Originally posted by The Slow PawnI have been playing the French for 20+ years too & agree 100%. Black gets good counter-play & the typically closed positions often frustrate White.
I've been playing the French defense for 20+ years and can say with some experience that it is a rock solid defense for black giving a lot of fine opportunities to crack the white position. That is especially the case if the opponent knows less about the opening than you do ;-)
Still, the opening is not for everybody. In general, if you like to castle early & prefer active Bishops, it's not for you. In the e4-e5 lines, ...0-0 can be subject to Bxh7+ sacs & the c8 cleric sometimes is rendered a tall pawn.
One should also investigate the Gurgenidze System (A Modern Defense/Caro-Kann hybrid.) which often runs 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 (a common line) h5 6.Nf3 Bg4 & could be considered an improved French.
well, as a devoted swashbuckling kingside attacker, letmetellya, I LOVE it when my opponents play the french, and I get all that happy space on the kingside to attack in, plus they don't get a knight on f6 :-)
I can usually stomp a player of equal skill level when I play white against the french. Now, admittedly, I usually GET stomped at equal skill level playing white against the sicilian, but same-same.
hey... why am I telling all of you this? If all my opponents now read this and start playing the sicilian, I'll... I'll... study a really vicious and obscure anti-sicilian line! yea! yea! 😠
I don't get bored playing the french opening (not even after 20+ years)... How could I ??
If I play against someone who does not have the same knowledge about the opening, I usually am able to either gain d4 (or at least get a good positional advantage which often results in a win...
If I play someone better or someone who knows the french opening as good (or better) then I do, I learn something new and improve my play ...
You get, at the end of the day, only better at this game, if you know more about it, and I can say with some confidence that I'm not afraid of even 2000+ players opening e4, e6 d4 !! as I have a decent knowledge on what to do ...
Changing openings all the time will not help you as much as focusing on one opening as your knowledge (at any chess-level) will not be as great as it could be ...
Well, that's just my humble opinion (and Kasparovs - ever seen him not playing sicilian [YES, don't prove me wrong, he did on very rare occasions, but you know what I mean 😉
Regards
The French loving Pawn (Pun intended)
There's an interesting set of games collated on www.chessgames.com, "Evgeny Bareev and his Beloved French Defence": http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1000958
For those who don't follow top level chess, Bareev is a top-class (2700+) GM who has a habit of getting crushed on the Black side of various French variations. The collection above showcases some of teh best.
Originally posted by paultopiaI am a regular player of the French, but keep getting into really tight positions on the King side that I have to defend like mad to get out of. This is particularly true when I play a swashbuckler.
[b]I have to post this game. On the theme of crushing the french...
Why you should never play the French against a swashbuckler:
Game 514997
On the flip-side, once I successfully defend the K-side attack, my pieces just explode all over the board ...
oh, yea, I always play the advance variation against the french.
Lets just come right out and say it. The french, especially in the advance, is an open invitation to white to come out and go stompey stompey on the kingside. :-)
Here's a particularly fun game I had recently on FICS.
Now, admittedly, my opponent obviously doesn't know how to play in the french, as is evidenced by the horrible bishop torture in the beginning.
But nonetheless, the point is: kingside attack = dead french.
[Event "FICS rated standard game"]
[Site "FICS, Fremont, California USA"]
[Date "2004.06.15"]
[Time "18:19:27"]
[Round "-"]
[White "paultopia"]
[Black name removed to protect the guilty :-)]
[WhiteElo "1308"]
[BlackElo "1212"]
[TimeControl "1200+9"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bb4+ 4. c3 Ba5 5. b4 Bb6 6. a4 c6 7. a5 Bc7 8. Nf3 Ne7 9. Bd3 b6 10. O-O c5 11. Ng5 g6 12. Qf3 O-O 13. Qh3 h5 14. g4 Kg7 15. gxh5 Rh8 16. Nxf7 Kxf7 17. hxg6+ Nxg6 18. Bxg6+ Kxg6 19. Qg4+ Kf7 20. Bg5 Qg8 21. Qf4+ Ke8 22. Nd2 cxb4 23. Nf3 Ba6 24. Rfc1 b3 25. Rab1 Bc4 26. Kh1 bxa5 27. Rg1 Rh7 28. Bf6 Qf7 29. Ng5 Qh5 30. Nxh7 Qxh7 31. Rg7 Qe4+ 32. Qxe4 dxe4 33. Rxc7 Bd3 34. Rxb3 Nd7 35. Ra3 Nxf6 36. exf6 e3 37. fxe3 Rb8 38. Rxa7 Be4+ 39. Kg1 Rb1+ 40. Kf2 Rh1 41. Kg3 Rb1 42. R3xa5 Rb8 43. f7+ Kf8 44. Kf4 Bg6 45. h4 Bxf7 46. Kg5 Rc8 47. h5 Rxc3 48. Ra8+ Kg7 49. h6+ Kh7 50. R5a7
{Black resigns} 1-0
I think I ended the game with like 3 times his time too. I was basically playing this puppy on autopilot. The attack played itself.
In fact, I'm gonna go further, and say "between players of equal skill level, where black plays the french and castles kingside, and the other goes into the advance and attacks up the kingside, barring blunders, the french is bust."
Note the caveat of "between players of equal skill level." I don't want some 1800 challenging me to a game in the french now to prove the counter point -- they'll probably win simply because they'll see some combination I don't, or be much better booked.
But structurally, I think, the french is just inferior. Lets see:
1. White gets much more space on the kingside.
2. The center stays closed.
3. Out of the 4 normal defenders of black's kingside castled position (the Q, the KR, the KN, and the QB), two are basically DOA, since the QB is almost impossible to develop early and the KN is kept from its best square (f6), making h7 extremely vulnerable.
4. The other two defenders of black's kindside have mobility problems because of the closed center.
= White's attack just plays itself. I tend to sac the queenside pawns for tempo, and sac a piece on the kingside to expose the king, confident of winning at least that much material back or more through threats on the king.
And what's black's compensation for that? More space on the queenside and threats to roll up white's pawn chain. oooohhh. It sort of reminds me of one of Bobby Fisher's comment in his "60 best games" about some refuted sicilian dragon variation, which was something along the lines of "white is dead, of course, in the ensuring king and pawn endgame, but black usually gets checkmated long before that."
Originally posted by paultopiaI think once the skill reaches a level where defence is fairly decent the French holds itself up well. The fact it's still played consistently at GM level, coupled with reasonable easy playing concepts, shows it's an excellent choice for anyone not in the world's top ten. Though, as someone mentioned above, it won't suit everyone's playing style.
In fact, I'm gonna go further, and say "between players of equal skill level, where black plays the french and castles kingside, and the other goes into the advance and attacks up the kingside, barring blunders, the french is bust."
Note the caveat of "between players of equal skill level." I don't want some 1800 challenging me to a game in the f ...[text shortened]... se, in the ensuring king and pawn endgame, but black usually gets checkmated long before that."
Originally posted by dylIs it still played consistently at the GM level? My understanding is that GMs are mostly playing the caro, or weird versions of the sicilian, against e4...
I think once the skill reaches a level where defence is fairly decent the French holds itself up well. The fact it's still played consistently at GM level, coupled with reasonable easy playing concepts, shows it's an excellent choice for anyone not in the world's top ten.