A Lazy Repertoire Vs. The French

Introduction

Do you find the French Defence (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5) annoying to face?

Have you thought about playing the critical main line of 3.Nc3, but felt overwhelmed by the body of theory encompassing the Winawer (3...Bb4), Classical (3...Nf6) and Rubinstein (3...dxe4) variations?

If your answer to either question is 'yes', you've come to the right place :)

Why I Suggest 3.Nc3

I find 3.Nc3 to be the most logical move for White - we develop our knight as actively as possible (unlike 3.Nd2), keep our central space advantage (unlike 3.exd5), and increase the pressure on the d5-pawn to limit Black's options (unlike 3.e5).

For those of you who find video training more engaging than written articles, here is my YouTube training on 3.Nc3 for White:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxai7ZQtiZ0

The Opening File

For those of you who want to replay the moves from the video yourself, here is the opening file, in a Lichess Study format:

https://lichess.org/study/YWNPiyG9/AbfQNUQ9

You can download this file by clicking on the 'Share and Export' icon in the menu, then the 'Study PGN' button with the download icon just before it.

Bonus: Model Games

For those of you who made it to the end, I have included a special bonus - some model White wins, which will help you to play the arising middlegames from our repertoire with confidence.

Our first game shows how to convert White's small advantage into a win in the main line of the Alekhine Gambit of the Winawer:

https://lichess.org/awgVBYxl#27

Our second game demonstrates why the natural 6...Nf6 in the Alekhine Gambit Accepted is imprudent:

https://lichess.org/kBzmpZau#13

Our third example is a very back-and-forth game, demonstrating typical attacking ideas in the Alekhine Gambit Declined:

https://lichess.org/Cr7JdaLg

Our fourth example features the common (but dodgy) 4...Nf6 variation of the Rubinstein, showing that long castling also fails to solve Black's problems in this variation:

https://lichess.org/oXs2dFNA

Game 5 features the Alekhine-Chatard Attack, and demonstrates Black's struggles in resisting White's attack after accepting the pawn sacrifice:

https://lichess.org/kAQLp1Do

Game 6 comes from correspondence play, with White taking advantage of Black's slow queenside development:

https://lichess.org/l30gi9Hk#48

Our final game features Ivanchuk outplaying one of the old-school experts of the French in convincing style in the McCutcheon:

https://lichess.org/A5se2clq#15

Conclusion

We can see that one is not limited to playing only main lines or only sidelines in the opening; we can sometimes get the best of both worlds by playing effective shortcuts within the main line.

What was your favourite idea or game in this variation? Let us know :)