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| May-09-08 | | FrogC: <hrvyklly> When I was a regular French player, I always found the positional lines hardest to play against. They (and to a lesser extent, the Tarrasch) were the main reason I switched to the Sicilian. |
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| May-09-08 | | GBKnight: <hrvyklly> 7a4 was often played to prevent Qa4 and to facilitate a later Ba3 by white. 7Nf3 just gets on with the game and invites black to play Qa4 anyway. In practice it usually transposes but if white persists then black will play Qa4 and whites plan of putting the bishop on the a3/f8 diagonal is stopped. This bishop is often a thorn in black's side, either hampering the devlopment of his rooks, or assisting with an attack on the b-file, often from d6.
At the level of mere mortals I am always pleased (as black) when white goes into the Qg4 lines, and I consider it a matter of honour to go into the pawn-sacrifice lines, but if I get this line once a year I am doing well.
At GM level, however, black seems to prefer 0-0 to sacrificing the g- and h-pawns, which tells you something about their view of the current state of theory, but that is no reason not to play it. |
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| May-09-08 | | hrvyklly: Thanks <GBKnight> and <FrogC>. I have to admit that apart from the amount of theory, that in a lot of the 7.Qg4 lines (especially the sharpest) I've often preferred Black's position - I tended to be glad when Black played O-O and worried when he offers the g- and h-pawns. I may well start with 7.a4, but experiment with 7.Nf3 to see if I'm more/less comfortable with the nuances. |
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| Aug-10-08 | | drukenknight: A double rook sacrifice ends on an amusing note. The opening was messed up, just go to the diagram. Starts out as a positional French 1 e4 e6, then this guy starts to play positionally, 1. e4 e6
2. h3 a5 (I have no idea what is best but on principle, I will respond to his K side advance w/ q-side and I'd rather push him out 2 squares just to be different.) 3. Nf3 c5 (I am messing up, usually I play ...c5 vs 2 Nf3 and enter a Kan sicilian or something but this pawn move seems wrong) 4. Nc3 Nf6
5. a3 Nc6
6. d3 d5
7. exd5 Nxd5
8. Nb5 Bd7
9. c4 Nf6
10. Bf4 Be7? (Rc8 for sensible players)
11. Nc7+ Kf8
12. Nxa8 Qxa8
13. Be2 Nh5
14. Bh2 Bf6
15. Rb1 g5
16. Nxg5 Bxg5
17. Bxh5 Nd4
18. Be5 b6
19. Bxh8 Qxg2
20. Rf1 e5
Position after 20...e5. White to move and be careful... 
click for larger view |
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| Feb-20-09 | | WeakSquare: Is it just me, or has the French been steadily disappearing from top level chess? Of the young GMs today (under 35) only Morozevich uses it (without too much success). But until 20 years ago it was the most common answer to 1.e4 after the Sicilian. Botvinnik, Bronstein, Korchnoi, Uhlmann, Benko, Petrosian and later, Gurevich, Short, Beliavsky, Yusupov all played it with success. What is the reason for this? It is just bad, or it doesn't suit modern temperament? |
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| Feb-20-09 | | chessman95: It may be partly related to the GM's growing respect of bishops over knights. Also, even though the French Defense is not a super popular opening, there is an enormous amount of theory on it, and it would take a long time to learn. I personally don't like it because of the space advantage white usually gets from black's passive first move, although I sometimes play the Caro-Kann, which is similar with the differences that it allows the Bishop to get out and there is very little theory to study. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | chessman95: By the way, according to this site's stats, the Caro-Kann Defense gets 1.5% more wins or draws for black than the French Defense, so it is at least (in my opinion) equal to the French. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | WeakSquare: Yeah, Caro-Kann seems like an improved French. Only French used to be more interesting, though. Winawer was one of the most creative openings for a long time, both positionally and tactically. There is a big hole where Winawer once was. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | euripides: <weaksquare> Yes, I think that Black was thought to have problems in the Winawer and as a result when the French is played White has switched back to Nc3 and the classical Nc3 Nf6 is seen much more than it was before. One of Nigel Short's Telegraph columns gave a line in the poisoned pawn variation that explained why he had, reluctantly, come to feel the Winawer was too difficult for Black. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | parisattack: Fashion - which of course is related to the prevailing style of the time as in - <chessman95: It may be partly related to the GM's growing respect of bishops over knights. > But I think someday it will make a comeback. It has certainly proven its soundness and is more dynamic than most Caro-Kann lines. There is more to plumb in the Winawer, I'm sure, and the MacCutcheon seems to perform reasonably well. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | Marmot PFL: <There is a big hole where Winawer once was.>
