Move 6)...Na5 fails to exploit a trap white has fallen into ; 6)...Nxe5 wins a pawn (white bishop is hanging and must trade, knight recaptures) and since the french holds long term positional play over tactics this pawn probaly means victory in end game.
6)...Na5 also drags your knight from the center and complicates getting the queen to b6, a square it needs to be on, after the bishop trade
That would also give me a chance for a f6 push earlier, correct? Thanks for the insight there.
Vive la défense francaise! Je la joue souvent.
Rule of thumb for the black king knight: it goes on e7 so it can get to f5 and attack the base of the white pawn structure, but if the white center is trashed enough it can go to f6. Here I would still put it on e7 to resume pressure on the white queen pawn, especialy since the black queen knight is no longer soing so
Rule of thumb for the king's bishop pawn: don't push it to f6. White tends to sac a bishop against the king rook pawn after black castles and move in with queen and knight for check mate. There is no need to weaken the king side and assist white.
Though I haven't ever used it in a French Defense game, I thought the f6 push was characteristic of a lot of variations. It made sense to me, because I play the English a lot and after Ne2, I can launch a kingside attack via f4. That's interesting that doesn't work here.
4.Nf3 is playable, but if I were black, I would jump at that opportunity to play 4...cxd4. c3 provides the opportunity to recapture with cxd4 yourself, maintaining the pawn chain; otherwise the e5 pawn will eternally require defense by a piece.
12.Nxe5 is the obvious win of a pawn, nothing wrong with that. But why not 13... Bd6? Now that you've removed that thorn in your side, you can complete development comfortably and start trading pieces.
I would've preferred 14...Bd6 again, for reasons that become clear in the game. I liked his 16.b5, but not sure why he didn't follow it up with 17.Nc6 -- either he has to pitch the b6 pawn with Nhe7, or use the queen to defend it, in which case he has time for Ne2-d4, with a strong position.
18... f6. I think that move is fine here. White's light-square bishop is already gone, so the weakening of the kingside is less of an issue, and clearly your best plan is to expand in the center with your pawns. I would have played it the same way.
23...h6? Even aside from missing the Nc4 follow-up, this move DOES weaken your kingside appreciably, and for no benefit -- g5 is already under your control!
Decent game overall, nice work.
In your analysis of 8... Nc4 you had 9.b3 Nb2 white plays 10.Qc1 trapping the knight.
18...f6. to answer your question, no. an immediate e5 would give white the advantage. I personally would have liked to have seen 18... Nf6 because that move does a world of good for black. White cannot capture on f6 because of the serious problem he would face in the center. But, I don't see any problem with 18...f6.
On your 20th move, you have to evaluate if it's ok to capture the hanging pawn and not worry about castling until you're certain that castling is better than capturing. Sometimes the fear of leaving your king in the center too long gets in the way of sound judgement and rational decision-making. Not that your move was bad, but did you ask yourself can the pawn be captured without much consequence? just a consideration.
the f6 push rule doesn't apply in this game as white has already traded the king (white square) bishop but it applies to most french games as white almost never trades the king bishop
If this position (after the 16th move ..a5) was from one of a Chessmasters tutorials, it would point out the "killer outpost" on c6 for one of the white knights. I think that is strategically a weakness. Or maybe I am missing some tactics that prevented the pawn exchange?
Thepitbull, I hadn't even thought of playing 18. . .Nf6 for fear of doubling my pawns, but I think you're entirely right about the fact that white wouldn't want to take, as I'd be able to build up too much pressure in the center. thanks for your other thoughts as well.
Spiffe and antra are both right, I think, about the nice outpost for white's knight on c6 that he never capitalized on. That could have spelled no shortage of problems for me, and would have halted my kingside play, in order to deal with it.
Sablewhist, I think you're right to point out about white not usually wanting to trade his light-squared bishop. At the point where he traded, I felt like I already had a small advantage, though as you point out Nxe5 would have made an even bigger advantage for black in the opening.
Thanks for your thoughts everyone! Anything else I'm missing?
So you are getting used to the French! Good game. Even though you missed some stuff, you are gaining experience. Someday you will be proficient at the French Defense.
Here's a recent live game 30 I played on chess.com. I'm new to the French, and this is the most solid I've played it so far, but I know I've missed some great tactics and positional considerations, so any help or advice would be much appreciated. Also, I know some of the endgame moves are especially suspect, as both myself and my opponent were nearing the end of our clocks, so if you have any good rules of thumb, feel free to relate them.