French Defense - Steiner Variation

How do you deal with it?

I've beed looking at the Short & Sweet on the French Defense - he doesn't even mention this..

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You may play 2...c5 - that's what people are doing to avoid the orthoschnapp gambit. This leads to a mechanical game, not even a technical one, or, to the Sicilian Kramnik, which is hilarious because I said so.

So I thought of a move myself:

That's right - you lose a tempo, but now the pawn on c4 blocks his bishop. One of his bishops has to be stuck in this kind of pawn-formation, with all due respect to tempos. (or he does free both bishops, by doing more pawn-moves - hence, giving back the tempo, or even two tempi).

I have checked out 5.d4 with comp. - it says that it's worse, and is confused where to put his queen. comp say 5.Be2. They aren't called 'engines' for nothing - strong but brainless - just like their mechanical colleagues.

What do you think? horrible?

 

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I guess telling beginners to play e4 e5 for a while, isn't a mistake, (NM Mclaughlin said that it's to train them with 'attacking and defending chess') as some positions get very similar to these dynamics - such as the French Exchange - if you choose to play it in 'copy chess' style. Maybe other exchange variations as well.

I usually play d5 and if exd5 exd5 cxd5 then Nf6

#2
Yes, indeed 2...d5 refutes the setup.

Let us visualize..

Okay cool. But they usually, at least at My level, intend to go for the orthoschnapp bull___-gambit, and I'm not standing there a pawn up and defending - too hard. :-)

Thx though.

 

Come to think of it, nothing forces me to take the other pawn...

#4
Black is a pawn down temporarily, but white cannot hold on to the weak pawn d5. Black will assail it 3 times with Nb8-d7-b6. After pawn d5 falls white is left with an isolated queen's pawn d2.
#5
Of course 4 Qb3? dxe4 5 Bc4 Qe7 and black is winning, a solid central pawn up.

It is garbage.  White gets a bad IQP position.

1.e4 e6 2.c4?! d5 3.cxd5 exd5 4.exd5 Nf6! (NOT 4...Qxd5? 5.Nc3!) 5.Nc3 Nxd5 6.Nxd5 Qxd5 and at worst it is equal, but Black probably has a slight edge.  His queen is safe with the White Queen's Knight gone, similar to White's situation with the Queen in the Scotch when Black stupidly plays 4...Nxd4 5.Qxd4 with advantage, but even worse for White in this situation is the isolani.

#7
White usually checks 5 Bb5+ to hold onto the pawn d5 a bit longer, but it is bound to fall.

I see that you folks like to miss the point and just say whatever you like, so let's get help from an IM:

I don’t see how Vizilo, tygxc, and Thriller missed the point here. I think they’ve answered your question quite well.

When White offers up a pawn in such a dubious fashion (such as in the Orthoschnapp Gambit), Black should be glad to take it. If you’re getting scared away by lines as dubious as this, then maybe opening theory is not your thing.

It takes significantly less study and effort to gain an advantage as Black against the Orthoschnapp then it does for Black to gain an advantage in the normal mainlines of the French Defense. Sometimes, you have to defend in order to maintain an advantage, and that’s just how chess works. If you learn the basic lines in the Orthoschnapp, you’ll be fine. Heck, you could probably be fine without study and just some critical analysis of the board while you play, as there are only a few traps. Go watch some videos or study with a chess engine and database. You’ll soon not worry, but rather eagerly anticipate the next time your opponent plays the Orthoschnapp gambit.

Against the Steiner, 2...d5 3. cxd5 exd5 4. exd5 Nf6 is perfectly fine. Black gains equality very easily here. Yet, you don’t want to play it because of the Orthoschnapp? That makes little sense.

 

This is a "perfect game" by Black:

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Riazantsev, Alexander (2572)
0     inaccuracies
0     mistakes
0     blunders
13  Average centipawn loss

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So it's note-worthy.

 

And White has more king-safety issues than Black has, and is playing with one a rook only.

Thank you again, lichess.org

(as usual - real answers come from anonymous after a long search)

 

The inventor of that gambit, German FM Stefan Buecker, has abandoned it as harmless.

Nobody has missed any point. You just put too much faith to youtube videos for post-beginners. Black has many good ways to meet it- say this one, which is quite simple:

 

 

The whoile concept wih 6..Nc6! and 9...b5! gives Black a clear advantage.

 

For the record, 2...c5 is OK as well, although after the tricky 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Be2!? Black has to be a bit careful.

@pfren made this pgn a few months ago and it refutes the Orthroschnapp Gambit

 

 

 

Black is better after 5...Nbd7 6.Nc3 a6 =/+