PoPChess

In part I of this series I briefly described the strategic ideas behind the Marshall Attack.
In this part I’ll go through the most normal lines where white accepts the gambit.
This is the most heavily analyzed part of the Marshall Attack – prepare for A LOT of lines in this posting!

This is the line:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 leading to this position:

Marshall’s original idea was 11…Nf6 here, but it’s now widely accepted that the best move is
11…c6! Now white has 6 playable options at his disposal:

A 12.d4
B 12.d3
C 12.Re1
D 12.Bxd5
E 12.g3
F 12.Qf3

A 12.d4
The idea for white is of course to open up for the queenside pieces as quickly as possible. And it gives space for the queen manoeuvre Qd1-d3-f1 which is very normal in the lines where the white rook retreats to e1 and thus blocks the queen from moving d1-f1 directly.
We play 12…Bd6 positioning the bishop for attack – pointing at h2 – and driving away the white rook with tempo. 

A1 13.Re1 This is the normal white response 13…Qh4 14.g3 (14.h3? Bxh3! 15.gxh3 Qxh3 16.Re5 Bxe5 17.dxe5 Qf5 =+) Qh3
    A11 15.Be3 Opposed to lines where white develops his knight first, his bishop is more active here; It defends important squares f2/f4/g5. 15…Bg4 16.Qd3 Rae8 17.Nd2 This is to be considered the modern main line. Let’s look at the position

At GM level, 17…Qh5 is clearly the prefered move. Since white will probably play Qf1 sooner or later and we don’t want to trade off queens we’ll probably have to retreat our Queen to h5 anyway. So 17…Qh5 makes perfect sense, but why not wait until white actually plays Qf1??

I suggest you play the logical 17..Re6!?
This rook could be heading for h6 or f6 or it could simply wait for its rook colleague to double up in the e-file. The most critical line for black is probably
     A111 18.a4 trying to open up a backdoor for the white rook. We simply ignore this plan for now and continue our attacking plans: 18…f5! 19.Qf1 Qh5 20.axb5 (20.f4 Rh6 21.Qg2 Kh8) f4! with excellent attacking chances
White should simplify things as much as possible here 21.Bxf4 Bxf4 22.Rxe6 Bxe6 23.gxf4 and now we have no better than 23…Kh8 or 23…axb5 with very unclear position. White’s king is exposed but it’s questionable if black can take full advantage 

    A112 18. Qf1 Qh5 19.a4 transposing into A111 or 19.Bxd5 cxd5 which is favouring black
  
    A12 15.Re4 Threatening Rh4 and in many lines white is prepared to sac this rook for black’s light squared bishop. This was what Kramnik tried against Leko in Brisago 2004. Leko won a brillant game – not just because of the opening of course. Leko played 15…g5 16.Qf1 (16.Qf3 Bf5 17.Bc2!? Bxe4 18.Bxe4 Qe6 19.Bxg5 f5 is unclear)(16.Bxg5? Qf5!)(16.a4 f5 17.Re3 Kh8! 18.Bxd5 cxd5 19.axb5 f4!) Qh5 (16…Qxf1 17.Kxf1 Bf5 18.f3 h6 19.Nd2 Bxe4 20.fxe4 Nc7 Anand-Svidler ½-½, San Luis 2005) 17.Nd2 (17.Be3?? Nf6!) Bf5 18.f3 Nf6 19.Re1 Rae8 20.Rxe8 Rxe8 21.a4 Qg6 22.axb5? Bd3 23.Qf2 Re2 24.Qxe2 Bxe2 25.bxa6 Qd3!! Threatening mate after tempting 26.a7?? Qe3+ 27.Kg2 Bxf3+! 28.Nxf3 Qe2+ 29.Kg1 Ng4 30.a8Q+ Kg7 white cannot prevent the mate

A2 13.Re2

We play 13…Qh4 14.g3 (14.h3? Bg4! 15.f3 Bf5 and the white king position is very weakened) Qh5 15.Nd2! White sac’s a pawn to get rid of the light squared bishop (15.Re4 Qg6=+)(15.Qe1 Bg4 16.Re4 f5=+) Bg4 16.f3 Should black take the pawn 16…Bxf3 17.Nxf3 Qxf3? The problem is that the black attack is non-existant after 18.Rf2. Black has to settle for an even endgame.
You can decline the pawn and try to maintain your attacking chances with 16…Bf5!? 17.Ne4 Bc7 18.Qf1 Qg6 but I’m not sure black has enough compensation for the pawn any longer, but surely the position is still pretty unclear 

A3 13.Rh5?!

