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.

[Event "Vienna"] [Site "Vienna AUH"] [Date "1908.04.11"] [Round "?"] [White "Jacques Mieses"] [Black "Frank Marshall"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B23"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "1908.03.23"] {C10: French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 {[%mdl 32]} d5 3. Nc3 c5 4. Nf3 (4. dxc5 { Marshall avoided this because after} d4 5. Nb5 e5 {Black would have a strong center, but after} 6. Qh5 Nc6 7. Bc4 g6 8. Qf3 Be6 9. Nd6+ Bxd6 10. cxd6 (10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. cxd6 Qxd6 {Strategically white's position looks to be somewhat better.}) 10... Bxc4) 4... Nc6 5. Be3 Nf6 6. exd5 exd5 7. dxc5 $16 Be7 { Black has sacrificed a P for quick development with the hope of taking advantage of any tactical opportunities that mat present themselves.} 8. Be2 {\ } O-O (8... Be6 9. O-O Ng4 10. Bf4 Bxc5 11. h3 Nf6 12. Nb5 O-O 13. c3 Ne4 14. Bd3 Qf6 15. Bh2 Rad8 16. Bc2 Qg6 17. Nh4 Qg5 18. Nf3 Qg6 19. Nh4 {Draw agreed. Mauro,A (2245)-Farina,S (2126) Bratto ITA 2001}) 9. O-O Re8 10. h3 Bf5 11. a3 a5 {This is to prevent b2-b4} 12. Na4 {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/} Qc7 13. Qc1 {Slightly better was 13.Nd4} Rad8 14. Bd3 Ne4 15. Nd2 {With this move all of white's advantage has dissipated.} (15. Re1 $1 Qd7 16. Nb6 Qe6 17. Nd4 Nxd4 18. Bxd4 {leaves him in good shape. Note that a sac on h3 will not work...} Bxh3 19. gxh3 Qxh3 20. Qf4 Bxc5 21. Bf1 {and there is no attack.}) 15... Qe5 {Preparing for a King's side attack.} 16. Re1 Qf6 {This prevents the N from returning to c3.} 17. Bxe4 ({Better is} 17. Nxe4 $1 $11 dxe4 18. Bb5) 17... dxe4 18. Nf1 Qg6 {A bit stronger appears to be 18...Qh4} 19. Ng3 $11 h5 20. Nxf5 Qxf5 21. b4 {This effort to institute some form of counterattack is misdirected. Black ignores it and continues his strong K-side attack.} (21. Rd1 {remains equal.} Ne5 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Qf1 g5 24. Nc3 g4 25. h4 {Giving up the h-Pawn keeps his K-side intact.} Bxh4 26. Rd1 {and white has successfully defended himself against black's K-side advance.}) 21... Ne5 {[%mdl 1024]} 22. Bf4 {[%mdl 8192] This results in a quick end, but there wasn't really anything better.} (22. Rd1 Nf3+ 23. Kh1 Qe5 24. gxf3 exf3 25. Rg1 Qf5 26. Rg3 Bh4 27. Qg1 Bxg3 28. Qxg3 Qxc2 {and black is clearly better.}) 22... Ng6 (22... Nf3+ $142 {[%mdl 512] It's surprising that Marshall missed this much stronger continuation.} 23. gxf3 exf3 24. Kh2 Bf6 25. Bg3 h4 26. Qf4 hxg3+ 27. Kxg3 Qg6+ 28. Qg4 Qxc2 29. Rac1 Qxa4) 23. Be3 Nh4 24. Bf4 (24. Kh1 {is.t any better.} Nxg2 25. Kxg2 Bf6 26. Rb1 Qf3+ 27. Kg1 Qxh3 28. Rb3 Qg4+ 29. Kf1 h4 {and the game is over.}) 24... Qg6 25. Bg3 Bg5 {Black's superior development makes itself felt in a fashion most disconcerting for white.} 26. Qb1 Rd2 27. Qb3 e3 {A beautiful move that completely cuts off the Q from assisting on the K-side.} 28. Qc3 exf2+ 29. Bxf2 Be3 {[%mdl 512] White resigned. It's mate in 3.} 0-1