Americans playing for the title: Frank Marshall

Frank James Marshall was born on August 10, 1877 in New York City, though his early chess apprenticeship took place in Montreal, Canada, where he had moved to at age 8, and learned chess at the age of 10. Records can be found with his participation such as in 1893, when he was 15, where he came in third in the 1st Montreal Chess Club Championship. The following year, in 1894, he scored 50% in the 20th Canadian Championship, but by 1896 he was back at his homeland in New York, playing regularly.

It was in 1897 that he would score his first notable victory playing the Brooklyn Chess Club Championship that had hitherto been won by William Napier. To most readers, Napier’s name will mean little, but he was an exceptional talent in his own right and would even peak in the world’s Top 10 according to Chessmetrics. Napier had won the Brooklyn Chess Club championship in 1896 with 8.0/10 (Marshall was 3rd with 6½/10), but in 1897 both players were merciless in the 12-player round-robin as both scored 10/11. A playoff was organized and Marshall took it with 2.0/3.

"The hardest thing in chess is to win a won game." -- Frank Marshall

In 1900, he travelled to Paris to play in the International Tournament held there, bringing in the world’s greatest players of the age, such as Lasker, Pillsbury, Maroczy, Burn, Chigorin, Schlechter, Janowksi and more. The 17-player field was dominated by the World Champion Emanuel Lasker with a staggering 14½/16 (!!), with the American genius Harry Pillsbury in second with 12½/16, but Frank Marshall’s international debut was nothing less than sensational nonetheless as he came in clear third with 12.0/16, including individual wins over both Lasker and Pillsbury.

In 1904, he scored his greatest victory to date, taking clear first in the Cambridge Springs International Tournament with 13.0/15, two full points ahead of Lasker, and far ahead of other participating luminaries such as Janowksi, Schlechter, Chigorin, Pillsbury, and Teichmann. His place in the world’s chess pantheon was now well-established. Later that year he would also win the 7th American Chess Congress, but refused to accept the title for US Champion as the defending champion Pillsbury had not participated. Note that Pillsbury was deadly ill already and would die of syphilis in 1906. In fact, after Pillsbury’s death, Marshall still refused the title, and would only accept it after earning it in competition in 1909. He was to then hold the title for 27 years until 1936. This example of extreme fairplay and sportsmanship characterized him throughout his life. Even after losing a match to a Capablanca, not only did he show no resentment, but put in enormous effort to ensure the Cuban genius was given the best of opportunities.

Nevertheless, Marshall was to receive his own opportunity at the greatest title, when a match for the world championship was organized in 1907. The conditions were symptomatic of the time, and the winner would be the first player to win eight games. The match took place over a period of three months, with games played in New York, Philadephia, Washington DC, Baltimore, Chicago, and Memphis.

Emanuel Lasker faced Frank Marshall for the title in 1907, in a match that took place in several cities. This image was taken in the Chicago leg of the match | Photo: Chicago History Museum

Although Lasker was nowhere near as active as in his prime, in part due to his doctoral studies in mathematics, he convincingly showed he was still the greatest player of his day, defending his title in just 15 games, with eight wins, seven draws, and no losses.

Master Class Vol.5: Emanuel Lasker

The name Emanuel Lasker will always be linked with his incredible 27 years reign on the throne of world chess. In 1894, at the age of 25, he had already won the world title from Wilhelm Steinitz and his record number of years on the throne did not end till 1921 when Lasker had to accept the superiority of Jose Raul Capablanca. But not only had the only German world champion so far seen off all challengers for many years, he had also won the greatest tournaments of his age, sometimes with an enormous lead. The fascinating question is, how did he manage that?

Emanuel Lasker 1-0 Frank Marshall (1907) - Annotated by Garry Kasparov

In 1915, Marshall opened the Marshall Chess Club in New York City, where it continues to be a beacon to chess in New York and the United States.

The entrance of the Marshall Chess Club

In the 1930s, Marshall captained the US team to four gold medals at four Chess Olympiads. During one round, he returned to the board to find out that his teammates had agreed to three draws. He then gave all of them a stern talk on how draws do not win matches.

Frank Marshall passed away on November 9, 1944.

Update: The introduction was updated to reflect that the subject matter is a player born in the USA. You can also learn more about the first official World Champion, Willhelm Steinitz, who became a naturalised American citizen and played World Championship matches in the country.