French Defense: Beginner-Friendly Opening?

French Defense is known to be one of the soundest openings for Black against 1.e4, but is it suitable for chess beginners?

An opening is suitable for beginners if the moves are rooted in fundamental opening principles. If the opening requires pure memorization or a deeper understanding of chess, it isn't recommended for beginners.

The question can be rephrased as: How basic are the moves Black plays in the French Defense?

First off, 1...e6 feels a bit weird since it only moves one square while White’s pawn moves two. It seems like Black is already behind in terms of space. This is just a first impression, but beginners playing as Black might not like it and may wonder why they are supposed to play that way.

Of course, the idea is to strike with d5, a clever counter-attack in the center involving a two-move plan. For a complete beginner, that’s significant but not overly complex.

It also works well for covering the classic f7 weakness, which is often exploited by White in 1. e4 e5 openings. In the French, if White makes the common beginner mistake of playing Bc4, that bishop is just begging to be hit by the pawn, and Black comes out on top.

So far, this looks great, and for a player who is completely new to chess, playing 1...e6 would even be okay.

However, after 2. d4, our beginner-level student should be able to explain the purpose of this central strike. If they understand the importance of central control and gaining space, they’re ready to play the first two moves of the French. But if they don’t understand why d5 is played, the French Defense probably isn’t the right opening for them — at least not yet.

Black’s achievements include advancing a pawn to control the center, gaining some space, and challenging White’s central pawn. Since White can’t develop as they’d like until they address the threat to e4, Black gains a bit of initiative.

However, if the term 'initiative' is unfamiliar to our beginner, it might feel like just another abstract chess concept. Even terms like 'space' and 'space advantage' might not be clear to a beginner.

Moving on, White opts for 3. e5, extending their space advantage. Now, Black might start to wonder what they’ve done and if there’s any room to develop. They know they should begin developing their pieces after moving one or two pawns to control the center.

However, the correct move is not to develop but to play 3...c5, which gains space and aims to immediately challenge White’s central advantage. There’s no time to develop slowly because there’s no good way to do so until White’s center is addressed. The key question is: is this concept known or easy to understand for a beginner-level player?

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Also, if you want to see more on this topic, check out my latest YouTube video: "Is the French Defense Good for Beginners?"