Hopeful sign for modern day chess?

[Kevin Pacey]

A somewhat plain book review I wrote about a 2010 book on the Marshall Lopez, as a 2014 entry for my CFC Discussion Board blog, has close to 44,000 views at the moment, way more than any other chess-related blog entry of mine. That's a lot of interest in a book about just one chess opening, and perhaps a hopeful sign for modern day chess, even taking into account that the opening in question is popular (and/or widely feared), and that this particular book includes the eye-catching word 'Understanding' in its title:

http://www.chesscanada.info/forum/en...ck-by-Vigorito

Predictably, by contrast, reviews I blogged about some other (older) books written since 2003 about the Marshall Lopez (one being published only a year before 2010) received far less views.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Hopeful sign for modern day chess?

The apparent continued heavy interest in modern day chess books meant for tournament or club players alone, even for those who are just English language readers, suggests to me that many millions still have faith that tournaments for standard chess, with its current basic rules, will strongly continue for at least their lifetimes. That's never mind that they think computer engines and databases alone won't do as a complete substitute for books (for players below GM level at least).

The interest in the book referred to in my first post may be driven mostly by fear of the Marshall Lopez, or confusion about how to meet it. Like for stock markets, fear can lead to big sales. I suspect many class players don't take up the Lopez main lines with White because of the Marshall, if not because of all of Black's other choices (many of which can be answered in a rather comfortable & similar fashion for many moves).

I'll now offer a number of observations about the Marshall, fwiw:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0

Already a pretty strong sign that Black is hoping to get into a Marshall, but some players use this move as a bluff, as a way to get to a favoured Closed Lopez line (rather than via 7...d6), to gain time on the clock, or to provoke an Anti-Marshall system of some sort from White, with a move other than 8.c3 (which does worse statistically in case of a Marshall, but the alternative Anti-Marshalls do worse statistically than many Closed Lopez lines, at least in a large database of mine).

8.c3 d5



The starting point for the Marshall. Some very out-of-touch club players may think it's unsound, based on very old books, but nowadays at the highest level it's generally considered an active way to play for a draw, or for a win if White is careless.

9.exd5

In the Lopez these days lines with an early d2-d3 by White are getting more respect, e.g. in the Berlin or Arkhangelsk, but here 9.d3 is a craven attempt to gain safety and avoid theory, at the cost of granting Black easy equality if he proceeds to trade off queens. The problem for Black is that that may not be to his taste, and the chance of a draw rises, perhaps. So, based on a handful of database games, 9...Qd6!? can be suggested to avoid this, in a way possibly better than another deviation from 9...dxe4 here, namely 9...Bb7, which could be met again cravenly, by 10.Bg5, to induce a queen exchange after all. I haven't seen any books which make a note of these finer points, so I thought I'd help the unitiated along...

9...Nxd5 10.Nxe5

Here 10.d4 is a somewhat craven line I've also faced as Black, but getting active play is an easier task than against 9.d3, if you don't know what to play.

10...Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6

A bit sadly, Black's few available alternatives are less viable objectively. After 11...c6, in a large database of mine Black scores very well in every line (often well over 50%[!]), such as in those after the usual 12.d4, with the notable exception of 12.d3. That's where I'd suggest White concentrate his efforts, if he doesn't want to play an Anti-Marshall, but still badly wants to play the Lopez main lines. One thing that databases are useful for, compared to books, is hunting down lines or openings that score well in some way.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Hopeful sign for modern day chess?

The apparent continued heavy interest in modern day chess books meant for tournament or club players alone, even for those who are just English language readers, suggests to me that many millions still have faith that tournaments for standard chess, with its current basic rules, will strongly continue for at least their lifetimes......

Many millions?!?

Yet using round figures, there are only about 250,000 current members of FIDE worldwide, and if the statements I've seen are true that over 600 million worldwide play chess at least casually, then FIDE has 0.04% of the potential worldwide market for chess. Anemic!

Even if we expand that to include non-FIDE tournaments and clubs, you're still looking at a pathetic situation from a business point of view. Chess authors are just one group that stand to benefit greatly if only chess could be made much, MUCH more mainstream. And there is a way to do it, but the establishment has an iron grip and maintains the status quo.

So in Kevin's case, he likes to analyze openings and standard chess rules provide plenty of opportunity for that -- everything good! But the vast majority of people who play chess casually don't want to memorize reams of openings in order to be even remotely competitive in tournaments. And when they find that that's what they must do.... goodbye to organized chess for them. Only a few people within organized chess will even notice their absence.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Hopeful sign for modern day chess?

Hi Paul

I'm thinking many millions are interested in chess opening books based on a number of factors. The Marshall Lopez is just one opening (or major variation) that's at least semi-respectable, and there are hundreds of such (the Rabar code that, say, ECO uses involves 500 sections, for example, though at times 10 or more of them are devoted to one opening; the Marshall Lopez alone is section C89, plus C88 for Anti-Marshalls). Based also on the number of views my blog entry had (approx. 44,000), this mildly suggested to me there might be, say, 10 million people interested in English language chess opening books, alone.

I used to live in Brampton Ontario, which has a chess club. That was back in the 1980's, when the club never ran any CFC-rated events. Still, many members had chess books, and there was even a library. There are likely many such clubs worldwide, along with clubs that do run more serious, i.e. rated, events.

Fwiw, when I played at an informal oriental board games club with half a dozen members or so, back in the 1990's in Ottawa, at a now defunct cafe, one of the players, who wasn't a serious chess player at all, actually had a book about a chess opening, though perhaps he was rather an oddball.

