<Comment deleted by user>
If you really want to know how to play the white side of the french without drifting of into weird sidelines that are not frequently played on top level for a reason, then you should study the games of masters.
Either pick your favourite player or just Ivanchuck (because he always is a good choice www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?pid=12183&playercomp=white&opening=C00-C19&title=Vassily%20Ivanchuk%20playing%20the%20French%20Defense%20as%20White)
and then go over all their games
take your time on each game, don't just fly over them
maybe pick two games a day and analyse the crap out of them, not only the opening but also the resulting middlegame and endgame
take notes or use the lichess study tool so you can always go over it again
after a week you will see masive improvements
if you think a week is too much and you look for something faster
there isn't. getting better at chess is hard work and there are no shortcuts
Either pick your favourite player or just Ivanchuck (because he always is a good choice www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?pid=12183&playercomp=white&opening=C00-C19&title=Vassily%20Ivanchuk%20playing%20the%20French%20Defense%20as%20White)
and then go over all their games
take your time on each game, don't just fly over them
maybe pick two games a day and analyse the crap out of them, not only the opening but also the resulting middlegame and endgame
take notes or use the lichess study tool so you can always go over it again
after a week you will see masive improvements
if you think a week is too much and you look for something faster
there isn't. getting better at chess is hard work and there are no shortcuts
<Comment deleted by user>
I recommend trying the King's Indian Attack. It's an easy opening to learn and you can use it against the French like so:
1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. g3 c5 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. Ngf3 Be7 7. O-O
This line was a favourite of Fischer's against the French. He also played the KIA against the Sicilian before he got into the Open Sicilian.
1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. g3 c5 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. Ngf3 Be7 7. O-O
This line was a favourite of Fischer's against the French. He also played the KIA against the Sicilian before he got into the Open Sicilian.
Have you tried alternate methods to reach it?
I have got decent success with this.
e4-e6 Nf3 d5 e5 c5 b4 cxb4 a3 --.
Regardless if he grabs the pawn or do something else, you will have a pawn structure of c3-d4-e5, with your bishop on c3, and a good attacking chance.
Now, french players are all about the book, and when the position is out of the book, they often fail.
It is true that they can push to c4, but that closes the lines, they want to open.
when you do b4, they are the ones that need to capture, because if they play b6 and you capture, they keep the pawn structure that you dont want. If they get their queen early to the a or b column, make sure you do grab the a pawn (if they double capture) cause it might give you trouble, but its easy to avoid, just respond his plan to defend it with your plan to capture without delay.
Anyways. If you are able to reach the pawn structure i just mentioned
1.- Castling is optional most of the times, so you can accelerate your attack.
Regardless if you castle or not, you do have to launch an attack asap because the a and b pawns will roll if you are slow. Its a double edge situation.
Got it from an old dvd. Have not tested against AI, but i have tested extensively against humans. The 3 games i got to test them OTB, i got 1 win against a stronger player than me, and 2 draws, 1 against the same guy, 1 against a National Master (both 2100~, but real, not lichess 2100). Real rating, I am myself around 1700-1800.
On the site however, i play it quite frequently. Id say I get a bit over 50% of the points. TBH, you are slightly worse overall, but
1.- You get them out of theory, i tell you man, they are often terrible out of the book. Who cares if you are material dawn when they have no king.
2.- You can almost see and feel the frustration they give to you when you are deep in their theory.
3.- You genuinely have an attack. Greek gift Sac is on the table if they are not careful. Their black squares bishop will be behind your pawn wall if they recaptured on b4 and retreated to a5 after c3-d4, and the light square bishop will be behind his pawn wall. Not much coordination from black on the defense.
4.- If they followed the first 5 moves, You will reach a stable position for a while. You have all the space, black has some issues untangling, and they dont have an attack on the a5-e1 diagonal nor the a7-g1 diagonal, which is the source of your problems against that opening, as both knights (and often the queen) are attacking d4 and you are pinned and unable to defend it.
Give it a go, at least test it on a blank board and see if you like the position after 5-6 moves. Its very playable despite the pawn disparity.
1 more thing. if you get e4 c5, Sicilian defense, and you are bad at it. You can go b4 cxb4 a3, yada yada, and you transpose.
I have got decent success with this.
e4-e6 Nf3 d5 e5 c5 b4 cxb4 a3 --.
Regardless if he grabs the pawn or do something else, you will have a pawn structure of c3-d4-e5, with your bishop on c3, and a good attacking chance.
Now, french players are all about the book, and when the position is out of the book, they often fail.
It is true that they can push to c4, but that closes the lines, they want to open.
when you do b4, they are the ones that need to capture, because if they play b6 and you capture, they keep the pawn structure that you dont want. If they get their queen early to the a or b column, make sure you do grab the a pawn (if they double capture) cause it might give you trouble, but its easy to avoid, just respond his plan to defend it with your plan to capture without delay.
Anyways. If you are able to reach the pawn structure i just mentioned
1.- Castling is optional most of the times, so you can accelerate your attack.
Regardless if you castle or not, you do have to launch an attack asap because the a and b pawns will roll if you are slow. Its a double edge situation.
Got it from an old dvd. Have not tested against AI, but i have tested extensively against humans. The 3 games i got to test them OTB, i got 1 win against a stronger player than me, and 2 draws, 1 against the same guy, 1 against a National Master (both 2100~, but real, not lichess 2100). Real rating, I am myself around 1700-1800.
On the site however, i play it quite frequently. Id say I get a bit over 50% of the points. TBH, you are slightly worse overall, but
1.- You get them out of theory, i tell you man, they are often terrible out of the book. Who cares if you are material dawn when they have no king.
2.- You can almost see and feel the frustration they give to you when you are deep in their theory.
3.- You genuinely have an attack. Greek gift Sac is on the table if they are not careful. Their black squares bishop will be behind your pawn wall if they recaptured on b4 and retreated to a5 after c3-d4, and the light square bishop will be behind his pawn wall. Not much coordination from black on the defense.
4.- If they followed the first 5 moves, You will reach a stable position for a while. You have all the space, black has some issues untangling, and they dont have an attack on the a5-e1 diagonal nor the a7-g1 diagonal, which is the source of your problems against that opening, as both knights (and often the queen) are attacking d4 and you are pinned and unable to defend it.
Give it a go, at least test it on a blank board and see if you like the position after 5-6 moves. Its very playable despite the pawn disparity.
1 more thing. if you get e4 c5, Sicilian defense, and you are bad at it. You can go b4 cxb4 a3, yada yada, and you transpose.
Thanks for your suggestions 😃😃
Learn to meet the Winawer and play the advanced variation as well and play the Milner-Barry gambit, scares the French Defence players no end. lol
@Alientcp thanks for your suggestions but I don't trust gambits and against Sicilian, I am happy with the open sicilian active play without giving up a pawn!
@Mahith1708 Okay 👌 you don't like gambits, you don't have to play gambits. Like I said also learn the Winawer it is the strongest thing that a French player has against the 1.e4 player. Learn to time your a3 move that is it.
@michuk I do like gambits, you tagged the wrong person.
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