Who said French is garbage?
"its a S*** opening but i have done so much work to make it kind of basically correct"
I'd say the French is almost certainly a draw with best play. But black needs to know what he's doing (which is kind of a pointless statement, as this is true with all defenses).
Also, the first time I beat an International Master, I used the French Defense - so I'll always have a fondness for it, even if it's no longer part of my repertoire.
The Rubinstein is relatively easy, if you want something simple and clean that'll just suck the wind right out of white's sails. Learn the basic ideas of it. Then just use your tactical/positional skills to outplay your opponent from an even position (the Carlsen approach!).
Here's one example line:
A6 is theory? Seems like a waste of a tempo given that white doesnt want anything on B5, and B5 is very weakening for black if they play it
Theory there is an immediate ...c5
But ...a6 is playable, since it's a quiet position. Anand played ...a6 against Ivanchuk, via transposition. This was their game:
After many more moves, they went on to draw.
Why did Vishy play A6?
It's a threat of gaining tempo on white's Bc4, with a ...b5 followup (which would then allow black to play ...Bb7, either before or after ...c7-c5).
It's a common idea in several QGD/QGA lines, and also in some lines of the Najdorf ...
Well A6 IS the Najdorf
Yes ... I'm aware of that.
What I mean is, the a6+b5+bb7 idea is seen in some Najdorf lines, but not all.
It's somewhat common in ...e6 Najdorfs (Najdorf with a Scheveningen structure, as Kasparov liked to play it). But not something you usually see in ...e5 Najdorfs.
(If Pfren were still around, he might argue with me that Kasparov played the Scheveningen with an early ...a6, and not the Najdorf ... but I digress ...)
Pfren would start a argument with a lampost
its perfectly possible to gain winning chances in the rubenstein in a practical game.
It is possible yes, but afaik in this line Bb5+ c6 Bd3/Bc4 is better than Bd3, and then White is much better early on. As I said, with inaccuracies from White it's possible, but by that token the Damiano has winning chances for Black (I've been checkmated after winning the rook in the Damiano) but we all know that with proper play the Damiano loses and with proper play the Rubinstein loses or draws. Winning chances come after a blunder or multiple inaccuracies.
edit: checked and White scores 75 points after Bb5+ c6 instead of Bd3 immediately in the line shown. SEVENTY FIVE!!! Stockfish 15+ NNUE says the position is +1.4 at depth 30. Again, many inaccuracies or a blunder and you can get winning chances, but the Rubinstein is dubious at the very best.
Not really. White is in a much better position but it's far from won. Think about how you can't say the Fried Liver is won with proper play because it's a draw with even better play, and Damiano is left in a far more playable situation than the Fried Liver for black.
It's like the Bongcloud - if you play the Bongcloud suddenly white is far worse off. But you can't say he loses with proper play. Chess is a draw from move 1, I am pretty sure after 2 or 3 more moves that don't lose material it is still almost always a draw no matter how bad the moves are. It's incredibly hard to claim any position near the opening is a forced win with proper play.
No... the Damiano actually loses. With best play (Nxe5 Qe7 Nf3 d5 d3 dxe4 dxe4 Qxe4+ Be2 Nc6 0-0 Bd7 Nc3) Black loses the e-pawn for free and White develops much faster. If not best play, Black loses a rook with no compensation. Either way, that's enough of an advantage to win by force. The Bongcloud, on the other hand, merely loses castling rights, center control and two tempi. That is enough of an advantage to most likely win by force, but not definitely win by force (unless you're an engine).
Here's a study of all the best moves in the Bongcloud, and note the evaluation dropping constantly (forgot I wasn't signed in when I originally did the analysis, but I went down to depth 30 for each move): https://lichess.org/study/vM7jXi7G