French defense and pawn structure

Hi !

for those of you in search for a (hopefully good) introduction to the french defense, I have made this video, where I detail the main ideas, with some talks about the pawn structure in the end:

hope it helps

Where is this video? I see no link.

Hmmm normally, the big screen capture is clickable. It does not work ?

Hey I play the French once in a while and I think you have done a nice job of getting the general ideas covered in such a short video. Thanks!

@Nic_Olas: thanks for the nice feedback, always appreciated !

Great lesson, thank you. I'm a beginning / novice player and you helped clarify the rationale behind some of black's moves that have been frustrating me. My computer's chess program keeps playing the French Def against my 1.e4 openings...

@MakiPoikeMPLS: thanks for the feedback ! If your chess program starts switching to other openings, I suggest you to look at my other videos about them 

Thank you.  A nice introduction and overview of French Defense fundamentals!

For a follow-up here is an introduction to the French Defense (although you would not know that from the title).  GM McDonald is an expert on this defense, and this is an excellent book to learn it from..... 

"How To Play Against 1 e4" by Neil McDonald....

https://www.amazon.com/How-Play-Against-1-e4/dp/1857445864/ref=sr_1_22?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506838262&sr=1-22&keywords=neil+mcdonald+chess

His earlier introductory book, "Mastering the French", while also very good, is out of print, and used copies tend to be exorbitantly priced online.  

@RussBell: thanks a lot. I'll have a look to the books you mention !

The book recommendations were not intended for someone who is knowledgeable enough to teach the French Defense, but instead for someone who would like to learn about the French Defense....the book by GM Neil McDonald is an introductory book, but a very good one in my opinion...

To RussBell:

Thank you for the book recommendations, I'll look them up.

Maki -

Glad to be of help.  Perhaps you might also find some of my blog articles interesting (for other chess book recommendations)....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

Yes, that McDonald book is a good start. I used it a lot when i changed to the french the 2nd and 3rd time.  There are some shortcuts to just start out without much preparation, but also good lines for later on.