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Feb-08-07
 | | keypusher: Oh, and this one. M Gurevich vs Short, 1990 A must-win game from the last round of an interzonal, if I have my facts right. |
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| Dec-11-07 | | xeroxmachine: Hoho the only version of the french where I have plus score. I hate the french generally :( |
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Sep-13-08
 | | whiteshark: There's a way: OUT!
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... |
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| Feb-02-09 | | Minty: <Themofro> When I used to play the french, I actually found the Tarrasch easiest to play against after 3... Nf6. After an eventual ...f6 and ...e5, I would quite often get a good kingside attack. As for the advance variation, I've found it to be a useful weapon as white, since most french players seem to assume they have an easy game after 3... c5, and don't actually know how to play it. |
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Feb-02-09
 | | Marmot PFL: < Minty> Advance and exchange lines don't worry me, though I find both somewhat boring. I have given up 3...Nf6 against the Tarrasch though, and now almost always play 3...c5 4.ed5 Qxd5. |
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| Feb-02-09 | | AnalyzeThis: <themofro: Just my personal opinion but i believe that the strongest variation for white in the french is the Tarrasch, for several reasons. One it avoids the Winawer!!! > Is the Winawer to be avoided? In some positions, it's basically a forced win for white by pushing the h pawn right down the board. |
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Feb-02-09
 | | OBIT: <AnalyzeThis>Yeh, the Winawer probably has a better reputation than it deserves, and you can probably blame Fischer for that. His results against the Winawer were on the shaky side, at least compared to how he seemed to have little difficulty destroying any other Black opening. The really notorious game, though, was Fischer vs V Kovacevic, 1970, in which Fischer was crushed in 30 moves by an IM - his only loss to a non-GM in the years 1970 to 1972. |
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| Feb-02-09 | | AnalyzeThis: What I never understood about that was, here you have Fischer, who plays the Poisoned Pawn Sicilian with ....Qb6 with great success, yet when given the chance to play the Posioned Pawn French (Qg4 and Qxg7 etc.) he passed up on that. |
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| Feb-16-09 | | Julian91: Just hate it. French player, it's absolutely BORING. |
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Feb-20-09
| | Marmot PFL: <Is the Winawer to be avoided? In some positions, it's basically a forced win for white by pushing the h pawn right down the board.> Games like that are extremely rare. Often black can block the h pawn with one rook and eat it with the other. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | AnalyzeThis: Last I checked, white has as many rooks as black. Is a passed pawn good? |
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| Feb-20-09 | | chessman95: In my opinion, the Exchange French is a bit of a stupid choice for white. He lets black get an identicle position when he should try to exploit black's passive 1...e6 to get space advantage and build up an attack. Also, this variation lets black get away with trapping his bishop in by letting it out right away. I don't reccomend this at all. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | holygrail: I don't like the French but it is not very favorable for white. Black's next move would be to control the center and get all the pieces out like a normal human. I used to play this all the time. I hate it when people reply 2.Nf3. Blows my mind why they do it. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | chessman95: Another annoying reply that I have run into is 2.c4, which makes you hesitate to play 2...d5. Does anyone know how to play this line? |
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Feb-20-09
 | | ganstaman: <chessman95: Another annoying reply that I have run into is 2.c4, which makes you hesitate to play 2...d5. Does anyone know how to play this line?> I always play as black 1. e4 e6 2. c4 c5. The main point is that by playing e4 and c4, white has tried to claim the d5 square at the cost of the d4 square. By playing ...e6, you keep control of the d5 square, and by playing ...c5, you take that hole on d4. So net plus to black. However, I think you have to be ready to play the black side of the Maroczy bind after something like 1. e4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 [Nc6, d6, etc] 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 |
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| Feb-20-09 | | chessman95: thanks <gangstaman> |
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Feb-21-09
| | Marmot PFL: <AnalyzeThis> If black plays 0-0-0 his rooks can get to the g and h files easily. White's queen rook usually goes to b1 where it isn't helping the h pawn much. Anyway I always felt if my opponent wants to spend tempi pushing a pawn instead of developing pieces I'm all for it. |
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| Feb-21-09 | | nescio: ganstaman: <<chessman95: Another annoying reply that I have run into is 2.c4, which makes you hesitate to play 2...d5. Does anyone know how to play this line?>
