French defense

What's your opinion on the French defense?

I like it! What is your opinion?

The French Defense does not deserve its reputation for defensiveness. It embodies a very aggressive strategic idea: to challenge the White e4-Pawn early and directly with ... d5.

As White I typically answer 2. d3 followed by 3. Nd2, rather than playing the main-line 2. d4.

I've come back to the French after touring a lot of black responses to 1.e4. It's more solid than the more forcing Scandinavian and more compact than the Caro, Sicilian, or 1.e5. Good choice for the hobbyist.

Well, first thank you everyone for replying me. Actually, I'm a big fan of this openning. I like playing 3.…Nf6. I think it is a good choice to react 1.e4, and what's your opinion it.

I like playing the French, it is a solid, playable opening on all levels

I particularly like the French defense because I am French!

yea its a good opening

I play d4 so I rarely face the french, but back when I used to play e4 i did hate the french defense, its pretty annoying to play against.

Hi!

I think the French is a quite robust option against 1. e4. I´ ve been playing it with good results. It is part of my repertoire, when I pre-move the multipurpose 1...e6.

If White plays 1.e4 then 1...e6 leads of course to the French Defense. When White steers the game into a 1. d4 opening, then I usually meet it with the English Defense (1. d4, e6 2. c4, b6) or the QGD (1. d4, e6 2. c4, d5) . I like this flexibility.

Feel free to share your lines.

Good luck!

maafernan -- chess.com coach

So guys, what do you think is the core of French defense?

The core, imo, is this pawn structure

but there are many different structures you can get from the French, it is a very versatile opening

The core of the French defense is to play the move e5... after 30 moves of attacking white's pawn chain.