Apr '00 Update
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Welcome to the April 2000 update. Here you'll find ten important and recent games in a wide variety of French variations. But first of all you might like to click on the emailbag bag for a discussion between IM John Watson, Justin Horton and myself. |
Fort Knox
We revisit Fort Knox after a long time. Judging from the latest game which we give here it is looking as unbreakable as its name implies. In fact, NM117 is a great triumph for Black's opening strategy. White builds up his game with a series of sensible looking moves, but then hesitates and wastes time. The black pieces meanwhile all converge on the white centre. Nimzowitsch's precept of 'restrain, blockade, destroy!' is gradually applied. Particularly instructive is the cat and mouse duel between the two queens.
Winawer
The Winckelmann-Reimer Gambit occurs after 4 a3 Bxc3+ 5 bxc3 dxe4 6 f3. I sympathise with this enterprising attacking idea, but being objective I have to say I think it is unsound. I have found lots of quick and attractive wins by White in postal games, but see what happens in NM122 when someone dares to play it against a Grandmaster. If you wish, give it a go, it's a lot of fun, but choose your opponents carefully! Just to show I'm not a complete curmudgeon, I have included the best attacking win I could find by White in the notes to this game.
Meanwhile, two games are given in the 7 Qg4 mainline. In NM115 after 7...0-0 8 Bd3 Nbc6 9 Qh5 Black has to play accurately for the next couple of moves or something nasty will definitely happen to him. The French GM Apicella is an expert on these lines for both White and Black, and he shows us how Black can first fortify his kingside and then counterattack. This is essential knowledge for a 7...0-0 player.
Secondly, Kenny Harman, a Correspondence IM, has pointed out that in the poisoned pawn mainline after 7...Qc7 8 Qxg7 Rg8 9 Qxh7 cxd4 10 f4 Nbc6 11 Ne2 dxc3 12 Qd3 Bd7 White has the dangerous move 13 h3!? This was shown to him by Ruud Maliangkay, an ICCF GM who has scored many wins with this insidious move. Although known to theory, it seems to have been unjustly neglected. Take a look at the analysis in NM120.
Tarrasch
In NM119 Black comes to grief in the 3...Be7 Tarrasch after 4 c3. He becomes confused by White's move order and makes a very plausible mistake, after which he is struggling. I guess this is a good warning for players like myself who have become 3...Be7 devotees. It also reminds us that to become good at chess you have to know how to play a wide variety of opening setups. In this case, Black should either have played 4...dxe4 with a Rubinstein structure, or transposed to an IQP position.
In a recent tournament at Oakham, I once again ventured 3...Be7 and had to meet an unusual attack from IM Aagaard: 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 6.c4!? My response was poor and I was soon in trouble. Have a look at the suggested improvement in NM114.
Finally, we look in more detail at the ultra sharp mainline of the 3...Nf6/5 Bd3 variation. In NM116. Black gains excellent chances after White avoids the most critical move. This line is still developing and needs some more top class tests.
The Advance
Here we examine two lines beginning 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Bd7 6 a3.
First, NM121 6...f6 is an all out attack on White's pawn centre. This is particularly appropriate as White has 'wasted' a move with 6 a3. Short never has any problems and wins convincingly. In contrast, after 6 Be2 f6 White has a lot more aggressive options, as can be seen in games given on the Advance 6...f6 webpage.
Alternatively, Black can respond to 6 a3 by closing the position with 6...c4. In NM113 White develops his bishop immediately with 7 Bf4. This is an unusual approach, but as the player of White commented after the game, why should everyone just copy Sveshnikov who always leaves the bishop on c1?
The Classical
In response to a request from subscriber Bill Conrad, I have given a game in the Alekhine-Chatard Attack. It features what seems to be regarded as the strongest response by modern top class players. Black doesn't take the pawn, but seems to get good chances on the queenside. Have a look at NM118.
A minor semantic point: I see this is also called the 'Chatard-Alekhine Attack' e.g. in the Oxford Companion to Chess. So if you are looking for information on this opening in a chess book, make sure you check both ways in the index!