MARK RUBERY CHESS

Frank James Marshall (1877-1944) was ranked one of the best players in the world for over two decades and was famed for his enterprising attacking play. His greatest triumphs were Cambridge Springs 1904 when he finished two points ahead of Lasker and Janowski and Havana 1913 when he won ahead of Capablanca. His temperament and style was more suited for tournaments than matches and he was decisively beaten by Lasker in 1905 Tarrasch in 1907 and Capablanca in 1909. Marshall dominated the American chess scene after the death of Pillsbury in 1906 till the rise of Kashdan in the 1930s and he founded the famous Marshall chess club in New York. Perhaps his most enduring legacy to the game was his Mashall Counterattack to the Ruy Lopez which he famously, if unsuccessfully, sprung on Capablanca in 1918 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.c3 d5!?) and is still a hotly debated line to this day.

Marshall had an unenviable record against ‘the chess machine’ (+2 –20 =28) so he would have treasured the following miniature.

Marshall,Frank James - Capablanca,Jose Raul [D53]

USA m New York (7), 1909

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 Ne4 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.Bd3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Nd7 9.Nf3 0–0 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Qb3 Nf6 12.a4 c5 13.Qa3 b6 14.a5 Bb7 15.0–0 Qc7 16.Rfb1 Nd7 17.Bf5 Rfc8 18.Bxd7 Qxd7 19.a6 Bc6 20.dxc5 bxc5 21.Qxc5 Rab8 22.Rxb8 Rxb8 23.Ne5 Qf5 24.f4 Rb6 (Black’s position is already hopeless- 24…Ba8 25 Qxa7) 25.Qxb6!

1–0

(After 25…axb6 26 Nxc6 the a-pawn will soon promote)

There is a widespread opinion that Frank Marshall was a one-sided player who was always ready to make positional concessions to achieve his tactical goals. Certainly, this is far from the truth, since one can find a great number of games conducted by Marshall strictly in accordance with the rules of positional play. Nevertheless, Marshall went down into chess history primarily as a brilliant master of tactical play, and his unforgettable traps have become part and parcel of numerous chess anthologies. (Lev Kharanitov)