with a Foreword by Andy Soltis) and José Raúl Capablanca, The 1921 World Championship Match (Russell Enterprises, 2010). 128 pp. $19.95. Reviewed by Dennis Monokroussos.
London 1922 is an important point in chess history, for two reasons. First and foremost, it was the site and occasion of a significant chess tournament. The new world champion, José Raúl Capablanca, played in his first serious event since winning the title in 1921, and won an impressive style. Against a field that included such strong opponents as Alexander Alekhine, Akiba Rubinstein, Efim Bogoljubow, Richard Réti, Savielly Tartakower, Géza Maróczy, and a very young Max Euwe; Capablanca won with the big score of 13/15. Alekhine was also undefeated but finished a point and a half behind; both men played very well.
The other reason the event was important is that Capablanca there introduced what are now known as the "London Rules", a series of conditions any prospective challenger to his title would have to meet to get a match. (Go here to see the rules, and follow the link therein for further discussion.)
The games from the event are very good and worth replaying. This is in part because it was a "mixed" field, with not only the strong, established professionals mentioned above but a large helping of local cannon fodder as well. This imbalance gave rise to some beautiful technical and tactical games, which are generally far more instructive to club players than the more evenly balanced games between the elites.
So should you buy the book? If the only question was the quality of the games, the answer would be easy - it would be a must-buy. The problem is that it's not the only question. The London 1922 games are available on dozens of databases, so the book has to add something special to justify $20 plus shipping. Soltis's "Foreword"? It's not bad (though I noted at least two factual errors), but it's not a reason to buy the book. The pictures? It's nice to have head-and-torso shots of all the players but again, not really worth $20. It comes down to the quality of Maróczy's annotations.
Here, I'm afraid, the story is rather dismal. I don't know when the phrase "mailed it in" was coined, to express work that's just going through the motions, but this would have been an apt occasion. Here are a couple of analytical gems from round 1:
Alekhine - Marotti
1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6
This move is not to be recommended; White is master of the center with his pawns and the black king knight is driven away from the kingside.
3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.e4 Nb6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be3 Bg7 8.Be2 0-0 9.Qd2 Bxf3 10.gxf3 e5 11.d5 Qe7 12.h4 h5 13.0-0-0 N8d7 14.Kb1 a6
White threatened Nb5 followed by Nxc7 and d6.
15.Rc1 Rac8 16.Nd1 Bf6 17.Bh6 Rfe8 18.Ne3 Kh8 19.Rhg1 Rg8
Black defends himself with great determination, and as a matter of fact the game is not going to be decided on the kingside.
20.Bf1! Nf8 21.Bh3 Rd8 22.Bxf8
Decisive. Black cannot now take with either rook because Nf5 would follow, so he relinquishes the c-pawn.
22...Qxf8 23.Rxc7 Bxh4 24.Rxb7 Rd6 25.Rc1 Bd8 26.Rc6 Rg7 27.Qb4 1-0
Here's another:
Yates - Watson
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bg7 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 Nf6 7.O-O O-O 8.Be3 Bd7 9.f4 Nc6 10.Bf3 Ne8 11.Qd2 f5
This advance is not good, as it leaves the e-pawn weak on the open file.
12.exf5 gxf5 13.Rad1 Nf6 14.h3 Kh8 15.Qf2 a6 16.Rfe1 Nxd4 17.Bxd4 Bc6 18.Qe3 Re8 19.Nd5 Qa5 20.Bb6
This does not lead to anything except that Black is soon enabled to push his e-pawn thus getting a good game.
20...Nxd5 21.Bxd5 Qb5 22.Bb3 Be4 23.Bd4 e5 24.Bc3 Rad8 25.Qg3 Bf6 26.fxe5 dxe5 27.Rxd8 Rxd8 28.Kh2 Qe8 29.Re2 Qe7 30.Rd2 Re8 31.Qf2 h6 32.Qe2 Bg5 33.Rd1 Bf4+ 34.Kg1 Qg5 35.Kf1 Be3 36.Be1 f4 37.Qg4 Bf5 38.Qxg5 hxg5 39.Bc3 Kg7 40.Rd6 Be4 41.Rd7+ Kf6 42.Ba5 b6? 43.Rd6+
Why not 43.Bxb6 followed by 44.Rd6+?
43...Ke7 44.Bb4 a5 45.Ba3 Bc5 46.Bxc5 bxc5 47.Ra6 Bf5 48.Rxa5 Rc8 49.Ra7+ Kf6 50.Ra6+ Ke7 51.Bc4 e4 52.Be2 Rd8 53.Ke1 e3 54.Rc6 Rd5 55.Bf3 Re5 56.c4 Kd7 57.Rb6 Be4 58.a4 Bxf3 59.gxf3 Kc7 60.Rg6 e2 61.a5 Kb7 62.Rb6+ Ka7 63.Rb5 Re3
Now follows and [sic] interesting endgame which is most critical for both players, and results ultimately in a well-deserved draw.
