Frank Marshall (August 10, 1877 - November 9, 1944), was United States Chess Champion from 1909-1936, and was one of the world's strongest players in the early part of the 20th century.
He was born in New York City, and lived in Montreal, Canada from ages 8-19. He begain playing chess at the age of 10 and by 1890 was one of the leading players in Montreal.
He won the U.S. chess championship in 1904, but did not accept the title because the current U.S. champion, Harry Pillsbury did not compete.
In 1906, Pillsbury died and Marshall again refused the championship title until he won it in competation in 1909.
In 1907 he played world champion Emanuel Lasker and lost 8 games, winning none and drawing 7. They played their match in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Chicago, and Memphis from January 26 to April, 1907.
At St. Petersburg in 1914, he became one of the 5 original "grandmasters" of chess. The other four were Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, and Tarrasch.
In 1915 he opened the Marshall Chess Club in New York.
In 1936 he relinquished his US championship title to Samuel Reshevsky who won a tournament for the US championship, sponsored by the National Chess Federation, and held in New York. The Marshall Chess Club donated the trophy. Marshall held the the US title for 29 years.