The Bg4 From's Gambit: Marshall variation
After spending some time revisiting From's Gambit, I thought I'd be prepared to play 1 f4 against my roommate. However, instead of playing either the Lasker variation (4…g5) or the Mestel variation (4…Nf6), Greg played 4…Bg4! Faced with this suprise variation and given Greg's strength, I crumbled in 17 moves (download this embarrassing game in PGN format).
Since Taylor doesn't mention this variation in Bird's Opening, I decided to do a little research. ChessGames.com only has seven 4…Bg4 games in their database: two wins for White, four wins for Black and one draw.
So I plugged the position into Fritz 9, ran infinite analysis and it gave the following two lines:
Unclear, but with a 0.38 advantage to White: 5 e3 Qd7 6 Be2 Nc6 7 0-0 0-0-0 8 Na3 Nf6 9 Nc4 Be7 10 d3
Equal, with a 0.24 advantage to White: 5 e4 Nf6 6 d4 Nxe4 7 Bd3 Nf6 8 Qe2+ Be7 9 0-0 0-0 10 Nbd2 Re8
There is only one 5 e3 game at ChessGames.com, Albin vs Marshall, and Marshall wins (though they don't play the line recommended by Fritz). Since Marshall is the only player represented twice in ChessGames.com collection of seven 4…Bg4 games, I've decided to call this the Marshall variation.
The move that I want to play, 5 g3, Fritz sees as equal, but with a very slight edge to Black. So for now, 5 e3 seems to best way to respond.
Clearly, more research remains to be done on this line…
Related tags: birds, froms-gambit, gambits
August 24th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
we should contact timothy taylor and ask his opinion of this move. Nice post- do we have explanations of the lasker and mestel variations in our other From’s posts? if not- we should post that material and give a complete view of From’s.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:53 am
Good point re contacting Timothy Taylor and explanations of the Lasker and Mestel variations. I started talking about the Lasker varation in this post, but haven't addressed the Mestel yet.
October 19th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Greetings!
I think that 4.-Bg4 is a good alternative for Black: it is natural development move and much less charted than the alternatives 4.-g5 and 4.-Nf6. The best analysis which I have found can be located at french Bird-site: http://ouverturebird.free.fr/fichetechnique10.php
here are some possibilities:
a) 5.g3 Qe7 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.d4 0-0-0 8.c3 is unclear, after 5.g3 Black can also try to attack directly with 5.-h5!?
here is a quick knock-out with that move:
5.-h5 6.Bg2 7.c3 h4 8.Nxh4 Rxh4! 9.gxh4 Qxh4+ 10.Kf1 Qf6+ 11.Ke1 0-0-0 12.Qb3 Re8 13.e3 Qh4+ 14.Kf1 Re6 and White resigned in the game Zeh - Elm, Germany 1963.
b) 5.e3 Nf6 6.d4 0-0 7.Be2 Ne4 8.Nbd2 with “clear plus for White”, but I think that 6.-0-0 is better than allowing 6.-Nc6 7.Bb5!
c) 5.e4 Qe7! 6.Qe2 Nc6 7.c3 Nf6 8.d3 0-0-0 9.Bg5 Rhe8
10.Nbd2 h6 11.Bh4? (11.Bxf6) 11.- Qe6 12.h3 g5 13.Bf2 Bh5 14.g4 Bg6 15.Kd1 Bf4 16.Kc2 Rxd3!! 17.Qxd3 Nxe4 18.Nxe4 Bxe4 19.Re1 Nb4+ and White resigned in the correspondence game Zastrow - Löchner (Thematurnier 1961/1962) because of 20.cxb4 Qc4+ .
The 5.e4 could be considered as White´s best try against 4.-Bg4, but as the game above shows, there are some difficulties for White. As a general rule I have learned that if You play in From´s Gambit the move Bg5 to pin the Black Knight at f6, then after -h6 You should exchange with Bxf6 instead of retreating with Bh4.
A. Jalas
October 26th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Thanks for the insight, Aaro!