Van Wely plays it, if I'm not mistaken.  One of the top Vans, anyway.

@ markovich who is playing the Marshall in top level?   
Thanks,
Zatara

a NIC Yb of some 4-5 years ago was about ...Bb4 and if I remember correctly it concluded it's not sufficient to equalize. I had a brief chat about this with the italian GM Godena who is massively prepared in the openings and who has played the line a few times and he agreed that it's worser than accepting the gambit (which of course requires a good knowledge!).

Markovich wrote on 08/12/09 at 14:37:51:


I gave this a punt yeterday, without really knowing the theory.
What can I say: I was in a 'funny' mood.
The game went 9.Ba5 b6 10.Bc3 f6.
Not critical moves by either side I discovered, but playable.
10.Qd6 for White seems most popular, and 10..Ne7 for Black more usual.
I found myself almost equalizing positionally (plus the extra pawn), but not quite. White (slightly stronger than me), kept up the pressure nicely. My game seemed to revolve around not falling for sacrificial tricks, while trying to swap off his active pieces. I would say the game was 'balanced' until I was over confident in a manouevre which turned out to be a horrendous oversite tactical. Drats!

I'm not sure I'm sharp enough to play this line (though it was just one mistake in this game). You need to be able to calculate and predict all sorts of attacks for the opponent in order to counteract them. It's difficult.

Chessvibes openings #6 was about this marshall.

Does somebody has some resources to recommend for studying the black side of this gambit ?

Thanks !

 

Black's practical task, with his lack of development and severe dark-square weaknesses, is quite difficult. But theoretically, Black's stock is rather high. I opine that Black's side of this gambit, well-prepared, is an excellent vehicle for taking the full point.  I am sure that if Schandorff thought that 4.e4 produced an advantage, he would have recommended it in his book, since that way of playing is much more in the spirit of his repertoire.

It would be a shame to toss that away with 4...Bb4, which may not even equalize.