Marshall gambit and Stockfish 10 evaluations

The mighty Marshall gambit. Black is still a pawn down yet he has compensation. A position taken from a correspondence game of mine.

And now for the record: SF10 assesses this concrete position „-8“ or more at depth 40. Black is a Queen up virtually despite White being a pawn up and having the move.

lichess.org/editor/6k1/5p2/p2b2qp/1pNp4/1P1Pb1p1/2P1PrP1/P2B3P/R3Q1K1 w - - 0 29

Out of curiosity, how long did it take for you to compute to depth 40?

Say, half an hour. Core i7, 8GB, a run-of-the-mill notebook.

Last night I analysed another position up to depth 54 or 55 within approx. 7 hours.

Well... Ra1 does not play, that is -5 and Bd2 does not play, that is -3, -5 -3 = -8

Put the white Queen to e2 and it‘s -4. :D

Details matter. Same position with subtle differences can be +2. Chess is concrete after all.

I was expecting an interesting position from the opening theory perspective (Marshall Gambit).

This is cleary a -+ position. White can barely move.

Here it is. A classsical correspondence game, engine assisted, with databases, the full monty.

If you‘re looking for some ideas: the innocuous 19. ... h6!! occurred in 8 corr. games, White gained only one draw... the Marshall gambit is very much alive:

Current position, Sarg0n Black:

Now that's great!

19... h6! is a nice waiting move revealing that White is almost at zugzwang.

White should have deviated earlier (17. Nd2?!).

17 Bc2 has a better reputation. Anyway, there must be some reason why the top grandmasters avoid the Marshall Gambit as white nowadays deviating as early as move 8.

Fun fact: I saw correspondence games were White took the pawn and immediately steered towards a draw respectively offered it right away.

It is very much alive, I wouldn't dare to take the pawn.