Thinking About Learning the French

As Black I typically play the Najdorf-Scheveningen hybrid Sicilian. However, there are a ton of complications in it. I also always seem to be playing someone rated 300-500 points higher than me. While I have no fear of playing anyone at any time, the reality is that people rated that much higher than I tend to be a lot better in those positions than I am. So I'm thinking of maybe learning the French to use in certain situations.

well i think it depends how you feel with your current opening, if it does not fit your playing style than i think you should change. 

When you choose an opening, there are 2 aspects that you may consider:

1) Is it suitable for you? Suitability usually realated to your current skill, knowledge and personality. If it is suitable, you will perform well with it.

2) Is it useful for your development? In any specific opening we learn specific set of knowledge and skills, which is required for development.

Imo, most Sicilian variations, especially the Scheveningen, are not suitable for players below 1700. It is too advanced, requires skill and knowledge usually not available from players below 1700, so when they are used, the user learns a little from them.

Only The Dragon variation, and may be, may be, Najdorf can be employed by beginners. Many skill and knowledge can be learnt from the Dragon, and less from the Najdorf, but Najdorf is the strongest so when performance is more important, why not?

Everyone has to master tactics at some point, but many tries to avoid it, because it is not "suitable" for them. They are weak at tactics, so perform badly with tactical openings such as the French.

So when you choose to play the French, no doubt it will be very useful (for your development), but it doesn't guarantee that you will perform well with it.

If you want to find opening based on suitability, may be you have to try several openings, or analyze your games performance (sometimes you perform better with opening that is not your favourite). And don't forget to try the Caro-Kann as it is very unique.

If you want to find opening based on usefulness for development, you have to make sure that you will simultaneously equip yourself with the skill and knowledge required to play that opening. For example, you have to study tactics (such as Tactics Trainer) when you decide to employ tactical opening, or, you have to study pawn endgame when you decide to employ the Caro-Kann.

I played the French for a while, and still play it ocassionally. Here is what you really need to know (took me a while to figure out).

The French, while solid is ALL about the counter attack. You are inviting white to build a pawn center and then undermine and smash it. I made the mistake of locking up the pawn structure and finding myself in a very closed, boring game with a very bad bishop.

If you learn the main lines (exchange, advance, Winawer, Tarrasch, Classical) you will often find yourself up a pawn going into the middle game, as your opponent will make a mistake at some point.

Oh, and the French has a rep for being dull. This is not true. Some of the sharpest lines in chess can be found in the French (check out the poisoned pawn winawer if you don't believe it). A simple line to play that you might check out to start is the Fort Knox Variation. Easy, Solid, no problems.

Good Luck!

French is actually more complicated than sicilian. Stick with the najdorf cuz i find schevenigen hard to attack white when white Queen castles.

If complicated means that it contains complications, complex exchanges in a tactical positions, then yes, French is more complicated than Sicilian. But if the complicated (read: full of complexity) issue becomes the reason to forget the French and stick with the Najdorf, I disagree. The reasons for my disagreement is the 2 aspects above (suitability and usefulness).

There is nothing wrong to pick a complicated opening as long as that complexity doesn't prevent you from learning/improving. Being exposed to tactical positions will surely improve tactical skill. And like the Sicilian, the complex situation is experienced by both sides. Actually, the complexity in the French favors Black, because Black will logically master the complex opening better than White, because it is his specialty!

This is all about non-master level play. At master level, White may have sufficient skill and knowledge to destroy the French (Or, may be any White player at master level has ever used the French himself at some point). At master level, I would say that the French should be favored only when you have tactical superiority.

I play the French and sometimes the Najdorf/Scheveningen hybrid, depending on who I'm playing.  They are both good choices if you want to play for a win, but I have found that, as a rule, sub-2000 players hate facing the French, while many 2000+ players salivate when they see it.  If I know white is going to play the Poisoned Pawn Winawer, I'll play the French regardless of the rating.  But in tangling with the big dogs I tend to stay away from the French--if white knows how to maintain an initiative, you will suffer a long time before you will be able to resign gracefully.  You need strong counter-punching ability to become a successful French player.  If that's your style, go for it; but if you like attacking from the word go, you might want to stick with the Sicilian.  A little tidbit you might find useful--in the French, castling is overrated.  There will be many times your king will go to f8 or e7 or d7, covered by the big pawn center while the flanks are just gaping holes.  You need to connect your rooks and place one on the c-file ASAP, and sometimes castling (especially q-side) can interfere with this.  Hope this helps!

French is very passive and very hard to lern in my opinion. Long time ago i played it on turnament. Maybe i did't lose becose of French but positions after opening said me that this is not good choose for me. I decided to play caro cann.

How passive, dynamic, or aggressive the French Defense is depends on the player handling the Black pieces. Remember that the French has been the main weapon of swashbucklers like Nigel Short and Alexander Morozevich. Going further back, Mikhail Tal used it also.

Just like a player opting for the Sicilian can choose (for example) the Dragon for an aggressive game, the Najdorf for a dynamic game, and the Kan for a tamer position, a French player can choose a repertoire based on their style OR, as I used to do, vary my choice of variation depending on my mood/opponent/tournament situation.

Examples:

vs. 3.Nc3: Winawer (3...Bb4) for aggressive play; Classical (3...Nf6) for dynamic/counterpunching play; Rubinstein (3...dxe4) for more passive play.

vs. 3.Nd2: 3...c5 4.exd5 exd5 for aggressive play; 3...Nf6 or 3...Nc6 for dynamic play; 3...dxe4 or 3...c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 for more passive play.

Even against the Exchange and Advance it is possible to choose different treatments based on how you wish to play.

I also didn't find the French hard to learn at all. As I've said many times to people I know, finding Mastering the French with the Read and Play Method in 1997 saved my chess career.