ForumHelpSearchMy ProfileSite InfoGuests InfoRepertoireLinks

July '00 Update

Welcome to the July Update of the French Defence. The number of questions from subscribers is steadily rising, so this month I've incorporated some replies into what follows.

Classical

Tarrasch

Advance

King's Indian Attack

Winawer


Luciano Amaral of Sao Paulo has asked me if I could recommend a book on the Classical French. To be honest I'm always a bit reluctant to recommend books, as what one player may find wonderful another will find annoying/ boring/ worthless. For example, a games collection of a world class player active in the 1940s and 1950s that contains a lot of French games (I've got Botvinnik in mind) will be dismissed by one player as hopelessly out of date and irrelevant, while another will find it enthralling and a wonderful lesson in how to handle certain middlegame positions. In particular, I've found it difficult to get young players interested in 'dead men's games'.

Similarly, there are books on my shelf that are as dry as a railway time table, but I'm always glad to have them sitting there ready to respond to an emergency at move 12 in a specific opening line. But then I'm a very serious player! You might prefer a glossy book with an arty cover design which explains ideas in a friendly, chatty manner, but skirts over some of the deeper theory. And why not? That's not so different from the idea of studying Botvinnik's games.

So here I'll just mention that 'The Classical French' by Gufeld and Stetsko, a Batsford book, has recently come out though it only deals with 4 Bg5. If you can, go to a bookshop and browse around. Have a look at some books and see if the content appeals to you.

Classical

Tarrasch

Advance

King's Indian Attack

Winawer

The Classical

Anand is still doing very well with his current pet system for White 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Nce2!?

It's a great way to avoid all that theory after 4 Bg5 or the standard 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4. Initially, I was put off by the line 5...c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.f4 Qb6, which led to a good win for Black in Lalic - Speelman. However, Anand comes up with a far more convincing strategy for White in his latest game with Shirov. Black never gets going and is soon facing a decisive attack. Have a look at Anand - Shirov.

It is slightly ironic that Anand now has 2/2 with the line against Shirov- who was the first top player to play the system as White! In the first Anand-Shirov encounter given last month, Shirov responded with 7...b5- you might like to remind yourself by clicking on Anand - Shirov. This ended miserably for Black, but Morozevich has given the line a second outing. Sadly for Black, the result was an even more drastic defeat- see Anand - Morozevich.

So I guess that Classical players aren't sleeping very easily at the moment. Still, watch this space for future developments!

Classical

Tarrasch

Advance

King's Indian Attack

Winawer

Tarrasch

3...Nf6

Noel Adebol has sent in a game he played against a computer at the Internet Chess Club which went 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 and now the computer played 8...Be7. Noel writes:

"I have never seen this move before. Let me know what is the recommended treatment for this as White. I have a feeling that White was not too ambitious, but I trust your opinion a lot more than the chip here."

According to my database, this move has only been played a dozen or so times. Indeed, only a handful of Elo rated players have ever tried it as Black.

The interesting thing is that hardly anyone plays 8...Be7 here, and yet in the 5 f4 line after the continuation 5...c5 6 c3 Nc6 7 Ndf3 f5 8 Bd3 cxd4 9 cxd4 the similar quiet developing move 9...Be7 is well established- indeed, I have played it many times myself. You can find examples on the Tarrasch 5 f4 subpage. So why is one move popular and the other almost unknown?

I think the answer to this question is instructive as it highlights an important difference between the 5 Bd3 and 5 f4 line. You can find my analysis by clicking on Noel's game not2deep-JACKK and the companion game Sommerbauer - Weiss.

3...c5

David Diskin has a query in the 3...c5 4 exd5 Qxd5 variation. He writes:

"I have a copy of John Emms' book on the Tarrasch and he gives a game Adams-Speelman England 1991, which after 10...a6 11 Re1 Black played the less messy 11... Bd7. I was wondering what the latest is on this line."

