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Why is Gukesh avoiding the French?

For the first time ever l see some top level GM afraid of French Defense. Ding has cleared the stereotype that people have against French.
@SarKarlsen17 said in #2:
> For the first time ever l see some top level GM afraid of French Defense. Ding has cleared the stereotype that people have against French.

I think it is from engines not doing well with the French, so people assume that it's not good for humans either. But recent engines like Leela with WDL contempt have shown all sorts of new strong ideas in openings.
@jaxu said in #3:
> I think it is from engines not doing well with the French, so people assume that it's not good for humans either
they think they are engine
@jaxu said in #3:
> I think it is from engines not doing well with the French, so people assume that it's not good for humans either. But recent engines like Leela with WDL contempt have shown all sorts of new strong ideas in openings.
What are you talking about? French equalizes fully
A blog poster knowing it better than Gukesh... omg... it is a really akward read
if Gukesh played this Ding would 100% play Qb6 and make a draw. But might be worth a try just to check it out honestly.
Is 4. Bg5 not a better way to fight for an advantage than 4. e5? After 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 White exchanges off the dark-squared bishop, which for Black is generally considered the "better" bishop and gets a pleasant position. For years I've played 4. Bg5 against the Classical French and have done very well with it. Maybe at the level of serious chess players 4. e5 is more testing than 4. Bg5?
@modernpetrosian said in #9:
> Is 4. Bg5 not a better way to fight for an advantage than 4. e5? After 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 White exchanges off the dark-squared bishop, which for Black is generally considered the "better" bishop and gets a pleasant position. For years I've played 4. Bg5 against the Classical French and have done very well with it. Maybe at the level of serious chess players 4. e5 is more testing than 4. Bg5?

4.Bg5 is also a good try for an advantage, 4...dxe4 5.Nxe4 and either 5...Be7 or 5...Nbd7 are quite solid though. If Black wants to equalize after 4.e5, he should really go for the 8...Qb6 line and be prepared for many dangerous lines.