French Defense

 

I have never in my life played the French Defense, which is the dullest of all

openings.  -  Wilhelm Steinitz                 

 

obviously steinitz hadn't seen wolfgang uhlmann's games, or those of morozevich. I don't know how anyone could call some those games with the french dull. a lot of them are just as wild as an open sicilian.

I use the french myself and have for decades now. I use it to give the sicilian(s) a rest .  

I play the French very well and it is my opening of choice as black against 1. e4.  It is solid and as long as you know the themes behind it you should have an equal or better position.  The "bad" light-squared bishop is only bad if you don't know how to play the French.

Below is a game that I played against a GM (my USCF rating is 1277).  It was on ICC and time control was 3 mins.  I was black and got into time trouble and made mistakes while he only had 5 seconds left.

http://blog.chess.com/dblackw2/my-game-against-a-grandmaster

Very interesting is too the variant attak Chatard-Alekhine (1.e4,e6  2.d4,d5  3.Nc3,Nf6  4.Bg5,Be7  5.e5,Nfd7  6.h4,c5  7.Bxe7,Qxe7  8.Nb5), that appears in Casablanca film: 

http://blog.chess.com/Pau/a-french-defense-from-casablanca

 

what made me switch to d4

equal or better?! thats a dubious comment.  Time didn't have anything to do with your loss(at a quick glance).  You seemed to be in deep trouble after nh4.  If nh6 then of course there is the possibility of trading off the knight and weakening ur pawn structure.  However, that seemed to be much better(relatively) than what u played in the game as that bishop becomes a large tactical target

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You could have an equal or better position.  You can either come out of the opening with an equal position or if your opponent doesn't know the French then you could come out with a better position.  I don't see where that is a dubious comment.  

And if you knew anything about the French then you would know that Nh4 is theory.  Which is why you put your bishop on e7, so that in the event of g4, then you play Nh4.  Even after Nh4, Nxh4, Bxh4, the position is still slightly better for black.  While white has tactical threats so does Black.  

Please, know the French before you start telling someone who has studied the French with an IM and had the GM tell me that I played it right except giving him the open file, that a certain move (again a move that is in theory) is wrong.  

I used to play the exchange against the French because I hated it so much. Then I turned the tables, and started playing the Tarrasch, since it's much less studied than the Classical or Winawer.

I recently decided to stop playing so many different openings and set myself the task of learning a few more thoroughly. During my search for a set response to 1. e4, I was fortunate enought to be loaned some of both Ari Ziegler's, and also Susan Polgar's video lessons on the French. I was sold! :B

On his DVD, Killer Stuff in the French Defense (Chessbase), IM Ari Ziegler lightly suggests it as an opening for old (or slow ) players, or players who simply don't have the time to constantly investigate new lines. Perfect! I have enough to study already. @_@;

In essence, the French is a stable opening where one doesn't have to focus on theory, but can follow general understanding. Also, the French Defense is not so dependent on tactics (like say, the Sicilian) and is more about strategy, where to put the pieces, understanding some basic positional ideas, doing some planning. There will be calculation still, yes, but much less than with other variations.

Does this help?

Do please consider that it is also possible to beat strong tactical players with the French Defense. >:-)

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 Lmao....So what u are actually saying is that with the french u can either be equal, lost(like you did),slightly worst(like most black openings will give eg if white knows what he is doing then he is slightly better.) or better(like you didn't show).  Its pretty amazing that with your vast knowledge (and my glance) that you got crushed with the theoretically best move.  What does that tell you?  That you need to actually learn some basics before you work on "gm and im" analysis of the opening.  Then maybe you could break a rating of 1500 and actually have a civil and productive discussion with me. 

 

So lets start over.  Why is it better for black?  You stimply state black is better.  But, have no reason for it. 

The f6 push looked obviuosly poor to me instinctively(and no I don't know what the theory of this line is atm because I don't play it.  But, knowing the moves doesn't mean u know the theory my friend).  Is this "theory"? 

Ps. Don't get angry because I disagree with your evaluation of your favorite opening and after looking at the position a little closer the best I could find would probably be called dynamic equality

A good way to get a reversed french is to either start with 1.a3(here you are essentially saying "pass".) or 1.e3 followed by 2.a3.  Then you effectively switched colors if your opponent goes on to play 1...e5. The useful a3 move can come in handy, for instance, your knight on c3 won't get pinned by a Bb4 move. And you can cut out any lines with the Bb4+ in all your future calculations. 

