Artikelnummer
LOKENTMGITFASD
The Marshall Gambit
in the French and Sicilian Defenses
68 Seiten, kartoniert, Caissa Editions, 1. Auflage 1988
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PREFATORY NOTE
Whenever I see a book with two authors on the cover, I always wonder, "who really wrote this book?" Just to set the record straight, my own plodding and pedantic form distinguishes Chapter Two, while the entertaining hand of my co-author - whose articles are seen in Chess Life. Chess Atlas, and other publications - writes around me, so to speak.
As a Ray Bradbury character says of Thomas Wolfe, the man is a whirlwind! 95% of the research and gut work has been Rick's, and it is due to his efforts alone that this small book will be the source and authority on the Marshall Gambit. Leaf through it and see what I mean.
And not only did he do all the work, but his tactical insight was a wonderful surprise, too - in spite of his rare opportunities for tournament play. I know him well, though we've never met. He's the guy who drops into the club one evening, beats the local shark at blitz, and leaves the fellows around the table asking, "Who was that masked man?"
Still, our exchange of ideas and analysis has been such that we share blame or praise throughout.
We are honored, too, with an Introduction from our good friend Hugh Myers, Master and openings trailblazer.
Rick and I both find the Marshall a great practical weapon. For my part, it has provided me the best tournament results of any variation I have ever played. Having essayed the Marshall (French and Sicilian move orders) at a number of strategic points over the past several years, including last round encounters for first prizes, I have yet to relinquish a half point with it! And this has been through no exceptional play of my own, but simply because otherwise solid opponents self-destructed after Black's third move - without ever approaching the theoretical +/='s and -/+'s Rick and I fretted over a dozen moves up the line!
Read on ...
Riley Sheffield, USCF Expert
St. Louis
INTRODUCTION
by Hugh E. Myers, USCF Master
A student of the openings must give priority to his preparation of a satisfactory defense to White's most popular first move, 1 .e4. He might play another opening more often - when he has White himself - but it can't be disputed that for both frequency of occurrence and the difficulty of the problems it presents, the risk of loss is run most often when defending against 1 .e4.
Black has a wide selection of more or less satisfactory defenses. The choice is not easy. A positional player might like the Caro-Kann. The Sicilian Defense might be preferred by a counter-attacking player, one who is willing to submit to a King-side attack while conducting his own attack on the Queen-side.
My opinion is that Black's winning chances are improved when he does what White does not expect, and I mean that in two ways. The first is that the player of Black simply knows the opening better. That might be accomplished by intensive study of any opening. How "intensive" that has to be depends on the strength of the opposition that is going to be met, but we'll assume that it's going to be relatively strong. Such opponents will have studied the openings too. So many players try to get ahead of the opposition by keeping up-to-date on the latest grandmaster games and published analysis - hoping to get to it first. Most of them respect current grandmaster preferences to such an extent that they ignore or undervalue everything else. That means that unfashionable defenses are not expected, and few 1 .e4 players prepare for them adequately.
The second point is that 1 .e4 players tend to think of King-side attacks as something that only they will execute. It can be an unpleasant and unexpected surprise when Black strikes back on the King-side in the early stages of the game.
That is something that Frank Marshall would naturally have wanted to do. United States Champion for many years, he was noted above all for his attacking style. He has not received sufficient credit for his many original ideas in the openings. One of his favorites is the subject of this book. With 1 .e4, e6; 2.d4, d5; 3.Nc3, c5 (sometimes starting 1 .e4, c5; 2.Nc3, e6; 3.Nf3, d5), he was ready to sacrifice a pawn or have an isolated center pawn in exchange for an open game in which Black could attack on the King-side. An example was the game in which he made his famous Queen sacrifice against Lewitzky, (Breslau 1912).
Marshall wrote that he scored "some pretty successes" with this defense, but that eventually (presumably in the 1920's) he decided that it had been "analyzed excessively" (in other words, his opponents were expecting him to play it).
The truth is that the analysis of it has been relatively very light. And it has been seen in top-level competition only rarely. That seems to have been because of fear of having an isolated d-pawn, yet curiously that hasn't discouraged many from playing Black in the Tarrasch variations of the French Defense (1 .e4, e6; 2.d4, d5; 3.Nd2) and the Queen's Gambit (1.d4, d5; 2.c4, e6; 3.Nc3, c5).
This book is the first really thorough examination of Marshall's variation of the French Defense (called here a gambit, but that shouldn't be taken to mean that Black will always lose a pawn in the opening) --and I do mean thorough! The amount of work that has gone into it, from both the aspects of history and of new analysis, is truly impressive.
This book will show the way to players who are ready to put into tournament practice the old saying that attack is the best defense.
Hugh E. Myers
Davenport, Iowa
Whenever I see a book with two authors on the cover, I always wonder, "who really wrote this book?" Just to set the record straight, my own plodding and pedantic form distinguishes Chapter Two, while the entertaining hand of my co-author - whose articles are seen in Chess Life. Chess Atlas, and other publications - writes around me, so to speak.
