French Defence

Hello,

Has anyone ever tried 3)Bb5 against the french defence or come across any game with 3) Bb5?  Is it a good line for white to take?

I think black could play Bd7 offering to exchange bishops. Developing the white-squared bishop is a major challenge for black in the french defence because it is locked in by the pawns on e6 and d5. Therefore, this exchange would be favourable for black.

There are no games found with 3  Bb5 against the French in the game explorer (chess.com's database for nonpremium readers).  This is just off the top of my head, mind you, I haven't plugged the position into an engine, but doesn't  3  .....c6 work just fine?  I accept my temporary light square bishop awkwardness, but your bishop  now has to move a second time in the opening.  That usually is a violation of principle that you'll pay for.  I like Corum's suggestion to blow it open with Bd7 even better actually....

Corum/Baddogno - Thanks for your inputs.  My quetsion is would exchaaging light sqaured bishop put white at a disadvantage? 

If we continue with 3...bd7  4)Bxd7 NXd7 or Qxd7. Would either of these  moves undermine the french's idea of mounting pressure on white's d4 sqaure.

Even with C6...while i agree that white's bishop will have to move twice balck's Knight will not be able to occupy c6 square and exert pressure on white's center. 

So will Bb5 actually undermine the central idea of french defence and hence worth pursuing?

When white plays Bb5 in the French, it's almost always a sign that player is inexperienced in the French. Black's main problem in most French lines is what to do with the light-squared Bishop, and White is offering to trade it off on move 3.

White's light squared Bishop is very useful in attacking the king side. It really belongs on d3 most of the time, but tactics don't often allow it to reach such an optimal square. So White usually settles for Be2. That preserves the B and allows it to influence the play on the king-side.

Here's another line with Bb5, and it's still a mistake.

answer whited out:

6...cxd 7.cxd 8.Nxe5!

EDIT: yes Escapest_Pawn is probably right, should be better to take immediately. I didn't want to leave white with a pawn on e5 but now that I think about it white should exchange bishops, not taking the knight.

SmyslovFan, you make several good points and make them well.

I do not play the french, although I find playing against it to be a "boney fish".  Black's problems are his white-square bishop and often, how to develop his kingside knight. White has free kingside play and should avail himself of it.  For those who haven't solved your problem: (solution whited out, run curser over it)

6...Nxe5 not only wins pawn, but solves both black's problems above.

black should immediately 6. ....a6 tho kick away the light square bishop which is white's strong bishop who should not have in my opinion made the move.....(i mean a6 after the move order smyslovfan indicated)

there is a time where a Bb5 is good though:

Plutonia

at first I thought your line was a small improvement to mine, but if (whited out)

7BxNc6   I think black's advantage is less.

Yes you're right!

I didn't consider that white can realize his mistake at the last second, so we surely shouldn't give him the chance to save himself.

At the end of your line (whited out) black's lsB will be a pain, but white could play Nb1-c6-e2 and castle, and black won't have good ways to pressurize white's strong centre.

Well done, Escapist_Pawn!

White loses a pawn with bishop b5 in the advance variation like in SmyslovFan's diagram after Nxe5.

Thanks all for your reply. 

Plutonia how do i see your answer which is whited out?

Melvin, the potential of ba6 is present, so white plays bb5+ preventing a possible LSB TRADE OUTRIGHT.

Amazingly there are 25 games on my database with the horrible 3 Bb5+...

Ok I made a mistake, I got confused with the variations. This tactical pattern is in the normal French where white doesn't have Qa5+ available.

melvin, please, Bb5+ may not be the best move in the position in any case, i was just saying its a positional idea that white should consider

Nope, there's no other shoe. I was just surprised it had been played at all in any games that made it onto Chessbase.

Yeah I think it only works if the bishop can get to b3 or something.