Addicted-to-Chess97,
How much time have you spent studying the opening because there are plenty of lines that are open and tactical. I think this common complaint against the French defence is normally made by people who have not spent any time studying it, in which case you can not really complain if you have not found anything interesting to play against it.
I like to play the French because players of my very low level will put all their effort into learning the many facets of open games and with this one move i put them in a very different game of my choosing.
to play against french you must understand it well as "white" player otherwise you ll get into troubles very soon but good thing is that white chooses which way to go in 3rd move (adv, tarrasch, nimtz, exch...) so "he" can prepare himself much better which is not case in Sicilian, where black mostly decides which variation will be played. i played french rarely, but against weaker oponents it is a strong opening for black, f7-f6 and c7-c5 gives you a kind of a pressure to center which white must know how to deal with.
Nc3 Bb4 var. is sharp, but you must be really good with white if you want to take something with Qg4-g7... there is always a danger on kingside and in the center (e5 pawn is usually weak), and white king has no good shelter, in other hand if you play a2-a3 with black's Bxc3, still is a question what if black manages to put his pawn on c4 with 0-0-0? where to play? actually only on kingside but if black connects rooks on h,g or f file and gets rid of pawns, white king could be in dager...
so from my corner the best is to play var's where white takes on c5 releasing the pressure on pd4 early and makes d4 free for knights, together or without c2-c4...
I am obviously by no means an authority on the French Defense. When I look at both the game explorer win pecentages for black, the French tops the list and I have analyzed the 1. e4 starting position to 37 plys and found the 1...e6 reply to be the strongest.
It appears that for novice players, the French makes little sense but, to the GM, who thinks more closely to the engine than the rest of us, it makes lots of sense.
I'll put it another way. I found a simple solution to deal with Sicilian players who want to undermine my attempts to play the Ruy Lopez. I have been experimenting for days to find a solution that catches the good French player unprepared.
I am having a ton of trouble trying figure out how to end up with a two pawn center that isn't easily removed, or be able to stay behind my pawns, or have control of an open board, with the initiative, that doesn't offer black instant counter play, if I make a mistake. The French seems to do a good job of undermining all of those things, that I think make it easier for me to win. This seems to also indicate why it scores so high in the win percentages column for black.
16 months ago · Quote · #5
I'd like to point out that my best win in OTB tournament chess was against a master, and I used the French defense to do it. *What makes it a good defense is you can rely more on structural gameplay, rather than the reams of theory you'd need to memorize in the Sicilian. IM Ari Ziegler put is best: "The Sicilian is your life, while the French is when you have a life outside of chess".
I think this is part of why chess.com analysis refers to the Sicilian as an inaccuracy...
@ Zyrab .... well stated...You probably summed up what I was trying to say with a few words, before I was able to finish my book...
The thing about the French that I hate is how hard it is to play for me as black. I tried to get into the French but my results have been abysmal. As white I play Nc3 against it because the advance isn't my cup of tea. (Played it as a 1100-1200 player a couple years ago and never won a game)
I think the dark-squared bishop along with the Queen and Knights compensate for the absence of the light-squared bishop in the early stage of the game. French Defense is all about pressure in the center IMO.
On top level games, GMs study their opponent including their games. They plan out what opening to use, and which variation, and even probably a new and surprising line.
Therefore since it is a concious decision, and if you find yourself bazzled by the choice of French, then I suggest you find some quality GM games on it with black winning and try to understand. If all you're worried about is the light-squared bishop, then you're missing the point of the French.
I does crack me up that once you reach a certain level in chess play, piece sacrifice is essential to play the best tactical combinations, yet many players understand even a temporary piece sacrifice, for positional compensation.
Sometimes less is more. Mikhail Tal's pieces got in his way all the time...
ParadoxofNone wrote:I'd like to point out that my best win in OTB tournament chess was against a master, and I used the French defense to do it. *What makes it a good defense is you can rely more on structural gameplay, rather than the reams of theory you'd need to memorize in the Sicilian. IM Ari Ziegler put is best: "The Sicilian is your life, while the French is when you have a life outside of chess".
I think this is part of why chess.com analysis refers to the Sicilian as an inaccuracy...
@ Zyrab .... well stated...You probably summed up what I was trying to say with a few words, before I was able to finish my book...
I also managed to beat an NM this way
the b6 line:
the b6 line:
Without a comprehensive analysis and knowing who played what side, that diagram tells me little, other than I saw a few moves get played I don't normally see in the exchange or the advanced variations.
The thing about the French that I hate is how hard it is to play for me as black. I tried to get into the French but my results have been abysmal. As white I play Nc3 against it because the advance isn't my cup of tea. (Played it as a 1100-1200 player a couple years ago and never won a game)
I seem to be up against a better database than my opponent when I play it because, I seem to lose everytime with either color and it doesn't matter if I try the exchange or advance variations. It is also perhaps simply over my head at this stage of my development....
A line in each variation for black:
I will do other variations tomorrow
Paradox of None, I was just showing the variation.
I prefer watching the Sicilian, but I play the French because it's a solid, reliable opening that doesn't get me into trouble. In addition, there are ways to deal with the light-squared bishop.
The French Advance avoids the Rubinstein so that's one plus of it. It's a fine variation, I just can't ever make it work..
Many people seem convinced that the french is boring. For those of you who agree, please research the winawer poisoned pawn variation.
I hate it when my oppenent plays the French. It's closed, and not tactical and I usually get lost early. When some one plays the french on me, I'm ready to flip the table and give up right there.
That's why they do it.