As a Ray Bradbury character says of Thomas Wolfe, the man is a whirlwind! 95% of the research and gut work has been Rick's, and it is due to his efforts alone that this small book will be the source and authority on the Marshall Gambit. Leaf through it and see what I mean.
And not only did he do all the work, but his tactical insight was a wonderful surprise, too - in spite of his rare opportunities for tournament play. I know him well, though we've never met. He's the guy who drops into the club one evening, beats the local shark at blitz, and leaves the fellows around the table asking, "Who was that masked man?"
Still, our exchange of ideas and analysis has been such that we share blame or praise throughout.
We are honored, too, with an Introduction from our good friend Hugh Myers, Master and openings trailblazer.
Rick and I both find the Marshall a great practical weapon. For my part, it has provided me the best tournament results of any variation I have ever played. Having essayed the Marshall (French and Sicilian move orders) at a number of strategic points over the past several years, including last round encounters for first prizes, I have yet to relinquish a half point with it! And this has been through no exceptional play of my own, but simply because otherwise solid opponents self-destructed after Black's third move - without ever approaching the theoretical +/='s and -/+'s Rick and I fretted over a dozen moves up the line!
Read on ...
Riley Sheffield, USCF Expert
St. Louis
INTRODUCTION
by Hugh E. Myers, USCF Master
A student of the openings must give priority to his preparation of a satisfactory defense to White's most popular first move, 1 .e4. He might play another opening more often - when he has White himself - but it can't be disputed that for both frequency of occurrence and the difficulty of the problems it presents, the risk of loss is run most often when defending against 1 .e4.
Black has a wide selection of more or less satisfactory defenses. The choice is not easy. A positional player might like the Caro-Kann. The Sicilian Defense might be preferred by a counter-attacking player, one who is willing to submit to a King-side attack while conducting his own attack on the Queen-side.
My opinion is that Black's winning chances are improved when he does what White does not expect, and I mean that in two ways. The first is that the player of Black simply knows the opening better. That might be accomplished by intensive study of any opening. How "intensive" that has to be depends on the strength of the opposition that is going to be met, but we'll assume that it's going to be relatively strong. Such opponents will have studied the openings too. So many players try to get ahead of the opposition by keeping up-to-date on the latest grandmaster games and published analysis - hoping to get to it first. Most of them respect current grandmaster preferences to such an extent that they ignore or undervalue everything else. That means that unfashionable defenses are not expected, and few 1 .e4 players prepare for them adequately.
The second point is that 1 .e4 players tend to think of King-side attacks as something that only they will execute. It can be an unpleasant and unexpected surprise when Black strikes back on the King-side in the early stages of the game.
That is something that Frank Marshall would naturally have wanted to do. United States Champion for many years, he was noted above all for his attacking style. He has not received sufficient credit for his many original ideas in the openings. One of his favorites is the subject of this book. With 1 .e4, e6; 2.d4, d5; 3.Nc3, c5 (sometimes starting 1 .e4, c5; 2.Nc3, e6; 3.Nf3, d5), he was ready to sacrifice a pawn or have an isolated center pawn in exchange for an open game in which Black could attack on the King-side. An example was the game in which he made his famous Queen sacrifice against Lewitzky, (Breslau 1912).
Marshall wrote that he scored "some pretty successes" with this defense, but that eventually (presumably in the 1920's) he decided that it had been "analyzed excessively" (in other words, his opponents were expecting him to play it).
The truth is that the analysis of it has been relatively very light. And it has been seen in top-level competition only rarely. That seems to have been because of fear of having an isolated d-pawn, yet curiously that hasn't discouraged many from playing Black in the Tarrasch variations of the French Defense (1 .e4, e6; 2.d4, d5; 3.Nd2) and the Queen's Gambit (1.d4, d5; 2.c4, e6; 3.Nc3, c5).
This book is the first really thorough examination of Marshall's variation of the French Defense (called here a gambit, but that shouldn't be taken to mean that Black will always lose a pawn in the opening) --and I do mean thorough! The amount of work that has gone into it, from both the aspects of history and of new analysis, is truly impressive.
This book will show the way to players who are ready to put into tournament practice the old saying that attack is the best defense.
Hugh E. Myers
Davenport, Iowa
| EAN | 0939433060 |
|---|---|
| Gewicht | 110 g |
| Hersteller | Caissa Editions |
| Breite | 15,2 cm |
| Höhe | 22,8 cm |
| Medium | Buch |
| Erscheinungsjahr | 1988 |
| Autor | Rick KennedyRiley Sheffield |
| Sprache | Englisch |
| Auflage | 1 |
| ISBN-10 | 0939433060 |
| Seiten | 68 |
| Einband | kartoniert |
01 PREFATORY NOTE
02 INTRODUCTION by Hugh E. Myers, USCF Master
04 FOREWORD
06 ONE: THE FRENCH MARSHALL
28 TWO: THE SICILIAN MARSHALL
44 GAMES
64 OPENINGS INDEX
66 GAMES INDEX
02 INTRODUCTION by Hugh E. Myers, USCF Master
04 FOREWORD
06 ONE: THE FRENCH MARSHALL
28 TWO: THE SICILIAN MARSHALL
44 GAMES
64 OPENINGS INDEX
66 GAMES INDEX