French Defense - I got totally crushed

I have played French Defense thousands of times and never encountered this type of attack. I was expecting milner barry gambit but apparently he completely tore open my kingside. Is this a repertoire that I am not aware of or did my opponent make a subpar move? What was the correct refutation?

Yea I reuploaded the diagram. 

Ng5 is sometimes an attacking idea in this type of structure but I think it's not so good here. You just must avoid blundering with h6 like you did. Play 8... g6 first and only then h6. Better still could be 7... g6 because it seems that after 7... cxd4 white could consider 8. Nxh7. Or maybe 7... Nxd4!?

Millner-Barry gambit is 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Bd7 8. 0-0. You can't have Millner-Barry after f4.

In your game, it looks like you can still defend by 9...Nd8.

Instead of 7...cxd4, considering that White did not play c3 defending the d4 pawn, c4 attacking White's light-squares Bishop with a subsequent Nxd4 or Qxd4 is an option.

However, just after the simple developing move 7...Nh6!? (a usual move against the f4 lines, instead of Ne7-f5, letting Black's dark-squares Bishop's path free and in this case, protecting the f7 square) looks perfectly fine: What are White good moves now?

* d4 is attacked twice and undefended, it will fall even if White moves the d3 Bishop and if White gets rid of it by 8.dxc5 Bxc5, Black is clearly better (I didn't checked every move in detail though, I just have quick look at it).

* So White can try to grab a pawn in return by 8.Bxh7 cxd4. If you look at the position, the h7 pawn is cold comfort to White: Black got a central pawn in return, control over e3 and c3 making White's development painful and an open long diagonal pointing at White's kingside.

In this position, I would think about 0-0-0 after which Black simply threatens to get White's Bishop in h7 (for instance: 8.Bxh7 cxd4 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.Rh1? f6 and two pieces are attacked at the same time).

Even on 8.Bxh7 cxd4 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.Bd3 (avoiding the double attack) ... f6 looks good. If White's Knight retreat to f3 (where else?), then you have plenty of targets:

You can already play 11.Nf3 Nb4 to trade White's light square Bishop (12.Be2?? d3+) though, there is no need to rush so you can play 11. Nf3 Ng4!? first with the idea ...Ne3. If Bxe3, White is definitely extra weak on dark squares and the hanging b2 pawn could become a target (I would only take it if I could spread terror on the backrank pieces, otherwise, it just opens a file on Black's King)

If White plays exf6?!, you play ...gxf6 and you get the "g" and "h" semi-open files for your rook and a new diagonal to put your Bishop on.

(I did not check these variations with a chess engine, so they are maybe not the most accurate but it looks like a simple way to "refute" 7.Ng5 to me)

Excellent. Thnx for a thorough analyses of the position. I never knew that nh6 is a refuter for a f4 pawn move. Can you elaborate why though? I usually don't put my knight on the edge, abiding by "knight on the rim is dim" rule (except French Defense advance variation mainline requires it). And just like you said, queenside castling seems much more viable to me. 

yeah I agree that g6 was a better move. But at that time I thought that g6 did not achieve anything, for it did not threat any pieces and aimlessly pushed h6 in hopes of getting rid of the knight that was bearing down f7. Without kicking the knight away it will take time for me to castle queenside because king was the only piece defending that square. 

Well, Qh5 is simply a move you must see in advance.

However, I was wrong to condemn h6. 8... h6 9. Qh5 Nd8 actually seems quite playable. I saw Nd8 when writing my first comment but thought white could get advantage there too. However, now I don't see how. 10. Nxf7 Nxf7 11. Bg6 is possible but 11... 0-0-0 12. Bxf7 Ne7 leads to an unclear position. Probably 8... g6 would still have been bit better but the fact that even h6 is playable just underlines how premature white's attack is.

...Nh6 is not a "refuter for a f4 pawn move" by itself, it's just that the line I gave you, only starting with ...Nh6, looks like a good way to get a better position after White played Ng5.

In "usual" French lines, Black plan is mostly about putting pressure on d4. You know the usual moves: ...c5/...Nc6/...Qb6/ and ...Ne7-f5. When White plays f4 instead of Nf3 first, it gives White another option than just ...Ne7-Nf5 which is ...Nh6: the f4-pawn block White's dark-squared Bishop diagonal, the Knight can go to f5 later from here, it also control g4 which prevents an early pawn storm, and the e7 square remains free for Black's dark-squares Bishop.

In this particular variation, it is also good because it protects f7 and allow you to carry your plan with ...0-0-0 / ...f6 and it can jump to g4 and e3 with good use. It is important to know when you have to break rules of thumb like "Knight on the rim is dim" for concrete positional or tactical reasons, and there are plenty of opening variations where a knight is played on the edge of the board.

It's actually a bit surprising that you are afraid of it and succeed in reaching +1900.

I have to admit I did not see nd8 response because I was so panicked. Even though nd8 holds the position, I still think that White has better chance than Black because he can always delaying capturing the f7 square while developing his pieces. Meanwhile Black yet has pieces to develop and castling queenside will be hard with a knight blocking the king from castling (assuming that kingside castling is way too dangerous for Black). 

Well I am a bit surprised that you are in the 1600s when you have thorough understanding of the position (no sarcasm intended). With your understanding I believe you should be in the higher pool. I guess tactics helped me reach +1900. Anyhow when I play French I usually avoid castling queenside because I always found the hole in the c-file (since you usually thrust your pawn to c5) weakening for the king. If I understand correctly, the general thematic idea of the French Defense is to seize the queenside initiative by pushing the pawns forward whilst castling kingside. If I were to castle queenside I think I should close the center first. 

Your opponent played better apart from the King side f7 blunder the

only major one as per me is 19.....Rf8.could have played Nb3 forcing the

exchange and still was better..

should have castle earlier when he brought his bishop

No sarcasm on my side either.

I play lightly on the internet, I'm a bit slow in blitz games, plus I have a very sh*tty internet connection. I don't even have a residential gateway, I'm using a "hotspot" with sometimes disconnection every minute... You can see in my games record a lot of lost games by disconnection lately with a few moves (11-15). I reached +1700 after figuring out how to premove (hem) but my third world internet brought me back here. Sensitive topic, it drives me crazy.

The queenside castling is not a general advice in the French opening, it is an advice given the concrete position you showed us after Ng5. In this case, you have concrete reasons to do it and it is backed up by calculated variations:

- it allows f6 to push back the f5 Knight, White will lose tempi by bringing back its pieces in d3 and f3 

- your second rook is available on the kingside after Black takes ...fxe5 or if White takes first with exf6 gxf6.

- you can do it precisely because your opponent is far behind in development and he cannot threat anything at the moment against your king there.

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As a rule of thumb, in the French advance variation, I use the pawn-chain as a shield for my king and I don't castle before I succeeded in trading White's light-squared Bishop or another piece usually required for White to carry out sacrifices on Black castle.

The main thematic idea in this variation is to put pressure on d4 so that White pieces are played to defend it. Once it's done, I usually try to trade White light-squared Bishop as I said and then it's middlegame (or often endgame).

Have a look at this  Grandmaster game . It gives you a simple way of dealing with the main variation. I humbly analysed it below the diagram. It happens that Black castled queenside in this crazy game too, but once again, only for concrete (tactical) reasons.

Not really. White simply doesn't have enough attackers. With few carefull moves black should be able to drive the white pieces back and then the knight can return to c6.

Nice one. Thanks for giving this.