I Love the French Defence!

[Axiom]

not to mention the dreaded Possum Attack !

[Basil]

not to mention the dreaded Possum Attack !

Dreaded by white (attacking himself).

[Axiom]

Dreaded by white (attacking himself).

are you on the turps again ?

[Kevin Bonham]

The Milner Barry is now played out and considered dubious but you need to know the theory.

Yes, which is harder for ordinary mortals OTB than in correspondence, so it remains some degree of nuisance at club level. But as I've mentioned, conservative play against club-level MGB addicts often pays dividends; they tend not to know what to do.

The Winckelmann-Reimer is virtually a forced win if black accepts it but black can get a geat position by declining it.

I accepted the W-R in a rapid game once and was thrashed in 20 moves by a player only slightly above my rating. Real rabbit-in-the-headlights stuff. I would certainly not be accepting it again!

Even the Guimard is coming back into fashion

I really have not much idea why (apart from it not being all that awful and having some surprise value) since Black is fine in the main Tarrasch lines. Actually with white I am quite happy to see the Guimard though I have not researched it all that much.

Although as one french expert once wrote - when you play it wrong you get a dreadfull position and cannot resign because you are not even a pawn down.

I have unravelled and won from a lot of those dreadful positions. Though I did resign one of them against Garvin in a freestyle game!

Also 1.d4 e6 2.f4 tends to throw French players.

Not this one. It might be interesting for correspondence play but OTB the opening up of the white kingside gives Black chances to play for a quick smash without having to take any tactical risk in the process; I have won rated games in 15 and under moves against this setup.

[Trent Parker]

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.

I've been playing the french as my main weapon recently! The only other opening i've played in recent games against 1.e4 has been 1 game of the scandinavian (because I played the french against opponent in Aus Minor and decided to surprise him in in ADW). And a game of the Nimzovitch defence (where I accidently picked up my Queens Knight after getting to venue late... I wn the game though.... )

[Trent Parker]

What is the best way to play against the wing gambit in the french..... It seems to be a local club favorite. I've had some good play as black with both accepting the first pawn and declining the pawn....

French wing gambit for those who dont know.... 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4

[Desmond]

What is the best way to play against the wing gambit in the french..... It seems to be a local club favorite. I've had some good play as black with both accepting the first pawn and declining the pawn....

French wing gambit for those who dont know.... 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4

Take the pawn, go for the ending.

[Kevin Bonham]

I've actually never bothered to study it much since nobody plays it against me!

[Davidflude]

I've actually never bothered to study it much since nobody plays it against me!

Be warned it is recommended in "The Gambiteer" so expect to have it played on you. Why not spend a little time looking at it. Better than getting blown out of the water by some patzer playing a dubious opening line.

[Basil]

May we have a 'C' in defence in thread title please.

[Garrett]

wouldn't it be better if it were a little 'c' ?

just stirring !

[bgriffenchop]

Just do exchange french - straight to middle-to-endgame then just simply outplay them. works for me.

[Desmond]

Ziegler contrasts the Wing Gambit in the French to the Benko. He reasons that the Benko is sound because Black, being a pawn down, can happily trade piece after piece and still not lose. Even sometimes win from a pawn down. The Wing Gambit though, the pawn will cost White the game if it gets that far along.

[Desmond]

Just do exchange french - straight to middle-to-endgame then just simply outplay them. works for me.

In my experience, people who play the Exchange variation with White are out of book by about move 5, whereas the French player should know it much better.

[Kevin Bonham]

In my experience, people who play the Exchange variation with White are out of book by about move 5, whereas the French player should know it much better.

Yes, and if the Black player is stronger they will probably outplay white anyway. The lines where everything is exchanged down the e-file often lead to knight endings which can be tricky to play even if objectively very much drawn.

Plus there's Watson's debunking of the idea that those heavy piece exchanges will necessarily occur, which I quoted here.

I think the Exchange can be a dangerous surprise weapon for a lower rated player who likes attacking, because it often leads to open positions, and there are good chances to castle opposite sides. And perhaps it is a good play-safe strategy for a higher rated player against a junior whose endgame they think might be suss. Apart from that I really cannot recommend it at all.