Frank Marshall
From Chesspedia, the Free Chess Encyclopedia.
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.
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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, the chivalrous Marshall became one of Capablanca's biggest supporters, insisting the Cuban be invited to play in the international tournament at San Sebastian in 1911. San Sebastian was an exclusive tournament, designed to be one of the strongest ever held, inviting only masters who had proven themselves by winning lesser tournaments. Capablanca was allowed to play, largely on Marshall's insistence, and Capablanca repaid Marshall's endorsement by not only avoiding being thrashed, but indeed winning the tournament.
At St. Petersburg in 1914, Marshall became one of the five original "grandmasters" of chess. The other four were Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, and Tarrasch.
In 1915 he opened the Marshall Chess Club in New York.
In 1936 he relinquished his U.S. championship title 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. Marshall held the U.S. title for 29 years.
In the 1930s, Marshall captained the US team at the Chess Olympiads, and inspired them to four gold medals from four Olympiads. After one of the rounds, 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. Never again has the US team repeated the great successes of Marshall's teams.
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.
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 Capa's defensive genius,[1] Marshall's opening idea became quite popular. Black gets good attacking chances and scores close to 50% with the Marshall, an excellent result. 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.
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.
External links
- Kmoch, Hans (2004). Grandmasters I have Known: Frank James Marshall. Chesscafe.com.
15 Crucial Positions from His Games.
Books
- Frank Marshall, My Fifty Years of Chess ISBN 1843820536.
- Andy Soltis, Frank Marshall, United States Chess Champion: A Biography With 220 Games, 1994, ISBN 0899508871.
