DTFC Frank Marshall B-Day Tournament

The Daily Tournaments Fans Club is organizing this event to honor one of the all-time great American players. Frank James Marshall was born in Manhattan on August 10, 1877. 

In 1896 he became a professional chess player in New York joining the Manhattan Chess Club and the Brooklyn Chess Club.

In 1899 he won the championship of the Brooklyn Chess Club. He then set sail for Europe to play chess. He won the minor tournament in London that year. He tied for 3rd in Paris in 1900, behind Lasker and Pillsbury. He defeated both in that event.

In 1904 he was the winner of Cambridge Springs with 11 wins and 4 draws. A tournament was then arranged in St Louis for all the top players in the country. Marshall won it and was given the title of US Champion. But he did not accept this title because US Champion Pillsbury did not play (he was suffering from syphilis).

In 1906 Pillsbury died and Marshall was acknowledged as the US champion. Marshall refused the title until 1909 when he played a match for the title with Showalter.

In 1907 he played Lasker for the world championship and lost 8 games, winning none and drawing 7. They played their match in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Chicago, and Memphis from January 26 to April, 1907. In 1909 he played Capablanca and won 1 game, lost 8, and drew 14.

At St. Petersburg in 1914, he became one of the 5 original "grandmasters" of chess. The other four were Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, and Tarrasch.

In 1915 he opened the famous Marshall Chess Club.

In 1924 he took 4th at the great New York 1924 International, behind Lasker, Capablanca, and Alekhine.

In the 1930s Marshall captained the US team to 4 gold medals at 4 Chess Olympiads. He was known to severely reprimand his teammates on one occasion for agreeing to draws, telling them that draws do not win matches.

In 1936 he relinquished his US championship title to Sam Reshevsky who won a tournament for the US championship, sponsored by the National Chess Federation and held in New York. The Marshall Chess Club donated the trophy. Marshall held the US title for 29 years.

In 1942 he published My Fifty Years of Chess, ghosted by Fred Reinfeld. In 1944 Marshall was still playing chess, including correspondence chess during World War II.

On November 9, 1944, Frank Marshall died of a heart attack. He was 67. For 57 years he played chess almost every day. He took pocket chess set to bed with him at night so that he might record a game or position from his dreams. His wife, Caroline, ran the Marshall Chess Club until her death in 1971.

Marshall was known for his aggressive tactical play and ability to get out of trouble that earned him the nickname "The Great Swindler". Though rarely given credit for, he was also an exemplary endgame player. Several opening variations are named after him, most notably the Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack (C89), the Marshall Gambit, and the Marshall Defense to the Queen's Gambit.

In his famous game against Stepan Levitsky, Marshall concluded with a sham sacrifice of his queen. This move is considered one of the most brilliant moves ever played in chess.

Although Marshall holds a negative score against Capablanca, he was one of the few players ever to defeat him with the black pieces and in the endgame.