Sunday, June 6, 2010

A Trap in the Marshall Defense #3

Here is yet another trap in the Marshall Defense, one that I have pulled off many times. I learned of it from Lev Alburt's column in Chess Life. Some Marshall players vary from the normal 3...Nxd5 with 3...Qxd5?! After 4.Nc3, they usually continue with 4...Qa5 a la the Scandinavian Defense. (Note that after the better 4...Qd8, White should play 5.Nf3 rather than 5.e4?!, which allows Marshall's idea 5...e5!) After 4...Qa5, 5.Bd2! is strong, intending to follow up with e4 and Nd5, for example 5...Bf5?? 6.e4! Bg6 7.Nd5 and Black resigned in Steller-Reig, Stroebeck 1982. About 90% of my Internet opponents instead find 5...Qb6, forking White's b and d pawns, and after 6.Nf3! they dive in with 6...Qxb2?? 7.Rb1 Qa3 8.Nb5!, when the queen has no way to guard c7.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I made a couple videos on the Marshall but didn't really take ..Qxd5 seriously, focusing on ..Nxd5. This sequence is very useful, an illustration of how to defeat openings that rely on repeated queen moves for justification. (like the Englund Gambit and 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 as well)

Unknown said...

Useful line. A good illustration of defeating an opening that relies on multiple queen moves to justify itself.

I made a couple videos on the Marshall but didn't really take ..Qxd5 seriously.