French Defense

In my view the French Defence is a most excellent practical defence to 1.e4. And I agree that Ari Ziegler's DVD on the french defence  is probably the best material to kick start your understanding of the French.

As white I seriously recommend playing 6. h4! = Alekhien's Chatard Attack if black plays 3..Nf6. It is not easy for club players to repel white's attack and white gets good development and intitative for his pieces..This is especially true in games with faster time controls.

The tarrash reply 3..Nd2 is also good for white. I hate facing the Tarrasch as black when usng the french.. that being said, not many white players know REALLY how to play the Tarrasch variation properly with understanding.

hope this helps!

I own Ari Ziegler's DVD on the French and I think it is a high quality repoitire that he gives.  He mixes in good humour and makes you really understanding whats going on.  Highly recommended.  After you thourghly understand this DVD I would move on the The Flexible French by Viktor Moskalenko.

I love when white plays the Tarrasch. 3...c5 leads to very interesting positions with chances for both sides. I have yet to choose a system against Nc3 as I don't like playing the Winawer due to the variations where black is down material for "iniative". I currently just play the rubinstein with 3. dxe4 nxe4 nf6 bg5 be7, which leads to very drawish lines. I think I might start playing the classical against Nc3 as I don't really like the rubinstein.

Well if black plays Nf6 it is, but there are many ways to take advantage of an early Nd2. For one it puts no pressure on the center so black can wipe it out with ...c5, or he can try the interesting ...Be7, where in some lines the knight on d2 is not so good. There are many aggressive tries and also after Nc3 Nf6 Bg5 can be played and although the winawer is annoying, it's still probably best to allow it. but 3 Nc3 is not for everyone since it can be sharp.

You don't have to sac a pawn in the main line with ...Qc7. You can just castle which is probably stronger anyway.

You may prefer ...Qc7 but in fact objectively ...0-0 is the better move by theory, just look at mco. ...0-0 gives plenty of winning chances. The idea is that yes white can try to attack by Bd3 and Qh5, but black will block this off by ...f5. The only way for white to open lines for any attempt at attack is to play exf6, but this is double edged because then the f file opens where white is not castled and black can get a strong center. This variation usually leads to equality while with ...Qc7 it's sharper but white gets the advantage with best play. Let me show you how when white plays Qg4 it might only be a "pseudo-attack":

I have a book Titled, "Dangerous Weapons: The Sicilian Defense" by John Emms. There is also a "Dangerous Weapons: The French Defense". These books show little played, fun variations with tons of tactics.

Or what about this one?

I don't like you arguing with me on all this stuff because I know the winawer pretty well and maybe ...0-0 looks bad but you clearly didn't actually analyze it.

No, I'm not saying ...Qc7 is bad. But I'm saying ...0-0 is in theory a little better than ...Qc7 but it's still a playable move. As I have shown, black has many things to work with in the ...0-0 lines with not as much risk and there is even another choice black can play in this variation. The move ...Kf8 is interesting, not as good as ...0-0, but interesting. White gets an advantage there also. Black can play things like ...h5 and stuff there but the problem with it is that it's more difficult for him to play in the center (for example, ...f5 would be very weakening with the king on f8.) and white's development is much more smooth but no black won't get mated (as long as he plays well!). Also, ...0-0 has not been doing too bad. It's doing a little better than ...Qc7 right now but anyways it's only been played a couple hundred times so it's not as known. It's much less popular than many lines of the sicilian for example. But you assumed ...0-0 was very bad when in fact it's a critical line for white in the poisoned pawn, so I wanted to clear that up.

If you want to play Kf8 or qc7, go for it. Meanwhile I will be castling and I won't lose in 20 moves like some may think.

...0-0 has become more popular in recent years. It used to not be played but that was before it was analysed. Anyways, what's wrong with the lines I posted for black? Maybe white gets a small edge, but it's a pretty small one and with ...qc7 white's advantage is at least as high and probably a bit higher. But at this level who cares if one has a tiny advantage in a complex variation? White will probably not know what he is doing most of the time! i think ...qc7 probably gives white a half pawn edge with best play while with ...0-0 it's less of a disadvantage but it's still playable even so. So basically ...qc7 used to be considered best but now ...0-0 after being analysed is at least as good as ...qc7 and I argue better but not by much. I just don't want you to freak out. If you have good success with ...qc7, that's great. But I think I showed you the merits of 7...0-0, right?

I'm not 100% sure but I thought it was the other way around. I believe it was ...Qc7 that was declining when they saw that white could get away with his pawn.  I don't really feel like arguing anymore as I think I made my point about 7...0-0. I mean cmon, you thought that white would just get an unstoppable attack right? Now it's not as chaotic as 7...Qc7 obviously but it would be crazy to say the crazier line has to be better and I think ...0-0 is very complex also.

Actually, the 1980-1990 timeframe is too outdated. Because very recent analysis and I mean in the 21st century gave problems for black and I saw the lines once but don't remember them. They were in modern chess openings. Both lines give white an advantage, but in the ...0-0 variation it's only slight and there are many ways for white to go wrong positionally and tactically as i shown with black's exchange sac. Besisdes, white still keeps the advantage in many open sicilian lines also. I personally don't want to memorize endless variations with ...Qc7 where the one who knows the most theory will likely win. So basically they're both fine, it's just a matter of taste. Have you ever looked at 6...Qc7 that can meet Qg4 with ...f5? that one is also interesting.

GM Akobian is one of the best authorities out there on the French.  Check out some of his games :).

MCO says that 7.Nf3 and 7.a4 are better than 7.Qg4.

Really? But those are easy for black to play against.

1.e4  1.e6   2.c4.....

its a good defense..!!

2 c4 is not difficult for me either. simply 2...d5 and if white wants to capture twice on d5 and get an iso then I'm fine with that. it's not as good as most iqp's because white is not ahead in development or anything.

2.Qe2 has always seemed pretty junkie to me. After 2...c5 white just gets a closed sicilian where the queen has been prematurely developed to a less than optimal square. White can't get much of anything in the closed sicilan at the best of times, so I don't know how this could be desirable.