The French Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: 1. e4 e6
This is most commonly followed by 2.d4 d5, with Black intending ...c5 at a later stage, attacking White's centre and gaining space on the queenside. White has extra space in the centre and on the kingside and often plays for a breakthrough with f4–f5. The French has a reputation for solidity and resilience, although some lines such as the Winawer Variation can lead to sharp complications. Black's position is often somewhat cramped in the early game; in particular, the pawn on e6 can impede the development of the bishop on c8.
Classical Variation: 3...Nf6
This is major system in the French. White can continue with the following options:
4.Bg5 White threatens 5.e5, attacking the pinned knight. Black has a number of ways to meet this threat:
The Burn Variation, named after Amos Burn, is the most common reply at the top level: 4... dxe4 5. Nxe4 and usually there now follows: 5... Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 Nd7 or 7... 0-0, resulting in a position resembling those arising from the Rubinstein Variation. However, here Black has the bishop pair, with greater dynamic chances (although White's knight is well placed on e4), so this line is more popular than the Rubinstein and has long been a favourite of Evgeny Bareev. Black can also try 5...Be7 6.Bxf6 gxf6, as played by Alexander Morozevich and Gregory Kaidanov; by following up with ...f5 and ...Bf6, Black obtains active piece play in return for his shattered pawn structure. Another line that resembles the Rubinstein is 5...Nbd7 6.Nf3 Be7 (6...h6 is also tried) 7. Nxf6+ Bxf6.
4... Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 used to be the main line and remains important, even though the Burn Variation has overtaken it in popularity. The usual continuation is 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 0-0 (not 7... c5? 8. Nb5!) 8. Nf3 c5, when White has a number of options, including 9.Bd3, 9.Qd2 and 9.dxc5. An alternative for White is the gambit 6. h4, which was devised by Adolf Albin and played by Chatard, but not taken seriously until the game Alekhine–Fahrni, Mannheim 1914. It is known today as the Albin–Chatard Attack or the Alekhine–Chatard Attack. After 6... Bxg5 7. hxg5 Qxg5 8. Nh3 Qe7 9. Qg4 g6 10. Ng5 (the reason for 8.Nh3 rather than 8.Nf3 is to play Qg4), White has sacrificed a pawn to keep the black king in the center, as casting neither queenside nor kingside appears safe. Another point of the gambit is that Black's natural French Defence move 6... c5 runs into 7. Bxe7 when Black must either move the king with 7... Kxe7 or allow 7... Qxe7 8. Nb5! with a dual threat of Nc7+, winning the rook on a8, and Nd6+, when Black's king must move and the knight is very strong on d6.Black may decline the gambit in several ways such as 6... a6 and 6... h6. After 6...a6, white can continue to play for an attack with the aggressive 7. Qg4! threatening Bxe7 and then Qxg7. Black is forced to eliminate the bishop with 7... Bxg5 8. hxg5, opening up the h-file. A wild game with unsafe kings is sure to ensue. 6... h6 is a safer declination of the sacrifice, forcing the bishop to trade with 7.Bxe7 Qxe7 after which white may continue to try to attack on the kingside in anticipation of black casting kingside (since queenside casting is undesirable due to the need for c5) with 8. g4! a6 9. f4! with a menacing attack.
A third choice for Black is to counterattack with the McCutcheon Variation. In this variation, the second player ignores White's threat of e4–e5 and instead plays 4... Bb4. The main line continues: 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4. At this point Black may play 8...g6, which weakens the kingside dark squares but keeps the option of castling queenside, or 8...Kf8. An alternative way white can treat 5...h6 is to carry through with the threat with 6. exf6 hxg5 7.fxg7 Rg8. The McCutcheon Variation is named for John Lindsay McCutcheon of Philadelphia (1857–1905), who brought the variation to public attention when he used it to defeat World Champion Steinitz in a simultaneous exhibition in Manhattan in 1885.
KingKikithefirst
