Questions tagged [french-defense]
The French Defense begins with 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5. Black plans to play a solid setup and contest white's center with moves like c5 and Nc6. The biggest drawback to the French Defense is that black's light square bishop is hemmed in by the e6 pawn.
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Why does black have a higher win rate on Lichess in Exchange French?
In the following position, databases of master games show black has a higher win rate (Lichess says 20% for white vs 25% for black). Why does black have a higher win rate here?
[FEN ""]
[...
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Is the Advance section in Aagard & Ntirlis "Playing the French" outdated?
I'm looking into starting playing the French as Black, at 2000 Elo. "Playing the French" by Aagard & Ntirlis is 11 years old. Are the chapters on the Advance variation still solid, or ...
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Steinitz vs Mainline classical French
After
e4 e6
d4 d5
Nc3 Nf6
White has 2 main options, go for the Steinitz with 4) e5 or stick to the mainline or the Burn variation of the Classical French with Bg5. I want to know the differences ...
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How can white fight for the initiative in the open Tarrasch french
In the French tarrasch after black plays c5, how can white fight for the initiative. I played the closed tarrasch and really enjoy the positions reached after Korchnoi's gambit and want to reach a ...
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Classical french for a repertoire
I am crafting an E4 repertoire from scratch and I am looking for a dynamic approach for white against the french and have shortlisted the classical with Nc3, but here I am not sure whether the ...
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Why is **...c4** bad in the Classical French but not in the Advanced Paulsen Variation?
I have been learning the French Defense lately and there was one game where I was confused about the computer analysis.
Chess.com's engine says that 8... c4 is a mistake in the first game, while in ...
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Good response to the french defense [duplicate]
I am rated 1840 rapid(10+0) chess on chesscom and 1500 semi rapid (25+5) OTB.
I am preparing for a tournament and I want a suggestion regarding an approach to the french defense.
I tried playing the ...
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Is the French defense at a 3700 Elo level "completely refuted"?
...computers will never play the French defense against each other because the French defense at a 3700 Elo level is completely refuted...
IM Levy Rozman (YouTube around 3m08s)
Wait, what? I watched ...
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Are these depth-41 Stockfish evals the result of a horizon effect?
I was using lichess's analysis board for Stockfish's analysis of this line in the French:
[Title "French Defence, Steinitz Variation"]
[StartFlipped "0"]
[fen ""]
1. e4 ...
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Definition: What is meant by "bishop pair" in this context?
This is a screenshot from a chess.com tutorial.
In the final sentence it says,
White will often gain the bishop pair after 5. a3, with a sharp struggle ahead.
Obviously a3 is the pawn attacking the ...
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Are there any books on the Reti-Spielmann attack (1. e4 e6 2. g3)?
I tried looking for books on this online but I couldn't find any.
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Looking for a French exchange sub-variation where white castles long
I remember seeing a video a while back, which introduces this sub-variation to spice things up and to surprise black when they expect a dull draw game.
I don't think it has a name, and I can't quite ...
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In French Defense Advance Variation, why does white play an early f4?
Game.
First five moves:
[FEN ""]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. f4
Why did white play f4?
My guesses:
To defend e5 in case if d4 falls.
Pawn pointing theory seems to indicate ...
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Is the Two Knights French the only variation where Black is unable to trade off the bad bishop?
I enjoy playing closed positions like the ones from the French Defense, but I despise having to play with the "bad bishop" on c8. I've been trying to research lines in the French where Black ...
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Development problems for black after f4 in French Defence
I am a French player as black. I am having problems in lines where white advances their e pawn and plays f4 to defend e5. I feel like the break on f6 is useless. I am afraid to castle short. My bad ...
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