"Although not always successful, there are no more interesting chess masters to be found at the present day than the American champion, Frank J. Marshall, and the Franco-Polish expert, D. Janowski. A careful perusal of the games they played at Biarritz will show that these men do not believe in waiting tactics. Neither of them expects his adversary to beat himself, but they go hammer and tongs at each other and do not mind the consequences. Their object seems solely to be to create complicated and exciting positions and thus make it worth their while to fight. "New York Sun", October 6, 1912, commenting on the fourth Janowski - Marshall match

Match 1: New York, 1899

A match rivalry lasting almost two decades started immediately after the conclusion of Janowski - Showalter, 1st Match (1898), as David Janowski began a scheduled series of five games for a nominal stake with Frank Marshall, champion of the Brooklyn Chess Club. The player who first scored three points would win the match.

         1 2 3 4
Janowski 0 1 1 1 3.0
Marshall 1 0 0 0 1.0

The match was played January 18-21, 1899. Only four games were contested, as Janowski swept the last three after Marshall pulled off a surprising victory in the first game. The third game was played at the Brooklyn Chess Club, the others at the Manhattan Chess Club.

Source: "American Chess Magazine", February 1899, p.370.

*****

Match 2: Paris, 1905

Following the tournament at Cambridge Springs in 1904, where Marshall came out the victor and Janowski tied for 2nd, there was much interest in arranging a match between the two--not just for its intrisic interest, but as a possible precursor to a challenge to Lasker. This came about in Paris from January 24-March 7, 1905.

The conditions of the match were published in the British Chess Magazine for February, 1905:

<"The stakes of 500 dollars each side to be deposited with the President of the Philidor Chess Club. The victory to be decided by attaining the score of eight won games, drawn games not counting. If the scores should be seven each, the match will be prolonged until one of the players wins ten games, which will then be decisive. If the scores come to nine each, the match will be declared drawn.

"Three games will be played each week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., and from 8:30 p.m. till midnight. Unfinished games will be resumed the next day at the same hours. The time limit is 30 moves in the first two hours, and 15 moves per hour afterwards.">

Later, a clause was added allowing each player one postponement, Marshall taking advantage of this on February 4th due to a severe cold.

The match was played in a small room at the Philidor Club of Paris to which only the players, their witnesses, and the director were admitted. Moves were displayed on a large board in the lobby for the public's behalf.

The play saw Marshall twice pop out to two-point leads, and Janowski come back to tie the score. Then Marshall popped out to a three-point lead, which soon settled the matter.

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 
Marshall 1 1 0 = 0 = 1 1 0  0  1  =  1  1  =  0  1 10.0
Janowski 0 0 1 = 1 = 0 0 1  1  0  =  0  0  =  1  0  7.0

An additional game, played a week after the match ended for a separate stake of 500 francs (300 to the winner, 200 to the loser), was provided by Janowski's patron, Leo Nardus. This game, won by Janowski, is sometimes included as part of this match. See Janowski vs Marshall, 1905.

Janowski accepted the defeat with his usual good grace:

<"Mr. F. J. Marshall, Paris

DEAR Sir:--I consider that the result of our match far from proving our respective abilities. On the contrary, as in the great majority of games I allowed the 'win or draw' to escape me, I am persuaded that normally I should have won very easily.

"I therefore challenge you to a return match on the following conditions:--The first winner of ten games to be declared the winner, draws not to count. I also offer you the advantage of four points: that is to say, my first four wins are not to count. Stakes are not to exceed 5,000 francs. JANOWSKI">

Foolhardy, to say the least. When the rematch was finally played three years later, Janowski won by only three points.

Sources:
"American Chess Bulletin", February 1905, p. 24-26.

"British Chess Magazine", February 1905, p.59 ; March 1905, p. 105.

"Marshall v. Janowski : the games of the Paris match" with notes by F.J. Marshall; reprinted from the Manchester Guardian. Kegan Paul, 1905. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=rZ...

*****

Match 3: Suresnes, 1908

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Janowski 1 1 = 1 = 0 0 = 1  1 6.5
Marshall 0 0 = 0 = 1 1 = 0  0 3.5

What had been a much anticipated rematch turned out to be a private affair, held at the house of noted chess patron Leo Nardus in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes from January 17-February 4, 1908. Marshall was never able to recover from losing the first two games, and Janowski scored the match by 5 games to 2, with 3 drawn.

Source: "American Chess Bulletin", March 1908, p.48; June 1908, p. 118.

*****

Match 4: Biarritz, 1912

Well, maybe it was. The "New York Sun" of September 22, 1912, has this interesting passage:

"When writing to a friend in this city Marshall distinctly states this this is not a match at all, that at the request of M. Nardus of Paris the masters were asked to play a series of ten exhibition games, the Parisian Maecenas paying a fee for each game. Both players consider these games good practice for the forthcoming New York-Havana Congress."

This sounds much like the 1908 match, a series of ten games played at the home of Nardus. This time he sweetened the pot a bit with a trip to the resort of Biarritz in southwestern France.

All the game dates have not yet been found. Reports in the New York papers indicate the series was played in the last three weeks of September, but other sources indicate the match started September 2 and was played at a rapid pace. Apparently, the reports may have been delayed due to the remote location.

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Marshall = 0 1 1 1 = 1 1 0  1 7.0
Janowski = 1 0 0 0 = 0 0 1  0 3.0

Janowski started well, but Marshall turned the tables with his famous brilliancy in game 3 and cruised to victory. You know, the

click for larger view

<12...Qxf3!!> game. Everyone knows that was from their 1912 "Match", so I'm not about to change history and call it an "Exhibition". Marshall notwithstanding.

Sources: "New York Sun", September 15 and 22, 1912;

*****

Match 5: New York, 1916

The fifth and final match between Marshall and Janowski was held from June 1-15 at the Manhattan Chess Club in New York City. Originally scheduled to be ten games, it ended when Marshall clinched victory with a draw in the eighth game.

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Marshall 1 = = 1 0 1 1 = 5.5
Janowski 0 = = 0 1 0 0 = 3.5

In all, Janowski and Marshall played 49 match games. Marshall won three of the matches, with a total score of +21 -16 =17 (55.1%).

Source: "American Chess Bulletin", July-August 1916, p.144-148.