64.Rxc5 Rxf3 65.Kxe2 Rxh3 66.b4 g4 67.Rg5 Re3+ 68.Kd2 g3 69.Rg4 Rb3 70.b5 g2 71.Rg7+ Kb8 72.Rg8+ Kc7 73.Rg7+ Kd6 74.a6 Rg3 75.Rxg3 fxg3 76.a7 g1=Q 77.a8=Q Qd4+ 78.Ke2 Qf2+ 79.Kd3 g2 80.Qd8+
White draws by perpetual check, but he must be careful not to let the black king come near his pawn over f4.
80...Ke5+ 81.Qb8+ Ke6 82.Qe8+ Kd6 83.Qd8+ 1/2-1/2
With annotations like this, it's no wonder that the book can pack 120 "annotated" games, more than 100 diagrams and 16 pictures in just 96 and a half pages. It's better than nothing, but not by much!
Further, in the little he had to say, there are mistakes and serious omissions. in Alekhine-Marotti, for instance, 20.Bf1 was interesting but a bit speculative. 20.Rxc7! was better, giving White a clear advantage after 20...Rxc7 21.d6 Qd8 22.dxc7 Qxc7 followed by 23.Nd5. White's pieces would dominate. After 20.Bf1 Black should have taken the pawn with 20...Bxh4, when White certainly has compensation for the pawn, but probably not more. Or if that seems too risky, then simply 20...Qd6. That stops the Rxc7 trick, and after 21.Bh3 Rgd8 when Black is certainly uncomfortable but not yet losing. It's Marotti's next moves that are terrible and that go uncommented upon by Maróczy: 20...Nf8? 21.Bh3?! (21.Bxf8 first and then 22.Bh3, so that Black can't "apologize" with 21...Nfd7) 21...Rd8?! 22.Bxf8 Qxf8 23.Rxc7+-.
Nor is Yates-Watson a treasure trove. First, his suggestion of 43.Bxb6 Bxb6 44.Rd6+ is obvious and worth considering. Further examination proves instructive: 44...Kg7! 45.Rxb6 Rd8! and Black's counterplay should suffice for the draw. For instance, 46.Rxa6 Rd1+ 47.Ke2 Rg1 (47...Rb1!?) 48.Re6 Rxg2+ 49.Kf1 Rg3 50.Rxe5 Bg2+ 51.Kf2 Bxh3 and although White has three connected passers to Black's two, Black's are far enough down the board to equalize the chances. Likewise, 46.Re6 Rd1+ 47.Ke2 Rg1 48.Rxe5 Rg2+ 49.Kf1 Bf3 50.Ra5 Rg3 51.Kf2 Be4 gives Black equal chances. Not including variations like these can't be called an analytical error on Maróczy's part, but it is a missed opportunity.
Later on, he does make an error. His comment after move 63 suggests that the remainder was well-played and the draw the appropriate result. It's probably the case that the position should be drawn with best play, but unless there's an error in the game score, White missed an obvious opportunity later on. After 70.b5, Black is in serious danger and has only one way to draw: 70...Ra3! If 71.a6?!, then 71...g2 and it's White who must be very careful. (Black threatens 72...Rg3, winning on the spot.) 72.Rg7+ Kb6 73.Rb6+ Kc5 and now 74.b6 is best, when 74...Rg3 75.Rxg3 fxg3 76.b7 g1Q 77.b8Q is drawn whether or not Black gives perpetual check.
Another obvious try is 71.Rxf4, but 71...g2 72.Rg4 Ra1 is drawn as well - and again it's White who will have to prove it. Note, finally, that 71.Ke2, hoping for 71...Rxa5 72.Kf3 with some very slight winning chances, even loses to 71...f3+.
In the game, Black played 70...g2??, or at least that's what's given in the databases and the book. White can simply grab on g2 and win: 71.Rxg2 Ra3 72.Rg7+ (no skewer) and then 73.a6. This idea was available to White on every move until 74.a6??, when 74...Rg3 equalized the game.
These, I hasten to add, are not atypical cases. Maróczy's notes are simply bad: very abbreviated and replete with errors. Now, I grant that it's of course easy to find errors when one is running an engine - though no engine is necessary for even a very weak club player to find 71.Rxg2 in the previous example. But remember, the point is whether you should buy this book, not whether Maróczy's errors may be understandable for those pre-computer times. (But don't go too easy on him. Maróczy was a GM, not some undeserving hack who simply knew a publisher.) To my mind, the answer is no - especially because you can find many of those games with his notes for free online, via this page.
However, if you have the book you get Soltis's foreword, pictures, all of Maróczy's annotations AND Capablanca's (similarly light) commentary to the games of his match against Lasker. Nice...but also available for free online. (It's not online theft; the originals are old enough that the copyright expired and they're in the public domain.) So it comes down to whether you like the feel of a book in your hand. If that's important to you, then get it. Otherwise, in my opinion, your $20 is better spent elsewhere.
* It is slightly pedantic, yes. But if the publisher can accent the o in Maróczy, why not get both names right?