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Marshall (left) playing Tarrasch at Nuremberg
Tournament, 1906.
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| Frank James
Marshall was born at 8th Avenue and 50th Street, New York, on August 10,
1877. His father, Alfred Marshall, was born in England and his mother was
of Scotch-Irish descent. When Frank was eight years old, the Marshall family
moved to Montreal, where they lived for 11 years. At the age of 10, he
began to play chess with his father, who was a fairly strong amateur. The
father introduced his son to the players at the Hope Coffee House, but
in a few months the youngster was able to beat all the coffee-house players
with ease. |
| Frank then joined
the Montreal Chess Club and quickly established a reputation among the
leading players of Montreal. The members of the club were astonished by
his deep insight into the game and his ability to find powerful, attacking
moves. From the very first, Frank Marshall was an extremely aggressive
player. In 1895, he won the championship of the club. In 1896, he and his
family returned to New York. Marshall immediately joined the Manhattan
and Brooklyn Chess Clubs and soon became one of the leading players in
metropolitan chess circles. In 1897, he won the junior championship of
New York Chess Association -- a considerable feat for a lad of 19. Finally,
in 1899, he won the championship of the Brooklyn Chess Club. |
| Marshall's international
career began soon after he won the Brooklyn Club title. In the 1900 International
Masters Tournament, he met the leading masters of the world for the first
time. He did not win the tournament, but he tied with Maroczy for 3rd and
4th prizes and defeated both Lasker and Pillsbury in his individual games
with these titans of chess. In 1904, Marshall divided first prize with
Zwiderski at Monte Carlo. Then he won first prize without the loss of a
single game in the international tournament at Cambridge Springs, Pa. A
tournament was arranged at St. Louis, Mo., and when Pillsbury (who died
in 1906) decided that he was too ill to compete, the tournament committee
announced that the winner would be recognized as U. S. Chess Champion.
Marshall won the event and was presented with a medal inscribed "Frank
J. Marshall, champion." But Marshall did not officially accept the title
until 1909, when he won a match with Jackson W. Showalter, the champion
before Pillsbury. He died in Jersey City, New Jersey, on November 9, 1944. |
("Photo was a reproduction of postcard sent by
Marshall to his wife" -- original note from Paul Little's chess scrapbook.)
Cf. Chess Review, December, 1944, from the
Clipp-
ings in Paul Little's Chess Scrapbooks (Box I, v.2. ) |
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