A question for French Defense players

Your Ivanchuk example is just a mere transposition to the exchange variation.  Lowly amateurs here play it all the time.  I do not play 4...Nc6 though.  I play 4...Nf6.

1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.d4 Nf6 is no different than 1 e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 or even 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3 Nf6 6.d4 d5, which I have also faced as Black (White I play 3.d4 against the Petroff).

Now I got it. Okay great. Thanks for the explanation.

What's all that nonsense with the Orthoshnapp after a couple of idiotic videos on YouTube?

The variation inventor, German FM Stefan Buecker has dismissed it many years ago as second rate/ nonchallenging.

Not everyone is so knowledgeable. and besides, we Do learn from Youtube videos, and Jonathan Schrantz find it, - his Lichess.com rating is 2300+ and he was a chess teacher. and IM Miodrag has taken this gambit too:

here - an IM said that after 10 moves he became completely outplayed, so... yeah, a good blitz weapon like he said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbTVZbHYMnE

But, you're right, pfren, because we talk about Real openings, not tricks.

The refutation is 4...dxe4 5.Bc4 Qd7 6.d3 Nc6 7.dxe4 Na5 8.Qc2 Nxc4 9.Qxc4 b5! 10.Qc2 Bb7 which Bluebaum used in a recent blitz game to smash Jobava. Perunovic doesn't mention 9...b5 at all, and nobody cares about what clowns like Schrantz (who is under 2000 FIDE and has not played a single rated game for the last 7 years) are claiming.

Can you show the game?

(and, I don't get it - if it's a clownish opening, how come Jobava played it?)

"nobody cares about what clowns like Schrantz"

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jonathan+schrantz

31.1K subscribers. that's not 'nobody'.

I don't thing the best creators of openings, are the best players, at all. I myself create openings and chess idea, and publish them here... well... I'm 1700+ rated. untitled... there's a guy on Youtube named "Chess Boot Camp" rated 1400+, he has a chess channel... oh dear... am I gonna be offended by some higher-rated players or What...

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For all of you guys rated 1900 or higher, and are very angry... no one is Forcing you to read 'annoying threads made by lower rated players', and trust me - we don't need your comments and corrections. Thank you.

I'm sure you could find well over 31.1 K dumb people on this planet

I said already that is was a blitz game, and Baadur has played some odd stuff in his games (of course not THAT odd in regular time controls).

And I guess that "nobody cares about Schrantz" is very wrong: kids U-12 just love clowns.

Well said

Nice imma remember that line thanks pfren

Schrantz is good for some interesting opening traps. I may be 1500 blitz on chess.com but these traps work. Schrantz does say that it is dubious but against unprepared players, many will not be prepared for an opening surprise. Even Eric Rosen plays his dubious Stafford and is able to win at least 58% of the time according to chess.com. 

But I do love your recommended line. It's definitely more fun than 2...c5

Im going to be completely honest, it is when I go for the Chistyakov Defense. It is not like it is hard to play but since no one plays it at my level I forget all my theory on the off chance that they do go for it. XD

Orthoschnapp belongs in the same family of Stafford and Englund in that it's trappy, but if the opponent doesn't fall into the traps it's just -1. 

I do think it the best of the three as the refutation is not so simple. Almost all gambits have a rating expiration date. I think the work of popular youtubers using it shows the expiration of the Orthoschnapp is relatively high.

Traps are just bad unless they're sound when refuted or declined

Of which I can think of 1

indeed. While a capable French player's input is invaluable, to be sure you'll not likely to face a TF caliber everytime. While I have never faced Thriller on this site and heh, I'm not a 1. e4 player these days, I would probably play the French Tarrasch against him OTB or whatever. Because that's what I'm used to, to playing back in the day. Don't get frozen. It's just a game. Play what you like vs the French. You can't win'em all! Speaking about the Sicilian Najdorf, I once played a Najdorf Thematic tourney here on this site and it was a great experience. As I was saying, you'll rarely meet a TF level player but if and when you do, they'll probably play a position differently even if they have a similar mindset or preference like Thriller does. Soo take heart, even if someone says this variation gives them a hard time, more chances or not it gives other players fits. Like I experienced in that thematic tourney, even if I expected the worst, I just went with the flow and played what I knew best, won or lost. In the end, lose any expectations before the game whether you know your opponent is a practitioner of a certain opening, it's not to play the opening to give him a hard time it's to give yourself the easiest time to play to your skillset n ability. Winning or losing is nothing. Progression n Improvement is above all. Otherwise, enjoying is cool too. Finally, just play my friend... cuz playin's always the thing with me ✌🏽

edit: Soo take heart, even if someone says this variation doesn't give them a hard time...

e4 e6 c4 ( The Steiner Variation of the French Defence)