The French has the great pawn chain story, which is easy for 1200+ players to absorb. At the lower levels you mostly see the Advance variation anyway. And it rules out all the stupid White Bc4 attacks on f7 from the git-go. Other than the Milner-Barry there are hardly any gambits to worry about. Nor is the KIA a big deal.
So the French becomes your standard king pawn defense until you become a lot stronger or maybe you stick with it anyway because it may be cramped, but it's cozy, with a potentially bristling attack in the middlegame after you have dismantled White's center.
Besides what else are you going to do? Go back to 1...e5? Play 1...c5? The Sicilian has many virtues but it's huge and there are all those anti-Sicilians to contend with. You could play the Caro-Kann, Alekhine or Pirc but how are they more attractive?
If you want to pair the French with another opening, there's always the Dutch which has the same e6/d5 strong point. You can play 1.d4 e3 and avoid a number of wacky White moves after 1...f5.
Do certain openings make you feel slightly insulted and angry?
What exactly was her thought process when she did that? How is this possible?
Legendary_Race_Rod wrote:
I spent about 45 minutes teaching my wife the basics of chess. I went to great efforts to explain things clearly and as simply as possible, checking her understanding along the way. We proceeded to her first game of chess and naturally I let her play with the white pieces. On her first move, she looked at all of her pieces with great consideration, then picked up her King and proudly and emphatically placed him the centre of the board. I wouldn't say it made me angry or upset, we had a good laugh about it, but the teacher inside of me died a death!
I spent about 45 minutes teaching my wife the basics of chess. I went to great efforts to explain things clearly and as simply as possible, checking her understanding along the way. We proceeded to her first game of chess and naturally I let her play with the white pieces. On her first move, she looked at all of her pieces with great consideration, then picked up her King and proudly and emphatically placed him the centre of the board. I wouldn't say it made me angry or upset, we had a good laugh about it, but the teacher inside of me died a death!
Just be thankful that you have a wife who is willing to listen patiently to you explaining chess for 45 minutes.
The French has the great pawn chain story, which is easy for 1200+ players to absorb. At the lower levels you mostly see the Advance variation anyway. And it rules out all the stupid White Bc4 attacks on f7 from the git-go. Other than the Milner-Barry there are hardly any gambits to worry about. Nor is the KIA a big deal.
So the French becomes your standard king pawn defense until you become a lot stronger or maybe you stick with it anyway because it may be cramped, but it's cozy, with a potentially bristling attack in the middlegame after you have dismantled White's center.
This pretty much sums up why I started playing the French. I have some friends that like to play trappy openings against 1...e5, not to mention the Fried Liver. 1...e6 stops them dead in their tracks because everyone else they play against uses 1...e5.
Your statement about most lower rated players going with the Advance variation is spot on, too. The other thing lower rated players like to do is trade off light squared Bishops (because they're so used to attacking with it). Something I'm quite happy to do in the French.
I'm a 1.e4 player and I believe there are three best responses to 1.e4; the double king pawn, the French, and the Sicilian.
Whenever my opponent plays something other than those three, I feel slighty (and I must emphasize slightly here) insulted and angry. It's usually not a conscious thought process, but more of a background emotion. I have noticed that should I win the game I'm more likely to make snarky comments at the end. ....
...... Still it makes me angry.
... you should change your profile name to something more befitting...Dolphins don't get emotional over things LOL
How do you know? I'd guess Dolphins are influenced by emotion even more than Humans are, because Dolphins can't use logic to guide their decision-making process to the extent that Humans can.
I'm a 1.e4 player and I believe there are three best responses to 1.e4; the double king pawn, the French, and the Sicilian.
Whenever my opponent plays something other than those three, I feel slighty (and I must emphasize slightly here) insulted and angry. It's usually not a conscious thought process, but more of a background emotion. I have noticed that should I win the game I'm more likely to make snarky comments at the end. For example, if my opponent plays the Alekhine (or Nimzowitsch) and I win, I may say "Well so much for the Alekhine, guess you should learn not to move your pieces twice in the opening" or something like that.