This looks dubious. Although the rook supports a possible Bg5 for white and of course prevents black’s Qh4, it’s risky business to keep it in front of the black kingside pawns.
We start chasing the rook right away: 13…g6! 14.Rh6 (14.Bxd5 cxd5 15.Rh6 Re8) Re8 (threatening Bf8)15.g3 (giving the rook the h4 square) Bf5 and white’s game is very cramped. Black has excellent chances here

B 12.d3
The idea for white is of course to open up for the queenside pieces as quickly as possible. This move does not give white space for the queen manoeuvre Qd1-d3-f1, instead it gives support to the e4 square where white would like to put his b1 knight. 
We play 12…Bd6 positioning the bishop for attack – pointing at h2 – and driving away the white rook with tempo. 

B1 13.Re1

The normal move in this line. We play 13…Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Re4 opening up for Qf1 and threatening Rh5 at the same time. The problem now is that after 15…Qf5 our light squared bishop has no ideal square (neither e6 or b7 are ideal)
If you don’t like this line you can play 13…Bf5 instead – preventing white from playing Re4. Whites best reply is 14.Qf3 Re8 15.Rxe8 Qxe8 and now either Nd2 or Bd2, both with just about equal chances.

B2 13.Re2?!

Black has a good game after 13…Bf5! Black cannot play 14.Nd2 because d3 is hanging and the best he can do is 14.d4 or 14.Re1 with loss of tempo.

B3 13.Rh5?!

Same comments as to the A3 line!
Simply play 13…g6 14.Rh6 Re8 and enjoy your game

C 12.Re1
This will almost surely transpose into some of the other lines.
We just play 12…Bd6 as usual and awaits the reaction from white.

D 12.Bxd5
This reply is quite different in nature to the ones we have looked at so far.
White decides to exchange on d5 right away, which is of course removing a possible attacking piece and weakening the black pawn structure and perhaps most importantly allowing white to use the e3 square for his rook. From black’s point of view the good news are that the f7 pawn is now free to join the action as it is not pinned by a b3 bishop.
After 12…cxd5 white has two main options, 13.d4 or 13.Qf3 Let’s have a look at both.

D1 13.d4

White focuses on development of his queenside pieces. We automatically play our standard Marshall Attack move 13…Bd6 and now white has a choice of where to put his rook (14.Rxd5?? is of course not an option – 14…Bxh2+!)

      D11 14.Re3
Looking a little strange as it blocks the c1 bishop, but it is a very normal move in this line. The advantage of the move is that the white queen can go to f1 directly and it prepares h3 in case black plays Qh4. This is called the Kevitz Variation, named after Alexander Kevitz.
A nice aggressive reply to this variation is 14…f5!? American (almost danish!) GM Nick de Firmian now played 15.Qf3 in this game against Ivanov in the 2002 US Championships.

Another white option is 15.Nd2 f4 16.Re1 f3!? 17.Nxf3 (17.g3? Qf6 =+ ) Bg4 18.Re3
It’s a bit unclear where black should place his queen at this time. While finding out where to put it, a very good plan is to double rooks in the f-file: Ra7-f7! which is very dangerous for white. 
Remember, in this line we have sac’ed 2 pawns so we need to have a successful attack to avoid a hopeless endgame. 

      D12 14.Re1
We play 14…Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Qf3! Best defence…Threatening d5 pawn and planning to go to g2
16.Be3?! Bg4 17.Qd3 Rae8 18.Qf1 Qh5 19.Nd2 Re6 with good attacking chances for black

We have a very sharp answer to 16.Qf3: 16…Bf5!    
     
D121 17.Qxd5 Rae8! is very dangerous for white -
18.Qxd6?? Rxe1#,
18.Rxe8?? Rxe8 and there’s no defence against the threats Be4 and Re1 mate
Best defence is 18.Bd2! Bd3 19.Na3 and now I don’t think black has anything better than: 19…Bxa3 20.bxa3 Bc4 Black is down 2 pawns but very active pieces and opposite colored bishops makes the game holdable…

D122 17.Qg2 Qg4 18.f3 (18.h3 Qg6) Qg6 19.Bf4 (19.Be3  Rfe8 This is a little trap:
20.Rxe8?? Rxe8 21.Bxd6 (21.Na3 Bxf4 22.gxf4 Qxg2+ 23.Kxg2 Re2! -+) Re1+ 22.Kf2 Qe6! 23.Be5 Rc1! -+
20.Na3 Bxa3 =
20.Nd2 b4 21.Bxd6 Qxd6 22.Nb3 bxc3 23.bxc3 += difficult endgame for black

