I Love the French Defence!

[Zwischenzug]

Hi. These two games I just played online (around 30 min per game). The moves might not be very deep and probably full of mistakes but I did enjoy these games. I normally play the Scandinavian with black but sometimes it transposes to the French Defense.

Game 1:

(213) ALB36 (1586) - Zwichenzug (1578) [b]C02]
Rated game, 15m + 1s Café, 26.10.2006

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Game 2:

(216) Ludomada (1724) - Zwichenzug (1571) [b]C02]
Rated game, 30m + 1s Café, 26.10.2006

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[Kevin Bonham]

The title of this thread is of course music to my ears since I have played the French with black at every single opportunity in rated games now going back 20 years!

Whan playing the French, always look for opportunities to overload the white centre. In game 1, 9...Bxg5 forces the knight away from its defence of the d-pawn and therefore wins a pawn! Your 0-0-0 was rather risky and white could have won a pawn on move 16. Move 19 again White could win a pawn (h7) and later if White plays 21.a5 I think that his attack might just get there first. But White wasn't sharp enough and 21...Rxf3 is a crushing blow! (It comes up a lot in the French but you don't usually get it with the other rook on the half-open g-file!)

Game 2, you should win a pawn with 6...cxd4. Always look for chances to win pawns in the first ten moves in the French since many Whites will not know how to stop you. Your 0-0-0 in this one was fine. White missed 17.Bxc4! which wins a pawn; after that you played some sharp attacking moves and demolished him, nicely done! Good example of how white can run away from the half-open g-file after taking on h6 yet wind up in even more trouble on the other side. A lot of the most enjoyable smashes with the French are like this, white winds up busted on both sides of the board at once.

[qpawn]

Kevin Bonham
Macavity
Viktor Korchnoi
Wolfgang Uhlman
Qpawn [ well, ok, it is poetic licence to put me in any group that is "great".]



What I like a lot about the French defence is that it is the only defence, apart from the Sicillian, where black has an enormous say in the style of game played. Black can go solid [rubinstein, classical] or go hell for leather [ Macutcheon, Winawer] . Also, unlike the Sicillian where there are wing gambits, smith morra etc, there isn't that much "wild and weird" that white can try against the French. I suppose there is a Wade sideline gambit, and the Milner Barry attack, and the Chatard attack, but all are easily dealt with and/or avoided at black's leaisure. So froma practical point of view it takes a lot less work to preapre the French for crossboard play, IMO, than the Sicillian.

[Basil]

Hate the French defence

[Desmond]

Kevin - is there any first move by White that you would not meet with 1...e6.?

[Garrett]

What if white played a reverse French ?

You could both be blocking your own bsihops and counter-attacking thin air (with f6) !!

[Kevin Bonham]

Kevin - is there any first move by White that you would not meet with 1...e6.?

Quite a few actually:

1.c4 I have played ...e6 against fairly often but am not happy with some lines and thinking of playing other stuff more (see current freestyle games for one example.)

Not that keen on it against 1.f4 or 1.Nf3 either.

[Desmond]

What if white played a reverse French ?

You could both be blocking your own bsihops and counter-attacking thin air (with f6) !!

What?? No ...Nc6xe5 tricks?? There goes my whole game plan!

[Desmond]

Quite a few actually:

1.c4 I have played ...e6 against fairly often but am not happy with some lines and thinking of playing other stuff more (see current freestyle games for one example.)

That is interesting. When I play 1...e6 against the English it almost invariably transposes into a QGD position, which I am quite happy with. I suppose if you prefer the Nimzo- Bogo- or Queen's Indian, transposition might not come so readily.

[Kevin Bonham]

Actually it's the 2.Nc3 and 3.e4 line that's giving me the bother, not the QGD/Semi-Slav transpositions which I'm always happy to go into.

[Basil]

Kevin - is there any first move by White that you would not meet with 1...e6.?

1. Bf6 (a fantasy variation of the Tromp) would slow up most Frenchies!

[Capablanca-Fan]

(213) ALB36 (1586) - Zwichenzug (1578) [b]C02]
Rated game, 15m + 1s Café, 26.10.2006
1.e4 d5 2.e5 e6 3.d4 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Be2 Be7

Automatic development is not the best. The key point is d4, so 6...cxd4 then ... Nh6-f5. In some lines, this bishop goes to b4, so it is too early to commit it.

7.0–0 Nh6 8.b3 Bd7 9.Bg5 f6 10.Bxh6 gxh6 11.a4 0–0–0 12.Bb5 Rhg8 13.Bxc6 Bxc6 14.Nbd2 fxe5 15.Nxe5 c4 16.b4 Qc7 17.b5 Be8 18.Qb1 b6 19.Ndf3 Bg6 20.Qa2 Rdf8 21.Nc6 Rxf3 22.Nxe7+ Qxe7 23.gxf3 Bb1+

Good enough, but 23. ... Be4+ mates next move.

[Zugzwanged]

[QUOTE=Zwischenzug]Hi. These two games I just played online (around 30 min per game). The moves might not be very deep and probably full of mistakes but I did enjoy these games. I normally play the Scandinavian with black but sometimes it transposes to the French Defense.

Game 1:

(213) ALB36 (1586) - Zwichenzug (1578) [b]C02]
Rated game, 15m + 1s Café, 26.10.2006

PGN Viewer

 

6....Be7? is weak. Much stronger is 6.....cxd4 7.cxd4 Nh6 with at least an equal game. (8.Bxh6? Qxb2!) and black is better. 6.....Bd7 is a playable waiting move as well.

[Desmond]

My club game this week (I was Black of course!) saw a bit of a different twist to the Milner-Barry gambit.

11.Re1 deviated from the more normal 11.Qe2, which to me seemed a bit of a weak decision since the rook wants to stay on the f-file to support the eventual advance of the f-pawn.

Also 12.a3 is interesting since it pretty much prevents the plan of Nf8-e7-c6-b4 harrasing the strong bishop on d3.

I would be interested to hear any suggestions for how Black should proceed, and I'll post my (mis)handling of the position a bit later on.

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[Basil]

Ne7-g6. Dark Square bishop out, castling. Let's go!