Should I learn the French Defense.

öğren aq öğren her boku öğrenin geçin herkesi dünyayı yenin

Hi

Same question

French Defense is hard to play because Bc8 is shut in.

I think we don't have to learn an opening just because we hear about it from someone or on some site.

At least at our level, what I've come to understand is that the only thing that matters is playing an opening that we feel comfortable with. I've always played 1...,e5 in response to 1.e4, but I've always suffered with Black. Later I tried to change and I tried the French, and I immediately felt better. Now I always play French and only that. It keeps my king safer from attacks while also allowing me to counterattack later, which I could hardly do before, playing 1...,e5. It's not that French is better than others, it's just that in my case it suits me better.

Since we are around the same rating and it suits you well, I might try it if you have had success with the French.

yes

i think yes

I dont like the french opening. Its too defensive and passive. If white takes the d5 pawn, it leads to a really boring pawn structure. If white goes advanced, the Bc8 gets boxed in. I prefer c6 and if I was willing to learn the ****ton of theory I would also consider c5.

But you do you. Its a perfectly fine opening. Just too balanced and draw-ish for my taste.

I think the French is great for beginners. It has main lines that are both long yet common to get and also easy to remember because the plans are so straight forward for black. Also a lot of white's will just play the advanced and quickly lose d4 then the game so it's also quite effective at the low to medium levels.

There's a way I play the exchange starting with Bd6 that almost always becomes wildly explosive. You've got to know a ton of ideas, but when you do it's all land mines for white. The pawn storm for white is always too slow, and when it finally does reach the king, you just slide your king back to the middle as strange as it sounds and all those tempos of white are suddenly wasted while black's pawn storm is unstoppable and supported by both knights (unless you snap up a bishop), both rooks, and both bishops (except for lines with Bg5, f6, Bh4 which is even better for black's plan).

I really wonder what you mean by "learn it."

Try. Just understand the basic ideas and play a few games to see if there's a feeling. It all depends on this, i.e. whether what comes after opening suits your playstyle.

The reason why the French fits me like a glove is that I never suffer the opponent's game in the early phase, and I have time to prepare to get into the middlegame the way I prefer. I mean:

1) White can't make immediate, dangerous attacks ; 2) I always manage to fight for the initiative ( later ); 3) if White takes on d5 he doesn't solve anything, and condemns himself to a balanced game with good prospects for the endgame ( I like the endgame ); 4) The bishop Bc8 remains closed at the beginning, but this is a false problem: it comes into action in a second phase, when Black expands, the game opens up or pawns are changed.

You just have to figure out if this way of playing is congenial to you or not. If not, don't waste time insisting on it : try another opening, or continue with the ones you already play. 

If you’re starting out in the French Defense, the first 2 variations to become familiar with at the intermediate level are the exchange variation and the advanced variation because those are the “bail out” lines you are most likely to encounter. You’ll also see the Burn and Rubinstein variations from time to time.

You will hear alot of people saying openings don't matter.

I think they do matter, just don't switch them up too much or have false hopes that they will impact results.

Around 1000-1200 is a great time to learn some basic openings, and you can stick with them with no change until you are 2000.

Which openings dosen't matter, French, Sicilian, e5, Caro, Scandi, Phildor, Modern etc... all are fine

Your aware of it now.. consider it learnt

As you grow and improve if you find yourself struggling when you identify your up against the French, then you can go and research parts that have you concerned.. other than that. The reason content creators make opening vids is because opening vids get the views. Know good opening fundamentals, be aware of openings, their strategies and plans.

I tried French for a while as an alternative to Sicilian. Never really liked it very much, and have now reverted to the latter.

As in study opening theory of it.