This is how I bring my black repertoire to the white side and have had considerable success with it. I notice the extra tempo doesn't always translate into advantage with a reversed black opening. 

I am guessing db is STILL trying to find an advantage for black lmao

i only transpose to the french when its favorable, and when its favorable its indestructable

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 Obviously when something is favorable it is indestructible.  Hello house of building that you live in, how may I be redundant?

Whenever I played against the French as White, I've always found myself to create a big massive pawn chain with e5-d4-c3-b2, and play a King's Indian Attack. I've rarely been troubled by people playing French against me.

However, I've been looking for a Black response against e4. Sicilian is too theoretical for me to learn every single line - I prefer to rely on fundamentals. Playing with a friend OTB showed me that I've been playing it wrong for ages, when I've been relying on udnerstanding rather than theory. I didn't want to play e5 too - it's always been like a rollercoaster out of a Final Destination movie playing 1...e5 as Black. To me anyway. I had  to turn to French and try it.

 

The French is a very counter-attacking opening, as people have said. Breaks on c5 and f6 (haven't done f6 that much) are essential to generate the counterplay, especially c5. One thing to remember is to NEVER give your opponent enough time to restrict you with his pawns. If you can not launch counter-attacks, open lines against him, break his pawn chain, then from my limited experience, the French will never be for you. It's like a bonfire - it will burn for a long time, but will only remain so as long as you keep feeding it.

The French Defense chess opening is good for surprise value. The main reason why chess GMs do not use it regularly because black gets a passive middlegame. Also i would not trust a chess opening having anything to do with France. Everyone knows that chess is a military game. Looking back at history, the French military was really passive For example, in World war One, France was conquered by their neighbor Germany. Did they learn their lesson? Of course not. A couple years later France was conquered again in World War 2. Who took them over? Not other then the same country Germany. It was up to the Amencans to save their French croissants from the Germans. Against 1. e4, I would suggest playing a more sophisticated chess opening that is American made. It won't let you down like the French. Maybe something like the Marshall Attack variation of the Ruy lopez. It has been shown to equalize easily. Magnus just played it against Karjackin. There are a lot of things that France has "stolen" but claimed to be their own. Such as the Mona Lisa, the French bulldog, French toast, French horn, French letters, French Fries, French press, French dressing, French manicure, French braid, etc. I would not be surprised if France "stole" this chess opening as well when in fact, it really had a "Made in Taiwan" label and some French dude ripped it off. Here is an oxymoron: French Army

Good heavens!  It's true that the French don't have a reputation for military prowess nowadays, but consider:

• first of all, France was most certainly NOT conquered in WWI
• Europe was saved at the battle of Tours by Charles Martel at the head of a French army
• three names: Charlemagne, Louix XIV, and Napoleon!
• France maintained for over three hundred years a large colonial empire spanning the globe
• the last successful invasion of England took place from France, when the Norman William and his soldiers subjugated and pacified Saxon England

Quite aside from the military angle, the claim about terms with "French" in them is completely wrong.  English speakers may eat "french fries," but the the French don't. They eat "pommes frites" (when they're not eating more healthily than the rest of us). They don't eat "French toast," either, though they may eat "pain perdu."  "French fries" and "French toast" are not French terms; they are English terms.  

The term "French defense" was a name given to the opening by other Europeans after the French team used the moves of this opening in a match against the English.  

Finally, to be consistent, if one doesn't like the Mona Lisa residing in France, then to be consistent, one has to empty nearly all the world's great museums, including many in the US.   But at least da Vinci did take the painting with him to France of his own free will when he moved there, and no one, French or otherwise, says the Mona Lisa was a work of French art.

Ari Ziegler: The French Defense. Best starting point without a doubt!

In general you have to keep in mind that in the Advance, the Tarrasch or the Classical, you want White to play e5, so you can attack his center with moves like c5, Nc6, f6 and sometimes Qb6. That's why you often play Nf6, so you bait White into commiting to e5. If you got cramped positions, you most likely gave white too much of a free hand in the centre.

If I'm not mistaken Jobava had some success with the French earlier this year.