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Exeter Chess Club: The ideas behind the French Defence
Exeter Chess Club: The ideas behind the French
Defence
r
r
r
r
r
White's chances on the King's-side
s
White's chances on the K-side: Pillsbury - Lasker (Nuremberg, 1896)
Black's chances on the Queen's-side
s
Black's Queen's-side attack: Neumann - Tranmer, Manchester, 1950
The bad Black light-squared Bishop and the bad endgame for Black
s
Black's bad bishop and the bad Black endgame: Tarrasch,S - Teichmann,R
(14) [C14] (San Sebastian, 1912)
The good endgame for Black
s
Fischer,R - Petrosian,T [C12] Curacao ct, 1962
French pawn formations
s
A : The hanging centre (=/+=)
s
White's chances with a hanging centre: Nimzovitch - Salwe (Carlsbad,
1911)
s
Black's chances with the hanging centre: Van Scheltinga - Van der Tol
[C02] , 1946
s
B : The c5 lever only (+=)
s
White's chances with only the ...c5 lever: Tarrasch - Noa (Hamburg, 1885)
s
C : The f6 lever only (+=)
s
Example with only the ...f6 lever: Hubner - Larsen (2) [C04] Montreal Intl,
1979
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D : Two open files (+/-)
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White's chances with two open files: Watson - Short (Brighton, 1983)
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E : No pawn levers (+-)
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Tarrasch - Eckart [C05] Nuremberg, 1889
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F : The isolated Queen's Pawn (+=)
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Tatai-Korchnoi, Beersheva 1978
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G : The Winawer Formation (=/+=)
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Blacks chances in the Winawer: Tolush - Botvinnik (Ussr Ch'p, 1945)
s
H : The French 'Small Centre' (=/+=)
(Thanks, Peter!)
Consider the French defence pawn formation in the diagram. You can sort of 'feel' that White should be
attacking on the K-side, and Black on the Q-side. That's where they each have more space, and can
organise their attacks better. Nimzovitch taught that these 'pawn chains' should be attacked at the base -
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Exeter Chess Club: The ideas behind the French Defence
in this case, at d4 and e6. White will aim for the pawn break f2-f4-f5; Black with ...c7-c5 and/or ...b7-b5-
b4.
So In the line after
1 e4, e5; 2 d4, d5; 3 e5
we see
3...c5,
attacking the base. The immediate reply
4.c3
by White transfers the base, and therefore the focus of the attack, to c3. Black can push past with ...c4
and go for ....b5-b4, or exchange on d4 with ....cxd4,cxd4 which brings the base one step mearer again,
at cost of relieving some tension. There can follow
4...Nc6; 5 Nf3, Qb6.
now the natural
6.Bd3
leaves
the d-pawn exposed (although you can play it as a gambit), and a logical sequence is:
6 Be2, cxd4; 7
cxd4, Bb4+ 8 Kf1
since
8. Bd2
risks 8...Nxd4. Nowadays we are less rigid about these things: for
example, White need not sit back on the Q-side, and instead often plays
6.a3
threatening b4, and
experience has shown that this is not an idle threat. Black usually moves one more step down the chain
with
6...c4,
but a playable alternative is
6...f6!?,
attacking the head and not the base. Admittedly after
7
exf6
Black's e-pawn is a bit sickly, but for the moment White is in no position to attack it.
The most important feature of positions shown in the first diagram is not itself actually shown: this is the
Black light-squared (Queen's) Bishop. Stuck behind the pawn on e6, it will play little role in the game
for a while. This feature led Bob Wade to coin the line
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6
planning ...
Bd7 and ...Bb5. Recently there has been a small fashion for
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7!?
idea ...Bc6. More commonly Black will play ...b6 and ....Ba6 to secure the exchange (see Hubner-
Larsen), but often as not Black just carries this piece as a slight liability on d7, waiting for its chances
after ...e5 or in an endgame when it might reappear on b5.
White's chances on the King's-side
The King's-side attack is mainly seen in the middlegame. There are genuine chances here for White,
particularly if there are other factors favouring the attack. For example, in the Alekhine-Chatard attack
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Exeter Chess Club: The ideas behind the French Defence
White sacrifices a pawn:
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4!?
for an open h-file
and attacking chances, or in another line Nimzovitch invented
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Qg4!?,
giving up the d-pawn but intending to base an attack on the wedge at e5, when Black's usual Queen's-
side attack has no natural outlet. There are many attractive miniatures where White's attack crashes
through in these lines. However, Black players with a little knowledge of these lines can avoid the worst
dangers, and so White usually plays more slowly.
White's chances on the K-side: Pillsbury - Lasker (Nuremberg, 1896)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. dxc5 Nc6 7. a3 Nxc5 8. b4 Nd7 9. Bd3 a5 10. b5
Ncb8 11. Nf3 Nc5 12. Be3 Nbd7 13. O-O g6 14. Ne2 Be7 15. Qe1 Nb6 16. Nfd4
Despite the weak c-pawn, White is well placed here: Black cannot quickly organise a Queen's-side
attack while the White Bishops are nicely placed to influence events on both sides. The Black King
cannot comfortable castle ...O-O with the holes all over the defences there.
16... Bd7 17. Qf2 Nba4 18. Rab1 h5 19. b6 Nxd3 20. cxd3 Bxa3 21. f5
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Exeter Chess Club: The ideas behind the French Defence
Just as Black is getting somewhere on the Queen's-side we have a classic Pillsbury breakthrough. This is
a
vacating sacrifice
to allow the Ne2 to move up into firing position, hoping to catch the Black King in
the centre.
21... gxf5 22. Nf4 h4 23. Ra1 Be7 24. Rxa4
A
deflecting sacrifice,
pulling the Bd7 away from the support of e6.
24...Bxa4 25. Nfxe6 fxe6 26. Nxe6 Bd7 27. Nxd8 Rxd8
The Queen rather than the King was caught!
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Exeter Chess Club: The ideas behind the French Defence
The attack has thus resulted in a small material advantage (Q v. RB) which White converts with
continued vigour.
28. Bc5 Rc8 29. Bxe7 Kxe7 30. Qe3 Rc6 31. Qg5+ Kf7 32. Rc1 Rxc1+ 33. Qxc1 Rc8 34. Qe1 h3 35.
gxh3 Rg8+ 36. Kf2 a4 37. Qb4 Rg6 38. Kf3 1-0
Black's chances on the Queen's-side
Just as White can hope for good things on the King's-side, Black has opportunities on the other side of
the board.
Black's Queen's-side attack: Neumann - Tranmer, Manchester, 1950
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4
The sharp MacCutcheon Variation.
5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Bd3 Nxd2 9. Qxd2 c5 10. dxc5 Qc7 11. Qe3 O-O 12. Ne2 Nd7
13. f4 Nxc5 14. O-O Bd7 15. Rf3 Rac8 16. Rh3 f5 17. Qd4 Rf7 18. c4 dxc4 19. Bxc4 Be8 20. Qe3 b5
21. Bb3 Re7 22. Nd4 Kh7 23. Qe2 Qb6
White's energetic start has not given him anything concrete. Meanwhile, Black has ample opportunities
on the Queen's-side, with a sickly pawn on c2 to lean on.
24. Kh1 Ne4 25. Rd3 a5 26. a3 Bf7 27. Qe3 Qc5 28. Rf1 a4 29. Ba2 Nc3
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