Friday, 7 July 2017

A monster of your own creation

Over the last few years I have often used Joseph Blackburne as an example of a 'model' player for anyone who is looking for a chess 'hero' to study. Another player who falls into that category is Frank Marshall, especially for players more comfortable with 1.d4 as an opening.
His career spanned more than 50 years, and included a 27 year reign as US Champion. Unlike his contemporaries (with the possible exception of Alekhine), Marshall used 1.d4 as an attacking opening, figuring it was easier to build an attack from closed positions, rather than find one after 1.e4 e5. Nonetheless he had a varied opening repertoire, with a number of significant variations carrying his name.
His black defences were equally enterprising, keeping up with change in opening theory. An extreme example of this was shown in the following game, where he played the Nimzo-Indian Defence against its creator. Not only did he outplay Aaron Nimzowitsch, he won the tournament "Best Game Prize" as well.


Nimzowitsch,Aaron - Marshall,Frank James [E34]
British Empire Club Masters London (6), 1927

Start positionPrevious MoveNext MoveEnd positionPlay movesStop playing
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. e3 O-O 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Nf3 c5 10. dxc5 bxc5 11. Be2 Nc6 12. O-O c4 13. Rd1 Qa5 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. f3 Rfe8 16. Rb1 Rab8 17. Rxb8 Nxb8 18. Qd2 Na6 19. e4 Nc5 20. exd5 Nxd5 21. Bb2 Na4 22. Ba1 Naxc3 23. Bxc4 Qc5 24. Bxc3 Qxc4 25. Bb2 h6 26. Rc1 Qa6 27. Nf5 Bxf5 28. Qxd5 Qg6 29. Qd2 Bd3 30. Rc3 Re2 0-1

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