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euro_pop_legend 12-May-23, 08:49

The French,to play or not to play? The French Defense is definitely one defense that you want to explore.My opinion varies on the FD,as opposed to others.Many strong players avoid the FD,some do not.I tend to avoid the FD for reasons that would differ from yours.It many times IS a struggle to unblock blacks Queen Bishop and when I am playing opponents using a FD,most of my opponents are 2300-2500+,so they are playing much more perfectly than say,your opponents would play,so I tend to go more by "stats",than perhaps you would....and blacks stats average less wins than white.Overall,in one of my databases and out of about 3,853 games played,white wins about 41.3%,black wins 32.8% and there is about a 26% in draws.But that dosen't mean that YOUR results will tally with the stats,since your opponents may NOT have had alot of experience playing from the white side against the FD,so,at your level,I would definitely advise exploring the FD. But,needless to say and FYI...the stats further break down with some of the main variation to(and i'm going to give some possible secrets here): Winawer Var:42% white wins,29%black wins,29% draws Advance Var:38% white wins,35% black wins,27% draws Exchange Var:25%white wins,32%,black wins,43%draws Main line(4.e5):40%white wins,29%black wins,31%draws Tarrasch Var:40% white wins,25%black wins,35%draws. So by stats,the Advanced Variation comes in first place for black wins,and the Exchange Variation comes in a close second it appears,atleast in the database above.But,oddly enough,it has been used as a drawing tool,depending upon which subvariational line is used. As to which ones to initially study or play?My suggestion would vary with others but I would say that the Winawer Variation is a great start,since it is a battle between Bishops Vs Knights and space vs structure.This will expose your weakness or strengths with your Bishop play vs your opponents knight.3....Bb4 also pins the Knight at c3 and threatens to capture it.My favorite,however,is the old Maccutcheon Variation which has renewed interest,especially on the club level at the Marshall.....4.Bg5,Bb4!?...has renewed possibilities and does fairly well at the club level. Keep in mind that even though the FD may temporarily lock in your QB,the key is of course,unlock it as soon as possible,perhaps with Bb7 or perhaps Ba6,or else,it will be your problem child throughout the game.But the advantage to the French which is not always well known is that it atleast temporarily blocks the "threat"of Blacks weakest square on the board: The f7 square....where white many times will concentrate its offensive forces to bear down on that square in other variations.So the FD tends to be a good defense against f7 square offensive from white.Also keep in mind,if you do not already know this...Generally speaking,white will tend to attack on the King side while black will mostly attack on the Queen side. So,some variations will tend to draw more than others,some are lively and more active,and others remain "unsolved"as I would place it,like the Alekhine-Chatard Attack variation and is very "quiet" but with solid structure.with 6.h4 remains somewhat unsolved.Black may take the pawn on g5 for equalization or simply readjust with either 6....a6 or f6 or c5 with unclear play.Burns Variation is also is an excellent variation as well. White gets spacial advantage,but black can counter with c5. Side note: Fischer preferred the Winawer Variation against the french.Its interesting to note that Fisher at times actually stumbled with the french and did not prefer using it.I,myself,prefer the English Opening or the English Symmetrical over the french on either side and without transposing into something else. The Winawer and the Exchange have the best stats for black as you can see.I tend to draw most of the time with the French on either side,any variation.I suggest studying the French,since sooner or later you will have to deal with it.

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