Aggressive French
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There is an established community of French players here who I am sure are on their way. I don't think that the French is a very good way to play aggressively, but the Winawer variation could be pretty aggressive. I don't know of any gambits from the Black side in the French. There are gambits from the White side but I am not sure if any are very good.
Hammerschlag wrote:
Does anyone here play the French Defense 1) e6...
I was just wondering if there are aggressive lines in the French, possibly even gambits versus any opening. I have not ever liked the French because it is very cramped for black and I like open files for attacks; I find that I do not get that when I tried the French before, although now I am a little better (as a player) and a little more patient. I would like to try the French again and maybe learn a good, aggressive defense when I play black.
So I guess this question is for anyone who play the French or those with good working knowledge of the lines in the French Defense. Thanks.
Why play the french if you feel cramped? I'd suggest you give the center counter defense a try. It has similarities with the french but the positions are open.
I'm not french expert, but if white wants the game to be quiet or slower he can chose those lines... but that's true for about any opening. That said the french does offer some of the sharpest wild lines you'll come across, notably out of the winawer, tarrasch, and the McCutcheon, but of course there's also the french exchange... although black doesn't have to play symmetrically, can castle opposite sides, and it turns out to not be the best drawing weapon as some white players hope.
Usually there's a middle gournd. You can't force a wild game and they can't force a really quiet game.
Chess.com has written about some of the tactical situations you can encounter in the french http://www.chess.com/article/view/openings-for-tactical-players-french-defense
I have played the french for years and probably blacks most agressive line is the winawer and the McCutcheon variatiions , and against 3 Nd2 Nf6 is sharp but not as sound/solid as 3... c5.
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The french winawer poisoned pawn lines is a gambit for black and I enjoy playing both sides of it.
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Atos wrote:
There is an established community of French players here who I am sure are on their way. I don't think that the French is a very good way to play aggressively, but the Winawer variation could be pretty aggressive. I don't know of any gambits from the Black side in the French. There are gambits from the White side but I am not sure if any are very good.
lol, I'm here!
Actually, the french is extremely varied in wild positions and solid, positional ones. Still, I would guess you would want to be pretty decent at making plans, maneouvering and things of that nature. There are lots of lines where black plays very dynamically, though it kind of depends on what white plays.
Anyway, you should give it a try or two again and see for yourself. Your best bet at an aggressive game with black is playing the winawer variation against 3 Nc3, and against the tarrasch, you could just play ...Nf6 which leads to a pawn chain struggle, or maybe ...c5 and play with an isolated pawn.
I wouldn't call the french passive, and I wouldn't call it aggressive, I think the best label is "counterattacking". Black is often cramped for a little while but is trying to slowly improve his pieces and attack white's center, and at some point black may play something crazy like an exchange sac in return for say the d4 pawn, and black's pieces suddenly become very dangerous.
