French Burn Bxf6

Hey hey, first time posting. Recently been playing around with the french defense and was interested in the burn variation (Bxf6 and not gxf6).  How does this hold up for black? It doesn't seem as cramped as some other french positions, and the bishop pair in an unblocked position should be worth something.   I've only seen Bareev playing these types of positions at a high level though. 

Hmm, no takers yet... I'm looking for something more intuitive and less theory intensive than the winawer that still offers decent chances to outplay white.  I've played a couple quick games with it and have good results so far.

imo the French Burn  is quite good (with either recapture) in fact its the reason I think 4.e5 is more dangerous 

I had good results with it, too. If I returned to the French I would play that variation often. Give it a try.

Glad to hear it. It doesn't have that thematic french "feel" to it, maybe that's why it's not more popular.

Nah!  It's not that.  I play the Winawer or 3...Nf6 for a win, and the Rubinstein if I need a draw (in a final round usually).  I do not see the Rubinstein as a viable answer in a must win situation, and while the Burn is SLIGHTLY different, I do not see the inclusion of ...Nf6 and Bg5 as a detriment to White compared taking on move 3, so why give him the opportunity at the Steinitz?

It will always be Winawer or McCutchen/Classical/Steinitz if I am playing for a win and Rubinstein if I am after a draw against 3.Nc3, never the Burn.

gxf6 offers much more imbalances and is much more fun, I recommend you play it, otherwise, it is your choice at the end, but just a suggestion

Thanks for the perspective. I'm getting good results atm with the burn so I'll hang onto that for now. If I were to switch to the winawer, is there a good alternative to the poisoned pawn? I played 4.b6 a couple times just for kicks and was surprised when I wasn't blown off the board. 

If you are talking to me I did not mean the Winawer, I meant the same Burn Variation, but with gxf6 instead of Bxf6, it offer a lot of imbalances and fun games

Sorry, that was for ThrillerFan.  I'll check that out as well though. I'm assuming you play the a6 line? 

Yes a6 except if you are still talking with @ThrillerFan lol:

Lol sorry @chamo2074 still getting used to forums.  It looks interesting though.  I guess whites bishop will end up on g3 (can't see a reason to get kicked to b3) and blacks pieces have reasonable squares.  Does black typically castle in these games? I could see the black king on e7. Otherwise it'd take 3 moves to get your rook onthe g file.

There is a Queenside castling plan for black here, clearing the  queenside pieces, and at the same time trying to control the light squares, like a6,b5, Bb7, Nd7-b6,f5 Qd7 or d5. here is the move order if white allows it:

ofc white will not allow this, as black achieved all of his plans, the main line is c4, avoiding any b5 ideas:

but there is a rule to remember, whenever white plays c4 we castle kinsgside:

and this position is likely to happen.

Now a few possibilities after f5, which occurs in most variations:

If Nc3 is played, now the c-pawn is blocked, and the d-pawns is temporarily isolated, nothing to be afraid of

If Nb3 is played, we continue our plan

If Nc5 is played the endgame is really promising, as white will double the pawns, play Ke2 challenge the open file with Rd1 if there is a white rook on d1, if no Nd7 works, attacking the doubled pawns immediately.

There is a pawn sacrifice that leads to an endgame with white having tripled pawns I can't remember the line if I do I will tell you

Actually apologies in diagram 2, we have an interesting pawn sac:

i really cannot remember the exact line but it is smth like that

@chamo2074 in the kosteniuk line is a4 a serious threat? Right now everything is fine but it looks like a race to peel open each other’s king.

not sure what you mean to be honest

Sorry, I was talking about your first diagram where black castles long but played a6 b5. He has control over the a4 square and his king seems fairly secure atm. If white left his rook on a1 or repositions his bishop to play b3 and either a4 or c4 though? Maybe it’s too slow for white since black already has the long diagonal, g file and the f/h pawns to rip open the white king?

oh oh a4 looks nice, but the thing is that everything is defended, all the pieces are surrounding the king and bxa4 comes with tempo on the bishop, so I would recommend check it with engine cz I am not sure, but thats what I think

@chamo2074 I'll give this a try. Thanks for the suggestion

Welcome! But note that if you are usually a positional player, and won't feel comfourtable in imbalanced positions, don't play this line, Bxf6 is also good. Otherwise, this line is much more fun and I hope that you like this type of positions, as it will win you some beautiful games