Here are my thoughts on some of the defenses
- The Alekhine and Scandinavian, in both of these the player is trying to get "their opening" at the cost of doing something bad. In one they're moving a piece twice, in the other they're bringing their queen out early. They are counting on white not knowing the theory to get away with these transgressions. When someone plays the Scandinavian against me, I think to myself "Why are you bringing your queen out early you dingbat?!"
-The Caro-Kann, I don't know why anyone would select this defense since it has a reputation for being so drawish, the only people who should play this are professionals playing in serious tournaments where they really need a draw. I just don't understand they kind of person who goes "hm, everyone says this opening is drawish and boring, I'm going to play that!" Maybe these people just hate playing as Black and are trying to get quick draws in all their Black games so they can go back to playing White? Everytime someone plays the Caro-Kann against me I just think "oh no, you're not getting a draw m'er f'er, I'm going to beat you!"
-Owen's defense, this is a defense where the player as Black thinks they have the luxury of going 1...b6. I win most of my games against this by playing 2.d4 and most always I'm able to get a lot of space. Still it makes me angry.
Jezzussss! Visit a psych doctor.
The man who angers you defeats you.
I play 1...g6 a lot. So far I didn't realize that it has the additional advantage of making some opponents angry.
Bobbarooski, I am not a higher rated player and when I was much lower rated than now, I never played the advance variation.
I am certainly not doubting your experience or obervation. Could you give me any insight into why lower rated players prefer the advance, though?
I have always responded with 3.Nfc3 ... I lost a bullet game earlier to someone that played the French. I lost badly.
EXPLAYERJX, I don't agree that the bishop being outside the pawn chain is an improvement. In fact, it certainly isn't worth the tempo to play c7-c6-c5.
I prefer to play c7-c5 and this is an important resource in numerous openings.
Also, against the Caro Kann't, I prefer the advance variation. I think the e5 advance is inferior in the French, though.
I do the Caro Kann simply because it is one that most people don't study for as white.
Also as black there are not many variations that I have to study. A basic italian game? i better know it 15 moves in.
Again, I disagree with you. The Nd2 lines are not aggressive enough in the French.
I am well aware of the solidity of the Caro Kann't. I am a 1.e4 player, afterall. I don't play the French much with black. I also play better against it than I play against the Caro Kann. I don't like the Caro Kann, though. I like the French.
The reason why I play the e5 advance against the Caro Kann is to make the position more French like.
So you are a 1.d4 player? A 1.e4? Maybe you even play both?
How do you know? I'd guess Dolphins are influenced by emotion even more than Humans are, because Dolphins can't use logic to guide their decision-making process to the extent that Humans can.
Non human animals all have emotions - but get one's panties in a bunch and throwing hissy fits - that is unique to humans...
"decision-making" - is a human characteristics...so is the idea of "logic"...both of which does not necessarily mean that animals lack intelligence
dolphins, whales and primates are purported to be highly intelligent...
animals just "know" things and they live by that inherent knowledge
stupidity is a thing unique to humans...
if the human species weren't around to shit to a toxic wasteland this planet, the animals would be living in paradise...the perfect harmony that God meant it to be.
Which leads me to sometimes think that it was not God that created man...but twas the other fella...just so we can piss toxicity and violence onto everything God created...
You don't have to take everything I say above seriously...it makes for a good Hollywoodian movie - just entertaining myself.
The French has the great pawn chain story, which is easy for 1200+ players to absorb. At the lower levels you mostly see the Advance variation anyway. And it rules out all the stupid White Bc4 attacks on f7 from the git-go. Other than the Milner-Barry there are hardly any gambits to worry about....
This pretty much sums up why I started playing the French. I have some friends that like to play trappy openings against 1...e5, not to mention the Fried Liver. 1...e6 stops them dead in their tracks because everyone else they play against uses 1...e5.
If I knew I could get the Ruy Lopez every time I played 1...e5, I would have gone that way. But no, you have to worry about all the weird tactical White king pawn openings where Black can't sleepwalk through his development.
