By National Life Master Loal Davis

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.  He was one of the five individuals who placed into the Finals of the St. Petersburg Tournament of 1914.  This honor granted him a ‘grand’ title; International Grand Master.  St. Petersburg 1914 marks the origin of that title.
The original Grandmasters of Chess (left to right) Lasker, Alekihine, Capablanca, Marshall, Tarrasch
In 1936, after holding the U.S. championship title for 27 years, he relinquished it 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 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. Andrew Soltis writes that, “In later years his prowess at rescuing the irretrievable took on magical proportions”.  Not so well known now, but appreciated in his day, was his endgame skill.
‘The Most Beautiful Chess Move Ever Played’
“Perhaps you have heard about this game, which so excited the spectators that they “showered me with gold pieces!”. I have often been asked whether this really happened. The answer is – yes, that is what happened, literally!”
Click on the board to step through this annotated game.

5rk1/pp4pp/4p3/2R3Q1/3n4/2q4r/P1P2PPP/5RK1 b KQkq – 0 23[Event "Breslau"] [Site "Breslau"] [Date "1912.??.??"] [Round "6"] [White "Levitsky, Stepan M"] [Black "Marshall, Frank James"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C10"] [PlyCount "46"]1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 c5 { The Marshall variation of the French; not currently in favor but not ‘busted’ either. The Marshall variation of the Sicilian is e4 c5 Nf3 e6 d4 d5 Notice the similarity; the strategic ideas are remarkably similar as well.} 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. exd5 exd5 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. Bg5 O-O 9. dxc5 Be6 { Marshall’s comment here is that White has won a Pawn but he’s welcome to it as he has spent time to get it may spend time defending it and it is doubled.} 10. Nd4 Bxc5 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Bg4 Qd6 13. Bh3 Rae8 { Black completes development first.} 14. Qd2 Bb4 15. Bxf6 Rxf6 16. Rad1 Qc5 17. Qe2 { White thinks he spies a trick to recover the Pawn which is about to fall.} Bxc3 18. bxc3 Qxc3 19. Rxd5 { The trouble is that the piece that keeps this Rook ‘alive’ is the Queen and she is vulnerable to attack.} Nd4 20. Qh5 Ref8 21. Re5 { White is attempting to counterattack to stay alive. He has still not completed his opening development; doesn’t know it but the game is about over.} Rh6 { Ouch ! Once the Bishop on ‘h3′ is taken the ‘f3′ square opens up and look at the steed that is about to jump into that square.} 22. Qg5 Rxh3 23. Rc5 { This doesn’t even rate as a minor irritant to Marshall. He is about to execute what has been called the ‘Most Beautiful Chess Move Ever Made’.} Qg3 { ! ! ! ! ! Marshall throws his Queen into a nest of Pawns threatening mate every which way. The Rook on ‘h3′ is protected by the pin of the Queen but what about the Queen herself?} (Qg3 24. hxg3 Ne2# ) (Qg3 24. fxg3 Ne2+ 25. Kh1 Rxf1# ) (Qg3 24. Qxg3 Ne2+ 25. Kh1 Nxg3+ 26. Kg1 Ne2+ 27. Kh1 Rc3 ) 0-1450noe5c5

Aron Nimzovich(7 Nov. 1886 -16 Mar 1935) was a Latvian-born Danish unofficial chess grandmaster and a very influential chess writer. He was the foremost figure amongst the hypermoderns in showing how games could be won through indirect control of the center, challenging some of Tarrasch’s dogmatic views that the center had to be occupied by pawns. Nimzovich advocated controlling the center of the board with distant pieces rather than with pawns, thus inviting the opponent to occupy the center with pawns which can then become objects of attack. However, this was only part of the Hypermodern framework which Nimzovich encapsulated in the seminal chess work called “My System”.

rn1q1rk1/1b2bppp/pp2pn2/3pN3/3P1B2/2N3P1/PP2PPBP/2RQ1RK1 b KQkq – 0 111. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. O-O d5 8. Ne5 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Bf4 a6 11. Rc1 b5 12. Qb3 Nc6 13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. h3 Qd7 15. Kh2 Nh5 16. Bd2 f5 17. Qd1 b4 18. Nb1 Bb5 19. Rg1 Bd6 20. e4 fxe4 21. Qxh5 Rxf2 22. Qg5 Raf8 23. Kh1 R8f5 24. Qe3 Bd3 25. Rce1 h6 0-1210noa1c1 Chessmetrics places him as the third best player in the world from 1927 to 1931, behind Alexander Alekhine and Jose Capablanca. His Record [290 wins 105 loses 212 draws]..

Going INTO the 9^th round Carlsen and Aronian were tied at 5.5 each followed by Radjabov at 5, Ivanchuk and Caruana at 4.5, Giri at 4 and Karjakin down at 3.5.  Well – beware those with lower scores; they often half something to prove/show.  Karjakin took down number one rated Carlsen.  Aronian beat Caruana and Ivanchuk beat Giri.  This puts Aronian in the lead with hungry wolves at his heels.

Levon Aronian

 Sergey Karjakin

Two important wins today by Aronian and Karjakin.

For games – see Comments.