D2 13.Qf3

This is not a good system for white – neglecting development of queenside pieces is a deadly sin against the Marshall Attack! Although the d5 pawn is hanging, white could very quickly be in big trouble.
We play our normal 13…Bd6 and now white should of course not try to grab the d5 pawn:
14.Rxd5?? Re8! 15.Kf1 Qe7! 16.Qe3 Be6! 17.Rd4 Bc5 -+

D21 14.Re1
14…Re8!?
This is not played very often although I believe it’s much stronger than Qh4, Be6, Bb7 which are the alternatives for black here.. I’ve found this move in a CC game from 1974! The game continued
15.Re3 (15.Rxe8+? Qxe8 16.Qd1 (16.Qe3 Bf5! 17.d4 Bf4! 18.Qxe8 Rxe8 19.Be3 Bxe3 20.fxe3 Rxe3 21.Kf2 Rd3! giving white trouble developing knight and rook) Qe5 with very strong attack) d4!? 16.cxd4 (16.Qxa8? dxe3 17.dxe3 Bb8! 18.Qf3 Bb7 look at those bishops!! -+) Rb8 17.b3?! Bb7 =+ black won the game 

D22 14.Re2?
14…Qg5! preventing d4 as the c1 bishop is hanging. There are no satisfying continuatios for white.
15.Re1 Bg4! 16.Qe3 Bf4 is terrible for white
15.g3 Bg4 16.Qe3 Qh5 is even worse
Best move is clearly 15.h3 although black still has big advantage after 15…Bf5 16.Na3 Be4 17.Qg4 Qe5

D23 14.Re3
In this line the best black continuation is a very atypical move in the Marshall Attack: 14…Qc7!
We are threatening on h2 and if white tries to protect it, he’s running into tactics:
15.h3? d4! 16.Re1 (16.Qxa8 dxe3 17.Qe4/f3 exf2+  -+) Bb7 -+ in either case the monster bishops are killing white!
15.g3? d4! Same story as above!
15.d4! Bxh2 16.Kh1 Bd6 17.Qxd5 Bb7 with a clear black advantage

E 12.g3
The idea of this move is prevent Qh4 and take the sting out of Bd6. You could call this a prophylactic way of defending against the Marshall Attack. Or you could just regard it a different move order to one of the known lines above…
Anyway, black has a real choice to make here. Does he want to transpose into some of the known lines above or does he want a different setup than the classical Marshall Attack one?
3 things are worth considering from black’s perspective:

1) Where to put the e7 bishop- d6 or f6?
2) Where to put the queen – d8-d7-h3 or g5 or f6 or c7?
3) Where to put the c8 bishop – f5 or g4 or b7?

These issues cannot be solved independantly. We need a plan to get the best out of all our pieces.
Yet, my suggestion is to postpone some of the decisions! How?

12…Bd6 Our standard Marshall Attack move! 13.Re1 Ra7
This is a very flexible move. The rook is of course typically heading for e7 and postponing decisions of where to put c8 bishop and queen for a moment.
White has a few options here:

E1 14.d3

14…Re7 15.Rxe7 Qxe7 16.Nd2 Bf5 17.Qf3 Qe1+ 18.Nf1 (18.Kg2 Qe6 threatening Bh3,Qe1#  when white covers the mate we play Re8 =+) Bh3 19.Qd1 Qe5 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 21.Ne3 +=

E2 14.d4

14…Re7 15.Rxe7 Qxe7 16.Nd2 (16.a4 Bh3 17.Nd2 Re8 =) Bh3 17.Nf3 Re8 18.a4 h6 =

E3 14.a4

14…Re7 15.Rxe7 Qxe7 16.d4 (16.axb5 axb5 17.d4 Bh3 18.Nd2 Re8 ) Bh3 17.Nd2 Re8
Transposing into E2F 12.Qf3
This is simply bad for white. 12…Bd6
13.Bxd5 cxd5 transposing into D2 is the best white can do.
13.Re4?! Qg5! preparing Bf5 is good for black. For example 14.h4 Qg6 15.d4 (15.d3 h5) Bf5 =+

 

These were the most important lines when white accepts the gambit.
In part III we’ll look at the lines where white declines the gambit.
See you there…