FRENCH ADVANCE VARIATION FOR EVERYONE(to win!)

"Chess is everything: an art, science, and sport." - Anatoly Karpov

To understand its science and win in it as a sport, we shall learn THE French defense Advance variation.

The French Defense is a highly respected opening in chess, known for its solid structure and strategic complexity. The Advance Variation is a critical battleground where both sides FIGHT for control and initiative. In this blog, we'll explore the key ideas, plans, and notable games of the French Defense Advance Variation with black to CRUSH your opponent.

(Disclaimer- When you play the French with black, your opponent might go into EXCHANGE variation. We will discover that too. You're Welcome.)

The French defense is a defense against the most popular 1st move 1.e4. We are going to play 1. e4 e6. We let white take the center and then attack the center with our pawns with 2. d4 d5

Now White has 3 options

1. To push e5 which is the most challenging (And that is exactly what we want)
2. To take on d5 (which means he is a coward lol) and make it Into Exchange variation.
3. Play something else like 3.Nc3

We want White to push e5 to make it the Advance variation. If he plays Nc3 in the hope of transposing into Winaver (no need to learn), we will do something like this-

We play 3. Nf6 to provoke the e5 or else they lose the e-pawn. If they continue to play something else, It's a plus and an easy-to-win position for black. (Ps- this position is better for black as white can't push c3 which de-stabilizes the center as you will see)

Now we know how to make advance no matter what, let's get back to the normal advance French.

The THEME is to gain control of THE CENTER. So we play the following-

Nc6 and Qb6 both attack the CENTER, that's what we want

It doesn't matter if white plays c3 or Nf3, you will end up in this situation eventually. There is a trap we NEED TO KNOW-

With Bd3 it looks like white lost a pawn but they haven't. Be just Play Be7. 2 variations we need to know are 7. Bc2 and 7. Be2. (Ps- we are winning in both). With Be2 white just lost a tempo cause he should have gone Be2 on the 6th move. With Bc2 we ATTACK the c file like so-

This can be your general play with Nb4 which might win you a bishop. You are more than welcome to analyze this further.

Now back to the normal variation-

If your Queen gets attacked- BRING IT TO D8

General strategy-

Expanding your position on Queen's SIDE

 Developing your Bishop to e6 and with Knight on f5 will get attacked, do this-

White (If they know what they are doing) WILL ALWAYS go to attack with f4, you just need to develop and protect your position. We can play f6 and open up or rook and maybe push Kh8 etc. 

Till 1700+ rated players, this position will rarely happen and white will end up giving up all the space on the queen's side and you most probably win a piece.

If white does anything other than f4 attack....Don't, forget...CENTER.

This is all you need to know about the French Advance to start playing it. In the next blog, I will go over the FRENCH EXCHANGE variation. Stay tuned!

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