But the Marshall is far from dubious.
Very true.
So what would we call the Marshall.
Half Coffee House?
or
Decaf Coffee House lol!
Um, I'm not sure why you insist the words "coffee" and "house" be used in the description of the Marshall.
No, the Marshall is the refutation of the Spanish. The rest of the variations are just white's attempts to obfuscate the issue.
It's clear that once White has lost the initiative on move four that he's just hanging on.
This reminds me of an Ivanchuk quote, where he tongue-in-cheek said that 8 c3(?!) is a mistake, after which White has to fight for a draw.
Do you know what coffeehouse means? This would describe stuff like the Fishing Pole which just plays for tricks and is not positionally justified. The main reason people tend to avoid the Marshall is even if they manage to trade queens and not get mated, they will still struggle to win. An opening that gives up a pawn, allows a queen trade, and is still pretty much fine must be positionally well founded. It sounds like the opposite of coffeehouse to me!
JMB, you had to answer the comment seriously, didn't you?
Of course, you're right. Perhaps at the U1800 level though, the Marshall is a bit of a coffeehouse opening. I've seen quite a few A players win nice tactical games from the Black side of the Marshall. Black can get a pretty nasty attack if White makes even a slight misstep.
JMB, you had to answer the comment seriously, didn't you?
Of course, you're right. Perhaps at the U1800 level though, the Marshall is a bit of a coffeehouse opening. I've seen quite a few A players win nice tactical games from the Black side of the Marshall. Black can get a pretty nasty attack if White makes even a slight misstep.
Yes, of course, Black gets a big attack if White isn't careful. That's one of the main attractions of the Marshall at club level. I myself have been on the Black side of quite a few mating attacks in the Marshall, even against experts and, occasionally, masters. But any opening that is played regularily by GMs should simply not be referred to as "coffee house".
I have a better idea.
@X_PLAYER_J_X: You just don't get it. You make the ludicrous claim that the Berlin is better than the Breyer and Marshall (cough), because the Breyer involves a backward knight move (cough), and because the Marshall gives up a pawn for a coffeehouse attack (cough). However, you then say in response to whooooooooooosh's sarcastic answer that the doubled pawns and the central king might be a strength. (double standard #1)
You then backtrack and say "I never said that" (cough), and make an absurd claim that in order to prove the Berlin is not better than the Breyer and Marshall, you have to prove that 3... a6 is better than 3... Nf6 (cough). In reality, you have to prove the opposite.
No, the Marshall is the refutation of the Spanish. The rest of the variations are just white's attempts to obfuscate the issue.
It's clear that once White has lost the initiative on move four that he's just hanging on.