Annotated chess game: Marshall attack

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ANNOTATED GAME

Marshall attack
jbsnake (2129) vs. thereaper1 (1708)
Annotated by: thereaper1 (1985)
Chess opening: Ruy Lopez (C89), Marshall, main line, Spassky variation

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Yet another close encounter with a stronger opponent, only in this game I actually achieved a drawn position but misplayed it in the bishop vs 3 pawns endgame

1. e4 e5	I don't normally play e5 and I don't think I have played it since some of my earlier games, never much liking the symmetry. however I've been looking into the ruby Lopez from both sides lately and thought I'd give it a shot.



2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5	The Marshall gambit! I was inspired to take this when is saw vasily ivanchuk- Peter Leko ningbo teams 2011. That with the accompanying analysis was a real treat to read through and seeing it was when I first realised just how much preparations GMs do. What I like about this gambit is that black gets a fierce kingside attack where white must step very carefully however even more than that black gets long term positional compensation, so even if white parries blacks kingside attack the resulting positions are often drawn anyway since black will usually have long term activity even into the endgame and also such positions often result in opposite coloured bishop endings. Not to mention the opening is considered sound and playable even by today's GMs and finally the fact that human intuition is actually more important than computer analysis which is always a bonus
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2355) on 03-Oct-12: Boris Spassky used it in his Candidates match with Mischa Tal in 1965, I think it was. So far as he was concerned it was pretty much a 'gimme' draw, and so it proved.


9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6	Mainline
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2355) on 03-Oct-12: Marshal's original concept was 11...Nf6, which he played against Capablanca. Many years later, 11...Nf6 was rehabilitated as a viable alternative to 11...c6. It is the need for Black to deal with the threat to his Knight on d5 that stops him from crushing White out of hand in this line.


12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4	The point being to weaken the light squares around the white kingside
	2 comments damalfi (1200) on 03-Oct-12: Afterwards, one couls ask if Bf5 could have prevented the white queen to go to d3 later, so Qh4 is more dangerous. Of course you have to accoplish with white tempos while all this is done. archduke_piccolo (2355) on 03-Oct-12: Black dfoesn't really want to exchange his dark square bishop (DSB). The threat of mate forces a weakening in White's K-side; his LSB unavailable (for a long time) to plug the holes.


14. g3 Qh3 15. Be3 Bg4 16. Qd3	Forced as anything else gets mated after ...Bf3



16... Rae8 17. Nd2 f5	A thematic move
	1 comment damalfi (1200) on 03-Oct-12: It may seem that 16...Rae8 is not such a priority as f5 and/or Kh8 are.


18. f4	White halts the pawn in its tracks, black gets serious play and a strong attack if the pawn is allowed to advance any further



18... Kh8	I had thought about playing ...g5 first which is keeping in spirit of the opening however I figured I would get out of the pin first before exposing my kings position any further, though g5 was perfectly safe and playable



19. Bxd5	Now that I am out of the pin white chooses to snap off the knight, however as a result I now have complete domination of the light squares
	1 comment damalfi (1200) on 03-Oct-12: not indeed, since the Nd3 is covering the useful squares for the white bishop, and f5 is blocking its action...


19... cxd5 20. Qf1 Qh5	Something I noticed about this position is that I relay do have complete control over the light squares, blacks queen and bishop cannot be chased out of the kingside light squares no matter what further more the fact that I have both bishops, the queen, both rooks and the g pawn ready to lever at the white kingside means I'm not going to be short of attacking chances for a while, as well as that whites knight doesn't have a whole lot of great squares at the moment and the white DSB is little more than a giant pawn. Having said that white will be able to tear apart blacks queenside without any trouble and white is still a pawn up after all, but I was happy with my position at this point.
	1 comment damalfi (1200) on 03-Oct-12: g5 and/or Re6 seem good way to increase pressure over white...


21. a4	Thematic
	1 comment damalfi (1200) on 03-Oct-12: b4 jumps in sight, or a5, axb, Bc7 and white's pawn in b will cause white to be defending it all the time... it can worth a look.


