John Littlewood (chess player) John Littlewood (chess player) John Eric Littlewood (25 May 1931 – 16 September 2009) was for many years a leading British chess player and took the title of national senior champion in 2006. Perhaps his most famous game was the one he lost against the world champion Mikhail Botvinnik at the Hastings International Chess Congress 1961/2. Littlewood launched a fearsome attack which Botvinnik was able to defend only by means of a tactical finesse. Botvinnik chose to include the game in his autobiographical "Best Games 1947–1970". John Littlewood was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire in 1931, the fourth of his eleven
Frank Marshall (chess player) attacking chances and scores close to 50 percent with the Marshall, an excellent result for Black. The Marshall Attack is so respected that many top players often choose to avoid it with "Anti-Marshall" variations such as 8.a4. During his early career, Marshall was primarily known as a colorful tactical player in the Morphy tradition. When playing the White pieces, he normally used e4 openings such as King's Gambit and Vienna Game. As Black, he favored the Albin Countergambit as an answer to the Queen's Gambit. By the 1920s, most elite chess players had switched entirely to d4 openings and a