Bear Chess!: French defense

Showing posts with label French defense. Show all posts

French Game in Alekhine Memorial 2013

A French Defence game was played during the Alekhine Memorial 2013 tournament:
Direct Link to the game @ chessgames.com: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1715459

The game was played between Peter Svidler and Nikita Vitiugov, and was played in the Winawer variation of the French Defence

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4
Standard moves in the Winawer variation. Black now put pressure on Whites center because of the absolute pin on the knight.

4. e5 c5
Whites center is still under attack, attacking the d4 (regular occurring theme in French Defence).

5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3
Some pressure off from center and Blacks "good" bishop has been traded.

6...Ne7 7.Qg4 cxd4 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7
Poison Pawn variation

9.Qxh7 Qc7 10.Ne2 Nbc6 11.f4 dxc3 12.Nxc3

White has more space and blacks king side is open. Blacks only castling option is queen side.

12...Nd4
Threatning Kc2+ and winning the rook, but the queen is defending the c2 square. White can't move the queen of this diagonal before the threat of Nd4 is gone.

13.Bb2 Bd7 14.O-O-O
White removes the threat of Kc2+ and get his king in some type of security.

14...Qb6 15.Qd3
Threats to win the knight at d4 since white attacks the knight twice (Queen and Rook) but black defending with just one piece (Queen).

... Ndf5 16.Nb5 Rc8 17.g3 a6 18.Nd4 Ba4 19.Rd2 Rc4 20.Bg2 Nxd4 21.Bxd4 Qb5 22.Bf1 Qc6 23.Qe2 Nf5 24.Bb2 Rh8 25.Qf2 Nxg3

White can't take the Knight since 26.Qxg3 Rxc2+ 27.Kb1 (27. Rxb2?? Qxb2#) Rxd2

26.Bxc4 Nxh1 27.Qa7 Qxc4 28.Qb8+ Kd7 29.Qxh8 Bxc2 30.Rxc2 Qf1+

31.Kd2 Qf2+ 32.Kd3 Qf3+ 33.Kd2 Qf2+ 34.Kd3 Qf3+ 35.Kd2
and the game was drawn by Threefold repetition rule. My analysis engine declares white as leader here with +3.39. but after 35...Qf2+ 36.Kd3 Qf3+ 37.Kd4 Qe4+ 38.Kc3 Qxf4 the computer says 0.00 and the draw is correct.

Chess Training game 1

I've started a new way of training chess:

Playing through high rated players games.

So I started out with a french game which can be seen here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1581622
Play through the first moves until you reach a key position (a key position to you!), and start guessing the moves for one of the players.
Give yourself one point if you select the correct move, 0 if you choose the wrong move.

Important here is that you are honest to your self, and if you choose wrong move, try to understand what was wrong with the move and why the correct move was better in this case

8...	Qb6	Nf5	0
9...	Be7	Be7	1
10...	O-O	O-O	1
11...	Nxe3	Nh4	0
12...	Nxf3+	Nxf3+	1
13...	f6	Qb6	0
14...	f6	Rac8	0
15...	f6	Nb4	0
16...	Rxc1	Rxc1	1
17...	Nc6	Nc6	1
18...	f6	Rc8	0
19...	f6	f6	1
20...	fxe5	fxe5	1
21...	Bg5	Nxe5	0
22...	Nc6	Ng6	0
23...	Bg5	Qd6	0
24...	Bg5	Rf8	1
25...	Bxf8	Bxf8	1
26...	Be7	Be7	1
27...	Bg5	Bf6	0
28...	Bg5	Bc6	0
29...	e5	Bg5	0

Out of 21 move I guess on, 10 was correct.

Next game will be http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1035168

French Defense: Knight Variation

When I play live blitz chess, i often mean this variation:

1. e4 e6 2. Sf3

This variation is the 3rd option (after 2. d4 and 2. d3 (King's Indian Attack)) on both chess.com (1824 games) and chessgames.com (740 games).
The reason behind this move is probably is that it is a naturell developing move, it develops the Knight to a good square.

Responses suggested by Opening explorers is:

2... c5

28,317 games on chessgames.com
66,854 games on chess.com
62,423 games on chesstempo.com

2... d5

668 games on chessgames.com

1676 games on chess.com

1367 games on chesstempo.com

Playing 2... d5 can transpose to French Exchange variation, or the Two Knight Variation (Good live video with commentary on the Two Knight Variation).

