sounds made to order
I really like the Rousseau Gambit but my opps are refusing to be predictable
the French Defense
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LOL
my thought exactly
it's brand new to me, the French
looking at a Lichess Interactive Lesson right at the moment, in a different tab
the French is not a good opening for a beginner player, and there is a lot of positional theory involved
I wouldn't know but I just read this:
"The French Defense can be too positional for complete beginners because it requires understanding concepts like pawn chains, space advantage, and closed positions. However, it's also considered a safe, solid defense with clear themes, making it a good opening to learn foundational positional ideas once a player has a basic grasp of chess."
So, I'm still liking it.
Aug 27, 2025
0
#10
anyone who thinks the french is not positional is a moron.
they are 4 categories in this regard, not two. You have sharp and you have positional, and then you have aggressive and then you have defensive, and you can have any of the 2 pairs combine.
the french is mostly an aggressive but positional opening. like a lot of nimzo indian lines. you are playing for positions that are asymmetrical which give you a good chance to create winning chances but the decisiveness comes mostly from positional understanding and not sharp complications. compare this with a defense like the traditional caro kahn lines which are positional and defensive where black is happy to equalize without any weaknesses and try to engineer a better endgame.
Of course these are very rich openings with plenty of sidelines so you will prob find some variations that is a combo of any of the 4 above in some variation. The Rubinstein variation for example is more like the caro kahn in being defensive and positional.
"The French Defense is a good, aggressive opening for a beginner or intermediate player because there is little positional theory involved, just simple and logical play."
-from a Quora discussion, 2017