Hello. I would like to play the French Defense opening but I’m not confident enough yet. Ideally, the game would begin:
How can Black respond if White instead plays “2. e5”? I’ve been thinking about playing “2. … d5” regardless, but I don’t know how Black can respond to “3. exd6 e.p.” as this would ruin Black’s chance of gaining control of the center to my understanding. If White plays “2. e5”, should Black abandon the French Defense all together and play something else?
I would play 2…d6 and attack the advanced pawn. If he exchanges, he has invested two tempi and I’m either developing a piece or exchanging my c pawn for an e pawn. If he defends it, the pawn on e5 is under stronger attack than in the main line.
After 1.e4 e6 2.e5 d5 3.exd6 e.p. Bxd6…
White has made three moves with a pawn that is no longer on the board. Both sides have one center pawn (Black’s is on e6, White’s is on d2). Black is slightly ahead in development. It’s true that the e6 pawn inhibits the Bc8, but that’s relatively minor. When White plays a future d2-d4, Black can respond with an eventual …c7-c5, offering to trade bishop pawn for queen pawn.
The French Defense is an interesting and enticing opening, I would not recommend it for someone that’s unrated.
It often and quickly evolves into nuanced middle games, often where black is rather restricted in the mobility of it’s pieces. The center is often closed up early in the game. It’s certainly a playable opening, but not one I’d recommend to someone unrated. There are plenty of other openings that are easier to learn and play for someone that’s lower rated or unrated.
Years ago, when I was much less experienced in chess, I did study the French Defense as black, but played it rather poorly for years. I ended up switching to the Sicilian, which isn’t really a beginners opening either, but I found it much more playable and favorable to me compared to the French Defense. I guess the Sicilian has some key moves that black can play against a variety of white moves. I think with the French, it lends itself more to rote memorizing lines in order for black to keep white’s attack at bay. At least, that’s what it felt like to me anyway. I can only comment on my personal experience.
Actually the opposite is true.
It is a known fact that some lines in the Sicilian must be known completely and memorized or someone can lose quickly.
The French, on the other hand, is the kind of opening where ideas and themes rule the day versus rote memorization.
All one has to do is look at a few of the better videos or DVDs on the French. GM Simon Williams has a 2 DVD set out that is very good. IM Anthony Martin also has a lot of video out there that is good. GM Akobian has a video series on ICC that also is very good.
In all of these along with others not mentioned, the ideas are stressed, not any particular move line or order.
Why would you abandon the French Defense after a mousey move like 2. e5? Play both the French Defense and the Caro-Kann Defense. This will teach you all you need to know in order to play closed and semi-closed pawn structure positions. This will also help you with understanding your defenses to 1.d4.
While Advance variations in both of these openings are significant attempts to kill Black, among most amateurs it just sets up targets to attack. If White is not active and alert, it is easy for Black to turn the tables into long favorable endgames. Both of these openings are less likely to require extensive time to keep up with the latest novelties. These are system openings with each having similar plans and tactics across a variety of variations and subvariations. They were solid enough and dynamic enough for many world champions to play these openings. You should learn these openings first before turning to the Sicilian Defense as your main defense.
The Sicilian Defense requires more than ordinary defensive skills, good memory, and constant checking of databases for recent theory changes. The tactics in open Sicilians are too complex for many players under 1800. You also have to stick with a particular variation like the Dragon, Najdorf, or Taimanov for a long time to get a good feel of it strategically. It is a lot of hard work. Dabbling isn’t enough. Unfortunately, you will spend most of your time dealing with other amateurs who play Anti-Sicilian variations rather than playing your favorite and studied line. White can deaden the game or convert it into positions that have French Defense or Caro-Kann pawn structures. So, you are going to have to learn elements of the above suggested openings anyway.
Like I said, I can only comment on my own experience.
I would argue the Hyper-accelerated Dragon is amenable to players under 1800. The moves and theory are easily comprehended for players under 1800 (I’m one) and not that extensive. Most tournament players under 1800 on the white side aren’t that familiar with it so it throws off their usual anti-Sicilian tactics.
I suggest that you obtain a basic French Defense book from Everyman or Gambit publishers, either in paperback or ebook version with their respective apps. There is also The Flexible French by Moskalenko from New In Chess that is quite good.
In case that isn’t flexible enough, Viktor Moskalenko has also written The Even More Flexible French. I have to admit that I would be tempted to go for The Lazy Man’s Sicilian (by Valeri Bronznik and Steve Giddins).
I do wish New In Chess had a reader for their books as well as for the magazine. Perhaps they do??
At the New in Chess site, there is an Apps & eBooks section where it says, “… Now you can read our magazine and books anywhere, without a chess set, following every move on the built-in board. …”
While the magazine reader works great on Android tablets, it appears the book version is limited to Apple products.
Yes it is. I just emailed them about when they might have a reader for Android tablets. Soon, I hope.
While it’s said in a number of places that most people should learn e5 until they hit 1500 or so, I didn’t do that, and I think a general repertoire book or DVD might be helpful for you.
Obviously, and it can’t be stressed enough that tactics matter way more than openings all the way up to almost 2000 I suspect.
In addition to the strong recommendations earlier of Martin, Simon Williams and Vaz Akobian, there are 3 more specifics that deal not just with ideas but also an actual repertoire as in: “this is the move you play if they do this”
Nigel Davies has 2 dvds on the fritz/chessbase interface, one that involves e6 against everything and another one just on the French (not covering d4s). The e6 universal is a repertoire DVD and it has formed almost half of my black repertoire.
Vereslav Eingorn also has a e6 repertoire book called Rock Solid. I have it but haven’t gone through it (I’m only studying tactics till I stop cratering like a rock every time I enter a big tournament over 1600)
Lastly, you could get a 1 month ICC membership, and John Watson has a 24 part series on a French repertoire. In some ways it’s the very best because it covers a huge range of lines including some bad choices white could make that someone like Davies wouldn’t even bother to address. Watson also has a really good presence.
The reason I don’t like it is two fold
I think the fritz dvds are superior to ICC, though Ive sued the ICC videos and am likely to buy some going forward. With fritz you also have access to the database to see how popular the gm’s move suggestion is or how it scores in high level games, not that this should be the end-all be-all, but it also will help if you don’t like something and want to see playable alternatives.
if you think the GM is full of it or want to try your own move, you can pop on the engine mid dvd and copy the game and try out an alternate line and see what the engine thinks.
There’s also the annoying fact that every single position John says is equal for black at worst when it’s just not true. Some of his lines are clearly over half a pawn down for black both from an engine standpoint and from this woodpushing class b player’s standpoint, and that’s ok, but I feel like there should be some truth in advertising.