Frank Marshall

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This article is about the early 20th century chess champion. For the late 20th century film producer, see Frank Marshall (movie producer).

Frank James Marshall (August 10, 1877 – November 9, 1944), was the U.S. Chess Champion from 1909-1936, and was one of the world's strongest chess players in the early part of the 20th century.

1 Chess career
2 Assessment
3 Sample game
- 3.1 Opening theory
- 3.2 Win over Capablanca with black
4 Books
5 External links

[edit] Chess career

Marshall was born in New York City, and lived in Montreal, Canada from ages 8–19. He began playing chess at the age of 10 and by 1890 was one of the leading players in Montreal.

He won the U.S. chess championship in 1904, but did not accept the title because the current U.S. champion, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, did not compete.

In 1906, Pillsbury died, and Marshall again refused the championship title until he won it in competition in 1909.

In 1907 he played a match against World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker for the title and lost 8 games, winning none and drawing 7. They played their match in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Chicago, and Memphis from January 26 to April 8, 1907.

In 1909, he agreed to play a match with a young Cuban named José Raúl Capablanca, and to most people's surprise, lost 8 games, drew 14 and could only win one.

After this thrashing Marshall did not resent Capablanca; instead, he realized the young man had immense talent and deserved recognition by the chess community. The American champion worked hard to assure Capablanca had the chance to play at the highest levels of competition.

Marshall insisted that Capablanca be permitted to enter the San Sebastian tournament in 1911. This exclusive tournament was designed to be one of the strongest ever held; only masters who had won notable tournaments were allowed to compete. Capablanca was included despite the protests of the other masters; however, all doubts about the unknown were dissipated after Capablanca won the tournament. A decade after his international debut, Capablanca would beat Lasker to become the third chess world champion.

At St. Petersburg in 1914, Marshall was given the title of "grandmaster" of chess by Tsar Nicholas II. He was one of the original five people to receive the title; the other four were Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, and Tarrasch.

In 1915 he opened the Marshall Chess Club in New York.

However, Marshall's most lasting legacy was his invention of the Marshall Gambit which he used against Capablanca (despite losing) in 1918.

In the 1930's, Marshall captained the US team to four gold medals at four Chess Olympiads. After one round, he returned to the board and found that his comrades had agreed to three draws. After he finished his own game, he gave each of them a stern talk individually on how draws don't win games or matches. They got the message. The U.S. team has never repeated the great successes of Marshall's teams. However, it must be emphasized that the Soviet Union, which would later dominate this competition, was not entering teams in the 1930s.

In 1936, after holding the U.S. championship title for 29 years, he relinquished it to the winner of a Championship tournament. The first such tournament was sponsored by the National Chess Federation, and held in New York. The Marshall Chess Club donated the trophy, and the first winner was Samuel Reshevsky.

[edit] Assessment

Marshall was best known for his great tactical skill. One aspect of this was the "Marshall swindle", where a trick would turn a lost game around. Not so well known now, but appreciated in his day, was his endgame skill.

[edit] Sample game

In his famous game against Stefan Levitsky, from Breslau 1912, Marshall concluded with a stunning sham sacrifice of his queen, allowing Levitsky to capture it three different ways:

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Be2 Nf6 7.O-O Be7 8.Bg5 O-O 9.dxc5 Be6 10.Nd4 Bxc5 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.Bg4 Qd6 13.Bh3 Rae8 14.Qd2 Bb4 15.Bxf6 Rxf6 16.Rad1 Qc5 17.Qe2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Qxc3 19.Rxd5 Nd4 20.Qh5 Ref8 21.Re5 Rh6 22.Qg5 Rxh3 23.Rc5 Qg3!! 0-1 Legend has it that the spectators showered the board with gold pieces after Marshall's stunning last move, which Tim Krabbé considers the third most fantastic move ever played.[1]

[edit] Opening theory

Frank Marshall has a number of chess opening variations named after him. Remarkably for a player who died over 60 years ago, two gambit variations that are still theoretically important today are named after him. One is the Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d5 in algebraic notation). Marshall's first well-known game with this opening was against José Raúl Capablanca in 1918, although Marshall had previously played it in other games that did not gain widespread attention. Even though Capablanca won in a game widely regarded as a typical example of his defensive genius,[2] Marshall's opening idea became quite popular. Black gets good attacking chances and scores close to 50% with the Marshall, an excellent result for Black. The Marshall Attack is so well-respected that many top players, including Garry Kasparov, choose to avoid it with "Anti-Marshall" variations such as 8.a4.

An important gambit in the Semi-Slav Defense is also named after Marshall. That "Marshall Gambit" begins 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e4!? Now the main line runs 4...dex4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 (6.Nc3 saves the pawn but is not considered dangerous) Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 with sharp and unclear play.

[edit] Win over Capablanca with black

Although Marshall had a negative record against Capablanca (+2 -20 =28), he was one of a few players who beat him with black pieces. The game was played in Havana in 1913 (moves given in Algebraic chess notation):

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. O-O Nc6 8. c3 Be7 9. Nbd2 Nxd2 10. Bxd2 O-O 11. h3 Bh5 12. Re1 Qd7 13. Bb5 Bd6 14. Ne5 Bxe5 15. Qxh5 Bf6 16. Bf4 Rae8 17. Re3 Rxe3 18. fxe3 a6 19. Ba4 b5 20. Bc2 g6 21. Qf3 Bg7 22. Bb3 Ne7 23. e4 dxe4 24. Qxe4 c6 25. Re1 Nd5 26. Bxd5 cxd5 27. Qe7 Qc8 28. Bd6 h6 29. Rf1 f6 30. Re1 Rd8 31. Bc5 Kh7 32. Qf7 Qf5 33. Be7 Qd7 34. Kf1 Rf8 35. Qe6 Qxe6 36. Rxe6 Re8 37. Re2 Kg8 38. b3 Kf7 39. Bc5 Rxe2 40. Kxe2 f5 41. Kd3 Ke6 42. c4 bxc4+ 43. bxc4 g5 44. g4 f4 45. Bb4 Bf6 46. Bf8 dxc4+ 47. Kxc4 f3 48. d5+ Ke5 49. Kd3 Kf4 50. Bd6+ Be5 51. Bc5 Kg3 52. Ke4 Bf4 53. d6 f2 0-1

Capablanca rarely lost in the endgame.

[edit] Books

Frank Marshall, My Fifty Years of Chess ISBN 1-84382-053-6.
Andy Soltis, Frank Marshall, United States Chess Champion: A Biography With 220 Games, 1994, ISBN 0-89950-887-1.