I think what discourages most people from continuing with serious, organized chess, if they try it, is that they realize it's normally going to take considerable study and playing to get to the level they hope to be at (but this is true of serious Poker too, I seem to get from the internet). With that realization, many are also not willing to consider investing $, and/or time (if even available!), in pursuing competitive chess over time, even as a hobby.

Learning a passable amount of opening theory is just one thing to be absorbed. My accumulation of opening theory that I know almost cold took a few decades, and I have been slow to add to it ever since, but note I like the variety of playing many openings. Plus, my knowledge of lines normally does not need to go that deep (say beyond move 15, if that), based on the level I often play at, or against. The odd time I might prepare vs. an opponent if I anticipate what he'll play, but at such times, if successful, I feel a little spoiled.

What newbies might wish to know (and thus might keep some from dropping out) is that what happens is, you learn a number of mainlines in an opening well enough to get by, and when faced with a deviation from the mainline, it is usually innocuous enough that you can make up your response as you go, but if you are not yet skillful enough, even that will be a bit of a challenge. A chunk of opening homework, over time, that a coach could help a lot with, is learning what you want to avoid, including traps (though traps are learned quickly, or painfully, the latter case possibly causing some to exit organized chess due to a fragile ego).

In any case, I would note that at a lot of events in my area there are 3 groups of players who show up, based on skill level, and there are always enough to offer prizes to players in each of those 3 class sections in the tournaments. What might really help boost newbie attendence is to someday advertise events, clubs and the CFC more to the general public, at least in Canada (bearing in mind that one former CFC prez I know thought that there isn't going to be a great army of aspiring competitive chess players in Canada waiting to be discovered still). To add to the fun, throw in more bughouse events too. There's less opening theory to that, afaik, if that's really a great source of concern for promoting standard chess. I still think that brand of chess may be somehow replaced as the standard in 100 years or so, primarily because opening theory will be pretty much truly exhausted, making elite player events problematical.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Hopeful sign for modern day chess?

Fwiw, here's a Marshall Attack game of mine, White being the 1972 RA Chess Club champion, returning after a long absence afaik.

Jeanneret, Charles (2058) - Pacey, Kevin (2220)
RACC Pickup Game, Ottawa, 17.04.1997
C89 Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack

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



GM Lars-Bo Hansen has written a series of books that offer his advice on selecting a repertoire. One piece of advice I found rather artificial was to select openings according to what rating level you're currently at. Lars-Bo felt that one should not play the Marshall unless one is an elite player, for example! What kind of fun is that for a maturing chessplayer?? In any case, a friend of mine once wryly observed that a room full of 30 chessplayers couldn't possibly agree on anything, and I'm sure most mature chessplayers take books with a grain of salt. 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Be3 Bg4 16.Qd3



This is really the starting point for the old main lines of the Marshall Attack. 16...Rae8 An interesting alternative that doesn't get much attention from the books is 16...f5 17.f4 Kh8 18.Bxd5 cxd5 19. Nd2 Rf6!? 17.Nd2 f5!? Black is on the verge of being all-in after this old move. At this stage of the game, any theory I had ever looked at was long forgotten. There's rather more theory around 17...Re6. 18.Qf1 ECO gives 18.f4 only, but it should transpose. 18.Bxd5+ has also been tried, again with possible transpositional possibilities coming up. 18...Qh5 19.f4 Kh8 Black's best theoretical chance (and possiblity to play for a win here) may be to deeply investigate 19...Rf6 (e.g. see ECO), although it's been little tried for some reason. That's IF White knows his theory cold after 19...Kh8 (or 19...g5?!), in which case he should get some advantage ultimately. There's a lot of 'bluff' that goes on in chess, especially at lower levels. 20.Bxd5 cxd5 21.Qg2 This is thought to be White's best move, though it's not hard stumble onto if in doubt. The alternative 21.a4 is looking fine for Black these days afaik. 21...Re4 This offer of an Exchange sacrifice for light square control is a common idea in the Marshall, though at the time I didn't have a clue if it was in any way respectable in this position. It turns out that it's at least as good as 21...g5 IF White knows his stuff. 22.a4 Here 22.Nxe4 fxe4 23.h4! is the best way to proceed, but it can be hard on the nerves to loosen the pawn structure further around one's king if one is unsure. 22...b4



Now the game may be in uncharted waters. One book I have gives 22...bxa4, transposing to a line that's thought to be healthy for Black. 23.c4 Naturally 23.Nxe4 is a critical alternative. 23...dxc4 24.Bf2 A timid looking move, but it's not so terrible if White follows up correctly. 24.Nxc4 or 24.Nxe4 are more incisive. 24...Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1? My opponent may have been rusty still. Instead 25.Bxe1 is okay, however anti-positional it looks (temporary!), since it's important not to allow Black to keep a monster c-pawn (in addition to his active B's); after 25...c3 26.bxc3 bxc3 27.Nc4 the c-pawn will be digested eventually with a roughly level game, it appears. Now Black has a won game. 25...c3 26.bxc3 bxc3 27.Nc4 Bf3 28.Qf1 Bb4 29.Ne5 c2 30.Qc4?? White gives big at the office, but it should be a matter of time otherwise. 30...Bxe1 31.Bxe1 Be4 32.Bb4 Qd1+ 33.Kf2 c1Q 34.Nf7+ Rxf7 0-1.