Winawer 4 ...c5

Nobody familiar with the french would play 5. cxd4

T he line is well known but usually reserved for blitz or skittles play. I think the stats given above pretty well show why. But just to add ... look at blacks position from a strategic perspective. Often in the mainline Winawer, such as the poisoned pawn lines, BL will castle Queenside. But here with WT having an open a-file with Rook already on it, and a b-pawn to ram into the position should BL o-o-o ... well he probably doesnt want to o-o-o then~!

However, the alternative of o-o simply plays into WT's natural field of play, since that is where WT has his space advantage, has pieces that will aim at the ...o-o, and can play vs ...0-0 with pieces andor pawns.

So those of you who really know the French, might point out; "Okay, but is it not true that BL can often find a home for his King on d7 or d8 in the French that is quite secure!? Yes ... but that is lines where the center is fixed and closed, and definately not so here where WT has two c-pawns with which to attack the d5 pawn and probably open the d-file. Additionally he has a great piece outpost at d4 until he does open the d. Plus an advanceable f-pawn to lever vs e6.

With the BL K-position so questionable, we might ask ... well can he not "get to WT" first? To WT's King if it is o-o for EG? Well ... does it LOOK like BL can??  :) I have some extreme doubts on that one.

Finally add to it that WT can Choose his field of play. Q-side, K-side, or Center. A BL defender will generally not want to grant such generous options to the WT player. This point alone would cast a shadow on seeing it in GM play. But the Question of King safety for BL will "turn out the lights" on that totally, imo.

I have been playing both sides of the winawer french for more than a decade, though the last few years I play sicilians more. For winawer fans looking for something different for black after 5 a3 I would recommend 5....Ba5 , it scores a better % than 5....cxd4 AND the mainline with 5....Bxc3+ !

Thanks for all the smart guys' comments. To the last person (NM Reb), I almost think I have played it once (Ba5) and I think I won that game. I should try it again sometime and see how it goes.

That was a really good thematic explanation. I completely agree with you.

The end result was a draw. :(  It took almost two months!

Good Morning,

Well, it is where I am right now anyway.  This line was still heavy duty when I was learning the game long ago. (1950's)  It's problem, especially on the master levels, is the concession of bishop for knight with long open lines all over the board.  It was popular more because of its main advocate Mikhail Botvinnik, the world champion when it came into fashion, than necessarily its soundness.  As I recall the 7Qg4 [it was Q-KN4 back then] became the most effective way. 

But, on the level most of us play at, what it has going for it, is that it may get very complex and calls for very sharp play by white.  That's while black knows where he's going. That's not a burden to discount lightly.  And Botvinnik enjoyed considerable success with it.  See if you can find any writing on his games. (Might have to learn to translate from descriptive notation into algebraic though)  It doesn't get used on the master level much because white's best line appears to be essentially a gambit while a pawn down but black gets into great tempo difficulty if he goes picking pawns in that garden.  But, on most of our levels here.  Play it and have fun.

JPF917,

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I had a suspicion that it may have been played before on some level, since on the surface it does look sound, and the results are interesting. Next time, I'll try Ba5 though. (Fortunately, I also know the older notation, since I have a chess encyclopedia that's about 30 years old.)

Botvinnik used both Ba5 and Bxc3, not cxd4

I find it more solid to play 5...Ba5 - Retreat Armenian Line. It was Tigran Petrossian's favourite opening and guess what - he earned the nick Iron Tigran - Impossbile to beat... At least it is better than the above mentioned line.

Reb is right that 7.bc isn't necessary. Then white can get a good game.