Ever since Korchnoi and Uhlmann got old. However players like Grischuk and Shulman have played some nice games with black. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | chessman95: Once again I think the problem with the Winawer is that white usually gets the bishop pair, and nowadays most GMs won't just "give up" one of their bishops for a knight. However, if some players can get over the obsession of getting the bishop pair and start focusing on the positional merits of the Winawer, it might make a comeback. |
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| Feb-20-09 | | MaxxLange: My bet is: fashion. The French will come back! |
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| Feb-20-09 | | chessman95: Maybe, but it may not ever be as popular as it once was. Another reason that many people don't like it is that it is a true defense, while the much more popular Sicilian probably should be called the Sicilian Counterattack, as that it just what it is. Personally, I would rather play the Sicilian and take my chances with attack against attack then play the French and wait for white to make a mistake to start an attack. Also, in the Sicilian the better player usually wins, because it is an attack-on-attack opening, so I think that the strongest players will continue to choose it over the French, which may hinder its popularity for a long time. |
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| Feb-21-09 | | WeakSquare: <chessman95> That's true about the Sicilian. It has pushed back all other e4 defenses. But, if Winawer is bad for Black, why has the Advance Variation (3.e5) become popular recently? It is obviously not very good for White. |
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| Feb-21-09 | | chessman95: Actually, the Advance Variation is only slightly worse than the average French: black's winning percentage is not affected much and the draw rate only goes up a little. Personally, I like it because it immediatly locks up the center and gains space, and also because black's light-squared bishop is trapped in, while his dark-squared bishop only has a few squares to go to. Often later into the game as white I play a3, and then both bishops don't do anything for a while. It's almost like having a 6-point advantage going into the middle game. If white uses his "extra" forces to build up a good attack, then black will have plenty work to do to catch up. |
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| Feb-21-09 | | slomarko: <Of the young GMs today (under 35) only Morozevich uses it (without too much success).> poor Moro with his unsuccessful french:
Anand vs Morozevich, 2004
Svidler vs Morozevich, 2005
V Zvjaginsev vs Morozevich, 2005
Svidler vs Morozevich, 2007
B Savchenko vs Morozevich, 2007
Svidler vs Morozevich, 2007
B Predojevic vs Morozevich, 2008 |
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| Feb-22-09 | | WeakSquare: <slomarko> Most of those are blitz and blindfold. But who else uses it successfully? Bareev, Ivanchuk??? Actually, there is a game by Kasparov doing a good job from the Black side of French: Kamsky vs Kasparov, 1989 |
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| Feb-22-09 | | WeakSquare: But in the old days there was this:
Geller vs Uhlmann, 1970
and this:
Fischer vs V Kovacevic, 1970
and also this:
Reshevsky vs Vaganian, 1976 |
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| Feb-22-09 | | slomarko: <WeakSquare: <slomarko> Most of those are blitz and blindfold.> are you a little stupid or something? none of the game is blitz and only 2 are blind. |
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| Feb-22-09 | | WeakSquare: Please, Savchenko and Svidler games are Blitz. Or Rapid, okay.. |
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| Feb-22-09 | | WeakSquare: And Moro is extremely good at blindfold... |
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| Feb-22-09 | | slomarko: okay then here are some french games from last year. all classical time control: I Cheparinov vs Vallejo-Pons, 2008
V Gashimov vs Korchnoi, 2008
I Cheparinov vs Grischuk, 2008
I Cheparinov vs Topalov, 2008
Topalov vs Ivanchuk, 2008 |
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| Feb-22-09 | | WeakSquare: Yeah, good games, thanks... Nice to see Chepa losing with White. |
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| Feb-22-09 | | whiteshark: <WeakSquare> Nice French games, though not C00. :D |
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