21... bxa4 22. Rxa4 Re6 23. Rxa6 Rfe8 24. Qb5 g5	White is two pawns up and has a passed b pawn so black needs to drum up some quick action on the kingside if he doesn't want to get run over in the endgame
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2355) on 03-Oct-12: I thought 24...Rh6 might be the way to go, but 25.h3! is a surprisingly effective defence: 24...Rh6 25.h3! Bxh3 (of course ...Qxh3 is not playable on account of the back rank mate) 26.Bf2! Rf8 27.Qxd5 Bg5 28.Rxd6 Qh2ch 29.Kf1 Qh3ch and now, rather than accept the perpetual, White can try for the win by 30.Qg2! Qxg2ch 31.Kxg2 Rxd6. With 2 extra pawns for the Knight/Rook Exchange, I rate White's winning chances as pretty strong in that line. Having said that, Black might be hurting himself more than White with this thrust.


25. Qxd5	This surprised me to be honest as now black wins a piece however on the other hand white has three extra pawns, and they are 3 connected passed pawns



25... gxf4 26. Rxd6 Re6xe3 27. Rxe3 fxe3 28. Rd8 exd2	Now we liquidate into a bishop vs 3 pawns ending, I'm pretty sure it's a forced draw



29. Qe5+ Kg8 30. Rxe8+ Qxe8 31. Qxe8+	Whites a queen up but this is only temporary because eventually she will need to give herself up in order to prevent black from promoting, the only other option is for white to continuously give check, and is this would result in an eventual draw its obvious that white will not allow this to happen
	2 comments damalfi (1200) on 03-Oct-12: Very interesting tactic melee... very well played! It takes cold blood to go through this against a stronger opponent. White cannot avoid black to get the queen. archduke_piccolo (2355) on 03-Oct-12: Very nicely finished. It's not easy to determine ahead of time that White's attack, even though it wins the Black Queen, is insufficient to win.


31... Kg7 32. Qa4 d1=Q+ 33. Qxd1 Bxd1 34. Kf2 Bb3	Probably I should have moved my king first
	2 comments damalfi (1200) on 03-Oct-12: This move can't be bad... but of course black will need the king to stop the pawns. archduke_piccolo (2355) on 03-Oct-12: I agree with damalfi. This move at once puts a constraint upon all White's passed pawns. Personally, I would fancy White's chances, but, held back as they are, White's Q-side pawns aren't much help right now.


35. Ke3 Kf6 36. Kd3 Kg5 37. c4 f4 38. gxf4+ Kxf4 39. Kc3 Bd1	Planning to swing around to g4
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2355) on 03-Oct-12: I think it is somewhere in this sequence that things start going wrong for Black. After 36.Ke3, it appears that 36...Bc4 might be the finesse he needs, placing a barrier to the White King at the light squares d3 and e4. This gives Black just one tempo to work with, but it might be enough, say, to bring forward the h-pawn, and look to serious counterplay on the King-side.


40. Kb4 Kg5	?! Moving my king away from the action
	2 comments damalfi (1200) on 03-Oct-12: Probably the losing move. archduke_piccolo (2355) on 03-Oct-12: I'd probably play 40...Ke4 here, but those pawns are starting to roll...


41. c5 Kf6 42. c6 Ke6 43. Kc5	White has managed to get his king to assist his pawns and as a result black is has no way of stopping them



43... Bb3 44. Kb6 Kd6 45. c7 Be6	I resigned here since after 46.Kb7 Kd5 47.C8=Q Bxc8 48.Kxc8 Kxd4 or ...h5 white will simply win my h pawn after my king goes after the pawn on b2. Anyway hope you enjoy this game and hopefully someone could identify where the losing move was in the endgame since my opponent even confirmed that the ending was a draw and I messed up somewhere. Anyway until next time
	3 comments bwaa (1873) on 02-Oct-12: Nice game! I think the two places you identified flaws with your King movement (34 and 40) were critical; if you'd been a couple moves closer to the queenside fight it seems to me you would have held the draw. Then again, my endgame is pretty weak in these sorts of positions. archduke_piccolo (2355) on 03-Oct-12: Very good game - and you gave yourself great chances to achieve a decisive result. l-d-j (1747) on 13-Oct-12: Great game, pity that you lost.