Latest trends in the Marshall – GM Jan Gustafsson

Overview

The Marshall Attack in the Spanish (Ruy Lopez) is one of the most dangerous weapons Black has at his disposal when facing 1.e4.

Black gives up a pawn to rapidly develop his pieces, lining them up against the White King who often finds himself without many protecting pieces.

Knowledge of the key sacrifices and the subtle pawn moves and piece maneuvers that set them up is critical for players of both colors in this exciting opening.

Even with best play from White, Black achieves good positions and one slip by the first player can lead to spectacular victories. The great Garry Kasparov famously would make an early deviation so as not to allow the Marshall Attack, believing it to give Black too much play.

In this course, Marshall expert Jan Gustafsson takes a look at the latest developments and primes us to win with this deadly opening.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

1. Introduction
2. The state of theory
3. 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d5! Part 1
4. 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d5! Part 2
5. 8.a4 b4 9.d4
6. 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d3
7. 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Qe2!?
8. 12.d4 15.Re4
9. The Rubinstein Variation