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cmtoo 26-May-20, 12:10 |
 French DefenceThe French Defence is a counterattacking opening that attempts to blow the White e-pawn off the board. Three times World Champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, once described the French Defence as a difficult and dangerous opening. He was quite right. The French is solid and combative. Black stands toe-to-toe with White in the centre giving no quarter. Although not as varied as the Sicilian, the French remains tough to break down, a fighting defence and it is very popular on the modern master scene. It is hard to characterise in general terms since it combines highly tactical and ultra-positional types of play. But the French has one quality that few other openings have, and perhaps none to this extent: a persistence of central structure. Pawn-Chain White has more space, and a great deal depends on whether Black can destroy the white centre. Black has several options – attacking the chain with ...c5 is almost mandatory, after which he can attack the head with ...f6 if he wishes. Normally he exchanges pawns on d4 and then attacks d4 with as many pieces as possible, but he can also (after a3) play ...c4, a move which targets the queenside at the cost of giving White a free hand in the centre. Bad Bishop In most openings Black has a `problem piece`, and in the French this is undoubtedly his light-squared Bishop. By committing his central pawns to light squares, Black impedes the mobility of this piece, and he must seek to improve or exchange it during the game. A common plan is ...b6 and ...Ba6 (or sometimes the similar idea ...Qb6 and ...Bd7-b5), whereby the Bishop tries to exchange itself for its white counterpart. Another idea is to hit the centre with ...f6 and try ...Bd7-e8-g6/h5. Finally, Black can exchange the white pawn before it gets to e5, and then manoeuvre his bishop to the long diagonal (...b6 and ...Bb7, or ...Bd7-c6). All of these ideas are positionally sound, but the problem is that they take time to implement. Judging when to improve the light-squared bishop and when to devote time to other projects instead is one of the marks of a good French player. |
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i never played the French.... |