I always play as black 1. e4 e6 2. c4 c5.> I do think it often leads to equal positions if you know what you are doing and are careful not to end up in an utterly passive position after White's d3. A scary example is this recent game where my opponent occupied d4, but didn't realize the danger to his king until it was too late: http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=105... <However, I think you have to be ready to play the black side of the Maroczy bind after something like 1. e4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 [Nc6, d6, etc] 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4> Yes, but theoretically that isn't terribly dangerous either. There are many examples which indicate that the positions after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 or 5...a6 6.Nc3 d6 are quite equal and offer chances to both sides. I prefer ...Bb4, but that should be a matter of taste. |
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| Mar-17-09 | | FiveofSwords: you know, the exchange is not really equal yet. if you look at the position, you will see its completely symetrical, and there are some open lines and diagonals. Now whose turn is it to move? If white has an advantage on the 1st move, then he must have an advantage here...in fact, slightly more because opening the position assists the person with an edge in development, theoretically. I usually play the tarrasch but ill play the exchange now and then. |
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| Mar-18-09 | | chessman95: <FiveofSwords> It is true that in a symetrical position white has a slight advantage, but most theorists consider this opening to be equal because black can easily 'unsymetrize' the game and come out with a tactic that gains the tempo back. One tempo in that position is just not enough. Also, this variation may be perfectly playable as you say, but it is not popular partly because of other better options for white. The reason is that white 'lets' black get a symetrical position out of a position where white has a space advantage, instead of trying to use that space to get a better position. |
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| Mar-20-09 | | FiveofSwords: better? i dont know, the character is different. im really not impressed with whites space advantage in the french, unless black does something stupid. But against the tarasch for example black could play c5 immediately and ok its time to liquidate the center already. So these pawns in the center are not something my experience has taught me to take very seriously in this particular position, unless black is one of those retard french players who like to waste a lot of moves (why do some people do that?). I just move the pawns to get them out of my way I dont have any great plans for them. And of course, as everyone knows, they can become pretty weak. I know the french well enough to not let my center actually get weak but it drastically reduces your options in how to develop, and usually you are going to wind up in a near equal central situation anyway like 10-13 moves later. So why not just accept that black may know how to deal with your center, give him the central equality immediately, but then test how good he is with piece play, rather than pawn play? Its a practical decision based on what you know of your opponent imo. |
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| Mar-20-09 | | chessman95: <FiveofSwords> First of all, theoretically everthing you said is completely wrong. Of course this is not what matters, it's practical analysis that helps the most. You're entire case was based on practical assumtions that black will eventually get the space back. The problem is that I can't argue against you using theoretical statements, which without a doubt would favor me. I do however have an interesting link here to a page which states that after 3.Nf3 white wins about 40% of the time and loses only 25%, while in the exchange black is more likely to win. (Opening Explorer) For this and no other reason, I have to say that you're statements were false and indeed in real play white does in fact hold on to its space advantage and this gives it a large advantage. |
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| Mar-20-09 | | FiveofSwords: look, no offense, you obviously are not a great player and have a lot to learn about the game. the fact that you seem to refuse to beleive this makes it really not worth the trouble for me to try to show you some of the more subtle ideas of chess. |
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| Mar-21-09 | | chessman95: <you obviously are not a great player> Besides the fact that you're being extremely arrogant, really, who is great at chess? Chess as played by humans is basically a struggle to get as near as we can to optimal play, while keeping in mind the human qualities that enter our play. And I don't in any way 'deny' that I'm not a 'great' player... I don't know anyone on cg.com who would (except maybe you from that last comment you made). Unless you're a GM or have a crazy amount of experience and knowledge that I don't have, then there's no reason for you to have to <show me some of the more subtle ideas of chess.> Beleive me, we all have lots to learn about chess. If you take a few hours next week to study the Exchange French then you will 'learn' that it's really not as good as the other variations. |
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Mar-21-09
| | KingG: <FiveofSwords> Since you are telling other people that they are obviously not great players, why not tell us your rating so we can get an idea of how strong you are. Because based on your views on certain openings, particulalry the english, I wouldn't guess that you are a particularly great player yourself. |
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