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'Marshal' by name Chess
Attacking
players have a great weakness for the queen. It is the piece
that almost always plays a vital role in a combination or
a powerful sacrificial attack. Some players are so fond of
the queen that they try to retain it even when the prospects
of reaching a slightly better ending, with the queens off,
are good. That is surely something you should avoid if you
want to beat strong players.
The American
master Frank Marshall (1877-1944) was a player with an amazing
ability to unleash powerful attacks. Against mediocre masters,
he would often finish the game very early. But his style was
not that effective against the very best players in the world
who knew how to blunt the force of a 'crude' attack. For example,
Emanuel Lasker almost never allowed Marshall to get the positions
that he liked! Lasker would choose a dull variation or a middlegame
without the queens to dampen Marshall's flare for attacking
play. And that worked very well. Marshall was indeed a fish
out of water when the play demanded subtle and quiet maneuvering
and chances of launching a direct attack against the enemy
king were virtually non-existent. Capablanca adopted a more
or less similar style against Marshall. Once the great Cuban
had to face an opening variation (the Marshall Gambit in the
Ruy Lopez) that Marshall had invented and kept secret for
nearly two decades! Capablanca had to face the novelty over
the board, and he won!
So against
the world champions Marshall was not that impressive. But
against lesser opposition he was simply lethal. Marshall was
the best player in the United States for many years, though
HN Pillsbury burst into the scene for a brief period in the
late 1890's. Pillsbury's premature death again left Marshall
without a real challenger for American championship.
In the
following game, Marshall outplays Mikhail Chigorin, the father
of the Russian School of chess. For a change, he gives up
his queen to develop a powerful initiative on the kingside.
Marshall sees his way through the complications to score the
full point.
White-Frank
James Marshall
Black- Mikhail Chigorin [A83]
Ostende, 1905
1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 c6 5.Bxf6 exf6 6.Nxe4 Qb6
7.Rb1 d5 8.Ng3 Be6 9.Bd3 Nd7 10.Qe2 Kf7 11.Nf3 Re8 12.00 Bd6
13.c3 Nf8 14.Nh4 Bf5 15.Nhxf5 Rxe2 16.Nxd6+ Ke6 17.Nc8 Qc7
18.Bxe2 Kf7 19.Nf5 Ne6 20.Nfd6+ Kg6 21.Bd3+ Kh5 22.Rbe1 Nf4
23.Re7 Qa5 24.Bb1 g6 25.g3 Nh3+ 26.Kg2 Ng5 27.Bd3 Rxc8 28.Nxc8
Qd8 29.h4 Qxc8 30.hxg5 1-0.
Position
after 15.Nhxf5
-PATZER
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