Mieses Stormed by Marshall

    Frank Marshall (1877-1944) reigned as the U.S. champion from 1907 through 1936. Marshall vlaimed that after he learned the game at the afe of 10 he played every day for the next 57 years. His games are still entertaining to play over. 

    In today’s game Marshall's pieces swarm all over the K-side and Mieses never had a chance, The game was played in Vienna in 1908 which was a busy year for Marshall. He won the 16th German Chess Federation Championship that was held in Duesseldorf. Later that year he met Mieses in a match and barely managed to win, scoring +5 -4 =1. One draw in 10 games! They don’t play like that today! 

    In 1908, Mikhail Chigorin (1850-1908) died at the age of 57 in Lublin, Poland due to complications from diabetes. Henry Bird (1830-1908) died in London.

    Emanuel Lasker defeated Siegbert Tarrasch, 10.5-5.5 in the World Championship held in Duesseldorf and Munich. 

    The United States team (Hodges, Voight, Helms, Delmar, Stadelman, Howell, Schwietzer, Wolbrecht, Libaire and Robinson) defeated a British team (Atkins, Lawrence, Ricjmond, Wainwright, Ward, Englandm Michell, Palmer and Sergeant) in a cable match by a score of 6.5-3.5. 

    Eveline Burgess (1856-1936) from someplace in Iowa retained her U.S. women’s championship by defeating Natalie Nixdorff of Cambridge, Massachusetts by a score of +4 -1 =0.

    The 9th Western Chess Federation Open (forerunner of the U.S. Open), was held in Excelsior, Minnesota; it was won by Edward Elliot. 

    The 1908 Vienna tournament was held from March 23rd to April 17th; it was a jubilee tournaments commemorating the 60th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph. He was the emperor of Austria from1848 to 1916 and king of Hungary from1867 to 1916. He divided his empire into the Dual Monarchy, in which Austria and Hungary coexisted as equal partners. In 1879 he formed an alliance with Prussian-led Germany. In 1914 his ultimatum to Serbia lead in Austria and Germany into World War I.

 

    In the Vienna tournament Schlechter and Rubinstein started fast with four straight wins, but the latter lost in round 5 and was knocked out of contention. Maroczy and Duras the joined Schlechter in the race for first, but then they fell behind. However, the “Drawing Master” Schlechter did just that and so Maroczy and Duras mangae to catch him thanks to their strong finish.

ChessBase

Jacques Mieses–Frank Marshall0–1B23ViennaVienna AUH11.04.1908Stockfish 16

C10: French Defense 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 c5 4.f3 4.dxc5 Marshall avoided this because after d4 5.b5 e5 Black would have a strong center, but after 6.h5 c6 7.c4 g6 8.f3 e6 9.d6+ xd6 10.cxd6 10.xe6 fxe6 11.cxd6 xd6 Strategically white's position looks to be somewhat better. 10...xc4 4...c6 5.e3 f6 6.exd5 exd5 7.dxc5± e7 Black has sacrificed a P for quick development with the hope of taking advantage of any tactical opportunities that mat present themselves. 8.e2 \ 0-0 8...e6 9.0-0 g4 10.f4 xc5 11.h3 f6 12.b5 0-0 13.c3 e4 14.d3 f6 15.h2 ad8 16.c2 g6 17.h4 g5 18.f3 g6 19.h4 Draw agreed. Mauro,A (2245)-Farina,S (2126) Bratto ITA 2001 9.0-0 e8 10.h3 f5 11.a3 a5 This is to prevent b2-b4 12.a4 Marshall commented that apparently the idea of this move was to defend the O. but it leaves the N very badly place, in fact, practically out of the game. The engine disagrees and even suggests it as the best move and evaluates the position as favoring white by two Ps/ c7 13.c1 Slightly better was 13.Nd4 ad8 14.d3 e4 15.d2 With this move all of white's advantage has dissipated. 15.e1! d7 16.b6 e6 17.d4 xd4 18.xd4 leaves him in good shape. Note that a sac on h3 will not work... xh3 19.gxh3 xh3 20.f4 xc5 21.f1 and there is no attack. 15...e5 Preparing for a King's side attack. 16.e1 f6 This prevents the N from returning to c3. 17.xe4 Better is 17.xe4!= dxe4 18.b5 17...dxe4 18.f1 g6 A bit stronger appears to be 18...Qh4 19.g3= h5 20.xf5 xf5 21.b4 This effort to institute some form of counterattack is misdirected. Black ignores it and continues his strong K-side attack. 21.d1 remains equal. e5 22.xd8 xd8 23.f1 g5 24.c3 g4 25.h4 Giving up the h-Pawn keeps his K-side intact. xh4 26.d1 and white has successfully defended himself against black's K-side advance. 21...e5 22.f4 This results in a quick end, but there wasn't really anything better. 22.d1 f3+ 23.h1 e5 24.gxf3 exf3 25.g1 f5 26.g3 h4 27.g1 xg3 28.xg3 xc2 and black is clearly better. 22...g6 22...f3+ It's surprising that Marshall missed this much stronger continuation. 23.gxf3 exf3 24.h2 f6 25.g3 h4 26.f4 hxg3+ 27.xg3 g6+ 28.g4 xc2 29.ac1 xa4 23.e3 h4 24.f4 24.h1 is.t any better. xg2 25.xg2 f6 26.b1 f3+ 27.g1 xh3 28.b3 g4+ 29.f1 h4 and the game is over. 24...g6 25.g3 g5 Black's superior development makes itself felt in a fashion most disconcerting for white. 26.b1 d2 27.b3 e3 A beautiful move that completely cuts off the Q from assisting on the K-side. 28.c3 exf2+ 29.xf2 e3 White resigned. It's mate in 3. 0–1

Download PGN