Marcellus wrote on 07/12/18 at 17:52:26:


Actually I have seen the Pelletier one as well, but that was less impressive by a long way. The target audience seemed to be geared more towards beginner level and those with little knowledge of themes and ideas than advanced players looking to build or beef up an existing French repertoire.

Hey, I guess they can't all be winners.

I haven't got around to watching the Whole DVD yet, just the Tarrasch chapters, and these were very well done with much added value especially for those now starting out the french.

I thought I would resurrect this thread with the news that the newly released DVD by GM Fabien Libiszewski 'The Bulletproof French Defense' recommends this line for Black against the Tarrasch.

Here's to hoping the 9...Qxf6 variation becomes more popular in future. 

TomR wrote on 08/31/04 at 12:55:44:


I too consider this 9...Qxf6 line inferior for Black, and White need only remember two plans to get a pleasant position. My guiding philosophy being, where possible, simplicity is always the best policy for otb players:

1) Aim to swap dark squared bishops.
2) Direct attack on Black's King via light squares.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Usually if Black tries to counter plan 1 then plan 2 works and vice versa. Also White can combine both plans at the same time. See the following instructive game from my repertoire files:

Hamdouchi,H (2541) - Zhang Pengxiang (2525) [C06]
Gp A Cap d'Agde (1), 29.10.2000
[Denny,K]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Bd3 c5 5.e5 Nfd7 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Qxf6 10.Nf3 h6 11.0-0 Bd6 12.Be3 0-0 13.Bc2 Rf7 14.Qd2 Nf8 15.a3 [15.Ng3!? Bd7 16.Nh5 Qe7 17.Bf4+=] 15...Bd7 [15...Rc7 16.Bf4+=;
15...Ng6 16.Ng3 Rc7 (16...Nf4 17.Bxf4 Bxf4 18.Qd3 Bxg3 19.Qh7+ Kf8 20.fxg3 Nxd4 21.Bg6 Nxf3+ 22.Kh1!!+-) 17.Bxg6 (17.Nh5!? Qf7 18.Bxg6 Qxg6 19.Bf4 e5 20.dxe5 Bf8 21.Ng3±) 17...Qxg6 18.Bf4+=] 16.Ng5!? Re7 17.f4 Be8 18.Nf3 Bg6 19.Ba4 Rc7 20.Ne5 Rac8 21.Nc3 Qd8 22.Nb5 Re7 23.Nxd6 Qxd6 24.Nxg6 Nxg6 25.Bc2 Nf8 26.Rf2 Rf7 27.f5 exf5 28.Bxf5 Re8 29.Raf1 Qe7 30.Be6 Qxe6 31.Rxf7 Ng6 32.R7f3 Nh4 33.Rh3 Nf5 34.Bf2 Nd6 35.Qd3 Ne4 36.Be3 a6 37.Rhf3 Nb8 38.Bf4 Nd7 39.h3 Kh7 40.Be5 Re7 41.Rf5 Nb6 42.b3 Nd7 43.Bh2 Kg8 44.a4 Qc6 45.Qe3 b5 46.Rc1 Qe6 47.Rff1 b4 48.Qf4 Nc3 49.Kh1 Re8 50.Qf3 Nf6 51.Be5 Nfe4 52.Rc2 a5 53.Kh2 Qd7 54.Qh5 Ng5 55.Rcf2 Nce4 56.Rf4 Nd6 57.Bxd6 1-0

For further study GM John Emms has some very strategically instructive games in these lines, highly recommended.

Bye.

[1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Qxf6]

John Watson recently looked at the 9...Qxf6 variation on ChessPublishing (see http://www.chesspublishing.com/content/2/dec17.htm#tar), so I thought it was worth reviving this thread. One problem I think for Black after 10.Nf3 h6 is the rarely played 11.Nf4!?, e.g. 11...Bb4+ 12.Kf1 g5 (12...0–0 is the alternative) 13.Ng6 Rg8 14.h4 Rxg6 15.hxg5 hxg5 16.Bxg6+ Qxg6 17.Bxg5 (B.Ponomariov-Romero Leon, Alicante 1997). Although objectively this might be equal, Black's position seems very uncomfortable to me. I wonder if any authors have analysed this line...

I used to play this line as Black with good results until I faced the setup of White putting his Bishop on e3 and Knight from e2-g3. White has options of Nh5 at some point as well as Bb1, Qd3-h7 ideas. I found this very difficult to face. In fact I switched to the 3..Be7 line against the Tarrach because of it!

[Event "Mitropa Cup 17th"]
[Site "Montecatini Terme"]
[Date "1997.11.07"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Ptacnikova,Lenka"]
[Black "Benitah,Yohan"]
[Result "1/2"]
[Eco "C06"]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6  9.exf6 Qxf6 10.Nf3 h6 11.Bc2 Bd6 12.Qd3 Nb4 13.Qg6+ Ke7 14.Bb1 Nf8 15.Qh5 g6 16.Qh4 Bd7 17.Bf4 Bxf4 18.Qxf4 Qxf4 19.Nxf4 g5 20.Nd3 a5 21.a3 Nxd3+ 22.Bxd3 Be8 23.Rc1 Kd6 24.Ne5 Nd7 25.h4 Rg8 26.hxg5 hxg5 27.Ng4 Rf8 28.g3 Nb8 29.Kd2 Nc6 30.Ke3 b6 31.Rh7 Ne7 32.Ne5 Rg8  33.Rh6 Rf8 34.f4 gxf4+ 35.gxf4 Rb8 36.Rf1 Bd7 37.f5 Ng8 38.Rg6 Ne7 39.Rh6 Ng8 40.Rh7 Nf6 41.Nxd7 Nxd7 42.fxe6 Kxe6 43.Rh6+ Rf6 44.Bf5+ Kd6 45.Rfh1 Rbf8 46.Kf4 Nb8 47.Kg5 Rxh6 48.Rxh6+ Kc7 49.Rh7+ Kd6 50.Rg7 Rd8 51.Rg6+  1/2

Yeah thats basically what happened. His kingside attack was stronger and my whole position caved in. From what i can make out the play along the b1-h7 diagonal is white's best try. If i can fathom my way through teh technical middlegame i do tend to find myself in slightly better endings: your delayed castling idea is very interesting and I intend on looking at thta further. Thanks again!!