Frank James Marshall

A piece on Frank Marshall how he influenced me and some RHP games
showing where his influence was needed.

And no. I am not showing the gold coins game.

Link to a flick of Marshall in action.
Pics of Magnus & Marshall plus me and the Duck.

I think this is my best ever Blog on here. It was a labour of love.
I'll need to do something special to top this one. Yes?

Blog 4

Originally posted by greenpawn34
A piece on Frank Marshall how he influenced me and some RHP games
showing where his influence was needed.

And no. I am not showing the gold coins game.

Link to a flick of Marshall in action.
Pics of Magnus & Marshall plus me and the Duck.

I think this is my best ever Blog on here. It was a labour of love.
I'll need to do something special to top this one. Yes?

Blog 4

In the game F. Marshall - S. Sharp Atlantic City 1920, after move 27.Bg6 you say, "If there was a pawn on g3 instead of h3 that Knight would now be lost. 27...Ne7 28.Rd8 mate."

So are you saying Marshall should have played 22.g3 instead of h3?

P.S. I just reviewed your comment on 22.h3 and I understand the correct meaning now. It certainly would work out better for marshall if the remaining moves stayed the same.

It was kind of a Eureka moment in my chess up bringing.

Then I ony had a few books and poured over them looking at every note
and digging....forever digging...

Now I have 100's of the bloody things and 90% oof them are unread
and have just been glimpsed at.

The less books you have the better you will become!

I just loved this position brought about the simples means.


That Knight is gone. It just had an effect, that's all. I've never forgotten it.

And that ending. Marshall chops the Knight with his Bishop to get here.


Hang on.....Outside passed pawns are good...

Marshall not only takes the position but tells you how it's going to be won
and then demonstrates it. (that's a bit of blow, I was getting ready to conquer
the world with tricks and traps and now discover underneath it all you have to
be a very good chess player.) Another magic moment although this one did
not bite as deep. I tried to get around it by skipping the very good chess player bit. 😉

All experienced players have these wee eureka games and moments.
As Anand said, each player brings to the board his past experience and ideas.

This one game impressed me more than the 'Evergreen', the 'Immortal'
and the gold coin game. They are good, but no warm glow.

Great blog.
How many lines did he give his name to?

The Ruy Marshall is the one most players know of, I guess, though there are two others I would think of:

The Marshall Gambit against the Slav Triangle (uber sharp line where after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 e6 4. e4 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Qxd4 7. Bxb4 Qxe4+ White has given up a pawn for dark square domination.

The Marshall Defence (to the Queen's Gambit) with 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6, which after 3. cxd5 leads to pretty thankless positions for Black; Black's best might be the Grunfeld attempt with 3. ..g6.

Are there others?

Originally posted by Burnsider
Great blog.
How many lines did he give his name to?

The Ruy Marshall is the one most players know of, I guess, though there are two others I would think of:

The Marshall Gambit against the Slav Triangle (uber sharp line where after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 e6 4. e4 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Qxd4 7. Bxb4 Qxe4+ White has given up a pawn for dark ...[text shortened]... tions for Black; Black's best might be the Grunfeld attempt with 3. ..g6.

Are there others?

the Marshall Gambit Scandinavian Defense.
1. e5...d5 2. exd5...Nf6

Marshall Gambit French 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 c5 (Black later doesn't recapture on c5.)

He made the Exchange Slav a fighting weapon, but I guess that doesn't count.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
A piece on Frank Marshall how he influenced me and some RHP games
showing where his influence was needed.

And no. I am not showing the gold coins game.

Link to a flick of Marshall in action.
Pics of Magnus & Marshall plus me and the Duck.

I think this is my best ever Blog on here. It was a labour of love.
I'll need to do something special to top this one. Yes?

Blog 4

Any estimates as to his rating in today's dollars?

I'm not keen on putting numbers on the past masters and comparing
them with todays numbers.
If 2700+ is meant to be so great then how come they lose a game?
If 1400 is mean to be pretty poor then how do they ever manage to win a game?
The numbers of nonsense.

But if you must have a number:
For creativity and love of the game - 9900.

Another nice blog GP

You have a knack of taking positions and making them instructive, something I might contact you privately about if you don't mind

Thanks. But I do need the games and positions to work with.
Also players thoughts do help a great a deal.

I'm about to become very very busy till way after Christmas.
That Blog may be it till mid-January. I'll try for a Christmas Special.

I peeked at your profile. Have you joined the Marshall Chess Club?

Originally posted by greenpawn34
I'm not keen on putting numbers on the past masters and comparing
them with todays numbers.
If 2700+ is meant to be so great then how come they lose a game?
If 1400 is mean to be pretty poor then how do they ever manage to win a game?
The numbers of nonsense.

But if you must have a number:
For creativity and love of the game - 9900.

only 99?🙂

Hey GP

Not joined the Marshall club yet. Should do that early next year. Let me know if you want any photos etc of it

I will pm you about the other thing I mentioned. No urgency for a response

Looks like I'll never be able to get to the Marshall Club.

So PM me your address, I'll send you the Duck, you can take pictures of the
Duck at the Marshall Club....and send the Duck back.

That will be a Brillo-Mungo Blog.

Will do GP,

leave it with me for about a week as I'm quite busy myself. I will also send you a pick of a street chess statue - just need to remember where exactly it is in Manhattan

Is the Marshall chess club still open?

Popped in a few years ago. That place stinks of chess history