The Ponziani is a case in point. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 looks dumb because the third move blocks Nc3 and now White is wrong-footed trying to defend his KP after 3...Nf6.
Nonetheless, White can play 4.d4 and things get tricky. If Black plays natural moves, he can get a bad position or lose a piece. In any event Black is going to have to spend some real clock time sweating because how many Black players have studied the Ponziani and remember the lines?
(Wojo recommended the Ponziani to a student who didn't have time for openings and it became a crackerjack machine for harvesting points in big anonymous tournaments.)
How do you know? I'd guess Dolphins are influenced by emotion even more than Humans are, because Dolphins can't use logic to guide their decision-making process to the extent that Humans can.
Non human animals all have emotions - but get one's panties in a bunch and throwing hissy fits - that is unique to humans...
"decision-making" - is a human characteristics...so is the idea of "logic"...both of which does not necessarily mean that animals lack intelligence
dolphins, whales and primates are purported to be highly intelligent...
animals just "know" things and they live by that inherent knowledge
stupidity is a thing unique to humans...
if the human species weren't around to shit to a toxic wasteland this planet, the animals would be living in paradise...the perfect harmony that God meant it to be.
Which leads me to sometimes think that it was not God that created man...but twas the other fella...just so we can piss toxicity and violencde onto everything God created...
You don't have to take everything I say above seriously...it makes for a good Hollywoodian movie - just entertaining myself.
Yes, without humans mice and cats would live in perfect harmony. Cats would immediately stop torturing mice to death whenever they can get them.
@sred
In fact, human habitat threw into disorder the natural balance of things. Cities are safe harbours for booming rat populations because there are no natural predators there.
cats playing with their prey is not "torture"...
cats are very playful creatures -- playing does not = torture
"torture" is also unique to humans...
Bobbarooski, I am not a higher rated player and when I was much lower rated than now, I never played the advance variation.
I am certainly not doubting your experience or obervation. Could you give me any insight into why lower rated players prefer the advance, though?
I don't really know. Since I am a lower rated player myself, chess.com automatically matches me up against similarly rated players. So, that's where my experience lies. I'd say that 9 times out of 10 I face the Advance variation.
What I like about both the French and Caro Kann is the pawn structure. If I can survive the middle game, I'm happy to carry these structures into the endgame.
I don't play bullet, though, because I'm terrible at it.
XPLAYERJX, I wasn't specifically making reference to the advance variation of the Caro Kann. Also, you and I both know that endgame is drawn. The irony is you won on time by wasting time.
I don't believe that having the bishop outside of the pawn chain in the Advance variation of the Caro Kann (as opposed to having the bishop on the other side of the pawn chain) is compensation for the tempo spent on getting the c7 pawn to c5. If you prefer to play that way, good for you. I play the Sicilian and I mostly reach French like positions only by transpositions.
To me the light squared bishop is less useful in the Caro Kann, despite being active on f5, or g6, or where ever on the diagonal. I would rather keep it than trade it off. Having the "bad bishop" in the French is ok. It anchors the pawn chain by guarding e6.
@sred
In fact, human habitat threw into disorder the natural balance of things. Cities are safe harbours for booming rat populations because there are no natural predators there.
cats playing with their prey is not "torture"...
cats are very playful creatures -- playing does not = torture
"torture" is also unique to humans...
Ask the mice how they think about it.
OK. That is the rumor I had heard...it was easier to learn (at least at a basic level). Perhaps that is the reason for its popularity.
I recently started playing around with it once in a while. I don't know if it will become part of my repertoire, as 1...e5 is. I'll also be looking into the Caro-Kann. The fact that someone hates seeing it makes me want to play it. Also, it is considered "awesome" by many titled players. Tounrey players under 2000 probably won't know it well either, for the most part.
I have to look at what openings pair well with other opening though, due to pawn structure etc. I will look at openings with "style" similarities and openings with "structural" similarities...just as a general guideline.