My opinion on this opening is to play d5, because it stays in the french, we can reach exchange variation or the advance variation with a knight on f3. Are you familier with The Sicilian opening feel free to place c5 here directly.

French Defense: Exchange Variation

1. e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5

Other opening that can transpose to this position:
Caro-Kann Defense (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5)
Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.cxd5 exd5)

Plus side for Black:

No weakness in the pawn structure
The light squared bishop is no longer a bad bishop! Since the blocking e6 pawn is gone!
White strategic options is limited

Negative side for Black:

White has the first move in a symmetrical position
White can use the open e-file to double rook
White has the e5 outpost (putting a Knight on e5 would be great)

Blacks plan is to defend the e5 square as much as possible since White want to use this as outpost (stated above).
This is a game, played by Paul Morphy against S. Smyth back in 1859 in a blind fold simul, that show what's going to happen if black ignore the e5 square threat: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1281985
Already at move 6..Be6 black is consided to do an inaccuracy.

White has two main continuations here:

4. Nf3

4...Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. O-O O-O

4.Bd3

4...Bd6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6. O-O O-O

chessgames.com has a very nice collection on how to beat the French Defense Exchange Variation: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1019741
Some of the games in the collection is played in the "Delayed exchange Variation", where White plays 3. Nc3 instead of 3. exd5

And directly after Blacks 3. Bb4 (The Tarrasch Variation) White exchanges the pawns just like in the normal Exchange Variation.

French Defense Traps #1

A common trap in the French Defense Advance variation is the following trap:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 b6 4. c3 Ba6 5 Bxa6 Nxa6 6. Qa4+

and the knight is lost!

French Defense basics

French defense

The French Defense ranks second in popularity only to the Sicilian against white’s 1.e4 and is considers a very solid opening for black to play, and if played correctly you can destroy whites center a good percentage of the time.

Basics

Major plan for black:

Attack whites center, the d4 pawn!

Common themes for Black:

Pawnbreak c7-c5
Pawnbreak f7-f6
Less center control in the beginning
Black tends to keep king in the center as long as possible

The black bishop at c8 is considers a bad bishop. Black can play 3... b6 and Bb7 to avoid this, and eventually trade this bishop for one of Whites good pieces. Black can also play Bd7->Be8->Bh5 once the f7-f6 pawn break has been played.
Black keeps his king in the center, because of the pawn structure is closed, and the white pieces can't get to your king.

Major variations:

Tarrasch Variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2

Winawer Variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4

French defense game collection: Famous chess players losing against the French!

French is considerd being a boring opening, which tend to be drawish, according to chess.coms game explorer 35.3% of the games beginning with 1. e4 e6 ends in a draw.
I hope these game below can show that even grand masters can lose against the French:

Garry Kasparov:
vs Viswanathan Anand: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018264
vs Alexey Dreev: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1039605
vs Vassily Ivanchuk: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1060586

Anatoly Karpov:
vs J Cox: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068296
vs Simen Agdestein: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068840

Vassily Ivanchuk:
vs Magnus Carlsen: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1641014
vs W So: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1565184
vs Dreev: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1039665

Viswanathan Anand:
vs Nigel Short: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018193
vs Dreev: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018620
vs M Sisniega: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1017993

French Defense: Advance Variation

An brief introduction to French Defense: Advance Variation

The most common variation in the French Defense is the Advance Variation

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5

Most common reply by black in this position is 3... c5 attacking whites center directly.
Whites possible move here is:

4. c3 - Defending the d4 pawn
4. Nf3 - Also defending d4 pawn

Blacks plan here is to put pressure and undermine Whites center, by using c5 and f6 pawnbreaks, if d4 falls soon e5 also fall.Also try to exchange c8 bishop with one of Whites good pieces by playing moves like ...Bd7 and ...Bb5.

Also possible third move for black is 3... b6.
This prepares ... Ba6, which is a good way to exchange the light squared bishops but also gives black the chance to recapture ... bxc5 if white plays d4xc5 after blacks move ... c5.

Very good video on the advance variation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cF2ZawEV_U (not my video)

Chess Problems in French Defense #4

Black to move and win!

White:	Denoyelle Arnaud (2218)
Black:	Zimmermann Walter (2225)
Event:	Ch France (accession)
Site:	Montpellier (France)
Score:	0-1	Date:	1991