I'm sure that many practioners of this line would like to have a way to avoid the ultra sharp and ultra theoretical 11...Qc7.

In the game David mentions, Adams scored a convincing win which left 11...Bd7 in the doldrums. However, theory has moved on since then and thanks to the efforts of Grandmasters such as Glek and Rozentalis the line has been rehabilitated for Black. Both the enterprising approach of castling queenside and the less ambitious alternative of castling kingside have given him good results.

After 12 c3 Qc7 firstly we look at the critical move 13 Bb3. In Breyther-Glek not only will you find Glek's idea that leads to a smooth win for Black in the endgame, you will also find Rozentalis' improvement on the Adams' game incorporated into the notes. So take a peek at Breyther - Glek.

If this doesn't appeal to you, then you can adopt the rather less ambitious approach of Howell - Speelman.

Next, the common alternative 13 Qe2 is the subject of Belov - Danielian. Black scores a stunning win after White makes some apparently minor inaccuracies.

So Black seems well and truly alive in this variation.

Classical

Tarrasch

Advance

King's Indian Attack

Winawer

The Advance

In the mainline after 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7, by far the most popular move for White is 7 Na3, planning to add to the defence of d4 with Nc2. However, 7 0-0 has been used recently with success, notably by Timman, who actually managed to beat the great Mikhail Gurevich! Have a look at Timman - Gurevich.

The most interesting reply for Black is 7...Ng6. Timman played twice against this in the Lost Boys Tournament in Amsterdam 1999. You can find a summary of these games in the analysis to Black's convincing win in the game Jonkman - Hertneck.

Classical

Tarrasch

Advance

King's Indian Attack

Winawer

King's Indian Attack

This has been causing Black problems for the last year or so. Partly, it is for the simple reason that some super strong players have added it to their repertoire. It is obvious that stronger players, whether White or Black, tend to beat weaker ones. However, the fact that strong players endorse a certain variation says a lot about its value: after all, quite a few players with big ELO ratings have gained their impressive ratings by being astute enough to choose the most promising opening lines!

In any case, I set up a webpage a couple of months ago designed to show how Black can get a reasonable position- see 'Black's solid system with ...e5'. The recommended line is the set up with ...e6, ...c5, ...Nc6, ...Nge7, ...g6 and ...Bg7.

Here we give another resounding victory for 'our' line against the King's Indian Attack. This month game is particularly interesting as it deals with the move order 1 e4 e6 2 Qe2, rather than 2 d3. In fact, Black seems to be better off as White has less control of d4, and his standard plan of c3, a3 and b4- see for example the game Leko - FRITZ. is at least one move behind schedule. Take a look at Furdzik - Shabalov.

Now having reassured myself that Black is OK and has good counterchances, perhaps I should point out that White should retain a bit of advantage with the plan of queenside expansion with c3, a3 and b4, as seen in Leko - FRITZ and Ansell - Nunn. Of course, there is nothing unusual in this: we all know that the player who moves first in chess has the advantage, unless he does something wrong!

Classical

Tarrasch

Advance

King's Indian Attack

Winawer

Winawer

Anthony L. Crawley asks: 'Please provide coverage/analysis of 7... Kf8!? versus 7.Qg4 in the mainline Winawer.'

Well, I've started the ball rolling with the game Gongora-Nogueiras. It illustrates the pros and cons of the system quite nicely. Black is solid on the kingside and his early queen raid on the queenside nets him a pawn. However, White builds up an initiative thanks to the fact that he has more firepower- Black still has a rook sleeping in the corner on h8. That is a common theme: there is a life and death struggle taking place in the centre and on the queenside, but the king's rook is often only a spectator. Having said that, there are lots of plusses for Black and his results are by no means bad. I hope to gradually add to the coverage of this line in the future. Meanwhile, click on Gongora - Nogueiras.

Classical

Tarrasch

Advance

King's Indian Attack

Winawer