It was covered by Watson in his Dangerous Weapons The French giving after 11.0-0,c5 12.c4,Nc7!?

I also considered this line. However,
in the last line

3.Bd3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nb4 5.Be2 Nf6 e5 Ne4 6.a3 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Nc6

better is 5.Bb5+

and white is  better in all lines. 

It really is as simple as that! 

Antti Koponen

Hmm ... interesting ...

Personally, I think that ...h6 is a major concession for Black in that sort of position and I also reckon the Black is much better on d7 than g8.

I would even go so far as to say it is almost a pity from his point of view that he already has ...Nc6 in, since that stops him playing ...Ng8-e7-c6 and ...Nb8-d7.  Well, maybe that is going too far, but it should give you some idea of how much I favour the knight on d7 in this more open type of position - although if White were trying to hold a pawn on d4 with c2-c3, I would definitely prefer it on g8 so that it could get to f5.

I guess the only way to prove it would be to do some more analysis - but since I have no intention of reaching this position with either side I will content myself with agreeing to disagree and leave it to those who want to give it a try!

I am not so sure about that solution.  While it can't be bad for White, I am no sure it is the most challenging way to try to take advantage of Black's cheeky third move.

For one thing, it can't really be that threatening to enter an exchange variation, even if the 'trade off' of Nc3 for ...h6 is marginally in White's favour - can it?

If he could make use of the better development by opening the game with c2-c4, that would be another matter, but his 'extra' move specifically prevents that.

Personally, I think the major drawbacks to ...h6 are the weakening of the g6 square, and the blocking of a good square for the black knight, from which it can often leap to f5.

Both of these factors are more pronounced in an Advance structure as Black will almost certainly want to play ...f6 at some point to undermine e5, which will further weaken the kingside light squares; and he will often want to play ....Nh6-f5 to pressurise d4, while leaving the f8-a3 diagonal open for his bishop.

For these reasons, my preference with White would be to play (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 h6) 4.e5! and if 4...c5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.dxc5, putting the emphasis on quick development and strongpointing e5 with pieces.

This strikes me as being much better for White than the comparable 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nf3 c5 6.dxc5 line.  The trade off of Nc3 for ...h6 is much better for White than in the Exchange Variation, while I simply don't buy the argument that the knight is better on g8 than on d7.  True, it can go to e7 and f5 here, but on the other hand it can't recapture on c5 (and then chop off a White bishop on d3), and it doesn't put any pressure on the e5 pawn.

Hi all,

I found recently a guy playing this line :

1.e4 e6
2.d4 d5
3.Nc3 h6 !? the waiting move.

while the move seems wasting tempo, but it's far from easy to take immediate advantage of it.

Any opinion about this line ?

Thanks.