Nc3 in the French, and its relation to Bf4/Nf4

Hi all,

I’m reading Mastering the French by Neil McDonald and Andrew Harley, and I came across this idea:




The text states that in this structure, white’s Nc3 is good for several reasons:

- it keeps an eye on d5, thus discouraging black’s …e5
- it threatens Nb5, when it might fork black’s Qc7 and Bd6
- it prepares Nc3-a4-c5, when the knight is well-posted and attacks e6
- it could threaten Nxd7/Nxc8 (via Nc3-a4-b6, if black has played ...a6 in response to white playing a3 and b4) in the future if black’s LSB is posted there, winning white the two bishops and indirectly weakening e6 

But at the end of this section, the authors state: “The only problem with Nc3 is that it can’t really be combined with the other effective plans of Bf4 [threatening to trade black’s DSB] or Nf4 [hitting d5 and e6]. It’s usually a question of ‘either … or’.”

Why is that? Why would white’s Nc3 plans preclude these ideas of Bf4 or Nf4? Is it because the two plans end up being redundant (Bf4 hits d6 and c7, while Nc3-b5 also hits d6 and c7, but you don’t need two pieces to do that same work)? Is it because the two plans don’t coordinate well (Nf4 hits d5 and e6, but Nc3 is looking to put pressure on the queenside)? Is it because white usually will end up with not enough defenders for d4 if white plays both Nc3 and either Bf4 or Nf4?

I’d offer more context from the book, but after the quoted paragraph, the authors simply move on to the next topic. No further follow-up is offered.

Thanks!

I'm not an expert on the french, but you can private message the user @thrillerfan, who seems to enjoy looking at french stuff. You will get a nice long response from him.

I am mainly a Tarrasch player but I have played a lot of 3 Nc3 in the past so I know what I'm talking about. in the Nd2 Tarrasch the Knight is less active than on c3 but the c-pawn is mobile which means you can support your center with c3 and Black can't add significant pressure on it so you have time to play the manuevers Ne2-Nf3 and Bf4 if Black allows this of course. in the Nc3 French you bank on an active Knight and free c1 Bishop (which will end up being bad anyways) at the cost of a weaker center so play gets more sharp and direct and I guess White just doesn't have the time to manuever as much as he wants. Also in the Steinitz French you play f4 (since c3 is impossible) blocking the path for Bf4 and in the Classical french I used to play the variations where you trade Dark squared Bishops with 4 Bg5 and 6 Bxe7 followed by f4

The knight Nc3 comes from e2.
Either it can go to c3 as in the diagram,
or it can go to f4,
or it can stay on e2 to support Bf4.

Got it, makes sense now. Thanks!