Marshall Attack - HOW TO NOT MESS UP (Black's Perspective)

Hi guys

Okay, I'm up against this guy in a rated 1v1 and whoever gets the black pieces gets theme choice. I'm up first with the black pieces, and for my blackside game I chose Marshall Attack. Pay no attention to my Chess.com rating, I'm a far stronger OTB player. I chose the Marshall Attack because I happen to be that type of player. I love playing countergambits and counterattacks, the opening is called an attack and it's still made for the black pieces, I'm not defending anymore, I'm not playing a closed game anymore, I get to develop pieces faster, I get to form a battery, and from what I understand, I just have to be able to capitalise on this battery and try to deal with the annoying rook.

I see a lot of video lessons that show people how to counter against the Marshall Attack as white but I can't seem to find good videos/courses/games on how I'm supposed to play this as the BLACK pieces, the one going after his throat.

So what I understand so far starting from move 9 is 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 Knight trades to open the centre, 11. Rxe5 c6 to defend the knight and then 12. d4 Bd6 to get the bishop out of the way, 13. Re1 and Qh4 to start the kingside attack, 14. g3 Qh3 keeping the pressure forward, 15. Rb4 Bf5 to kick the rook and then 16. Rh4 seems to be the main line, did I get that right?

So if we were to play this main line at least up to, say, 15. Rb4, what are some main things I need to be doing if I were to "capitalise" on the battery as they say? I've already gotten a good grasp at the so-called opening "fundamentals" and I'm nerdy enough to keep studying openings I like to make sure I know what my every move is meant to do, and I always analyse my games and I do notice that my opening knowledge is always better than that of my opponent, it's often the middlegame where I flub up, so as the title suggests, I really don't want to "f" up. (Seriously!)

And again, to remind everyone, I'm supposed to be able to play this with the BLACK pieces, and this is themed, so we don't have any anti-Marshall lines to worry about.

EDIT: I also need help figuring out what to do if my opponent goes 9. d3 and declining the Marshall Attack as well, I played against him in 2+0 before and by the time I managed to get a Benko off of him he played the Declined line so I do think the 9. d3 is also a possibility.

[Topic title updated - DB]

The main line is now considered drawish.

Grandmasters nowadays play the Marshall to draw and the Berlin to win.
As white they avoid the Marshall with 9 a4, 9 h3, or 9 d3.

@tygxc

The problem with the Berlin Defence is that it's more of a defensive opening like Caro Kann and I really don't like either of those openings for this exact reason. I was hoping for some pointers on like, how to make sure I at least don't lose the game and I make sure to execute the Marshall Attack well enough. I still prefer to play calculated and theory heavy, obviously, but I'm more of an attacking-aggressive player and I can't relate to people that prefer to play "sound" or "solid".

Think of it like this. Most FIFA team coaches prefer to run the 6-3-1 Park-the-Bus formations just because it's what's popular (or there was a time when everybody did that just because that's what's popular at the time). I hate coaches with this type of mentality. If I were to be in charge of a FIFA team, the "safest" formation I would ever consider picking is a 4-0-6 where I have at least six strikers. I would much prefer stuff like either 2-0-8 or even 0-0-10. Even in the NFL, the common stigma is that Defence always wins games, and I'm fully convinced that such notion is bogus, and I wish there were an NFL team that actually went all-in on their offences for once.

Given the choice between the Marshall Attack and Berlin Defence I'd still pick the Marshall Attack because I'm just that type of player and even if it's not as "winning" I still prefer the counterattacking aggro playstyle. If I don't get to win, at least the game won't drag on for longer than it needs to and if I still execute it well enough, may I can still draw.

I don't know if the Anti-Marshall lines are applicable to this match because, again, my blackside game is themed, so it STARTS with the Marshall Attack already set up.

By drawing the Marshall Attack game, I still get to secure a Bullet Tiebreaker, so that's still not a bad outcome by any means.

If I absolutely have to avoid the Marshall Attack as the theme, the only other option I can think of is something like Benko or King's Indian Counterattack (I don't know why it's called King's Indian Defence even though it's supposed to be a counterattacking system).

There is another alternative I still have on the back of my head. I did get to play the Najdorf in an OTB game once, it didn't turn out very good, but that's only because I haven't studied it quite enough yet. You reckon it's not as difficult to grasp as the Marshall (again, assuming it'll be themed as such)?

@3

"You reckon it's not as difficult to grasp as the Marshall?"
++ Najdorf is even more difficult to grasp than the Marshall.

@tygxc

How would you rate the learning curve of the Kan Knight Variation Wing Attack vs the Marshall?

@5

The Marshall is sound, the Wing Atttack Kan Knight Variation of the Sicilian is dubious.

White has developed 2 pieces into play, black none. So white gets an attack. See this correspondence game.

@tygxc

1. Assuming I'm going to play the Marshall anyway, what are some major things I need to do to make sure I capitalise on the attack and/or neutralise the annoying rook? Do I try to bring all my pieces to the kingside or try to do something with the rooks?

2. When I was doing research about some other stuff I found that a lot of attacking-aggressive players also opt for the Stonewall Dutch line because hidden attacking ideas come up a little later and the middlegame tutorials on the stuff is already there. Is it a better idea to switch to that?

3. Levy Rozman says that the only Sicilian Defence people should try to play is the Hyper Accelerated Dragon transposed into a normal Dragon by playing Nf6 and other lines that align with the King's Indian Defence. How does that fare against the Marshall winrate wise?