Latest Updates:
Page Index Toggle Pages: [1] 2 
Topic Tools
Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) C00-C19: One French Player's Repertoire (Read 11710 times)
Willempie
God Member
*****
Offline


I love ChessPublishing
.com!

Posts: 4312
Location: Holland
Joined: 01/07/05
Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #23 - 10/03/05 at 05:17:36
Post Tools
Quote:
Against the Advance Variation, depending on my mood and my estimation of my opponent, I will play the Wade Variation:  1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Bd7!? 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Be2 and I can now choose between the mainline 6...Nc6 or Wade's 6....Bb5.  I can even choose the theoretically dubious 6...cd4 and if 7.cd4 Bb5!  I've scored a lot of quick wins this way because White often has no idea how to attack without his light-squared Bishop and Black's traded off his most obvious liability.

That Wade idea is also playable in the Tarrasch. One anecdote I read was about a guy who always played Bd7-b5 in those french setups. The story goes that once he had achieved the exchange of the bad bishop his teammates would start congratulating him on his soon-to-be win. Grin
  

If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
jaxaxe
YaBB Newbies
*
Offline


I love ChessPublishing
.com!

Posts: 4
Location: North Lincs
Joined: 09/26/05
Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #22 - 09/28/05 at 14:19:57
Post Tools
I used to be a devotee of the French.

Exchange Variation: Watson's line with Nge7, Bg4 and O-O-O
KIA: 2 c5 leading to a fianchetto setup
Advance: Mainline with Nc6 then Qb6, cxd4, Nge7 Nf5 etc.
Tarrasch: 3 Nf6
Winawer: ...O-O v 7 Qg4 line, occasionally 4....Qd7 for certain opponents
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Fernando Semprun
Senior Member
****
Offline


Be nice to others. Life
is to be enjoyed!

Posts: 402
Location: Madrid
Joined: 04/29/03
Gender: Male
Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #21 - 09/19/05 at 06:40:31
Post Tools
@Smyslov Fan:

Very true indeed! As a white player I played against the Wade first time ever again IM Krivosheia, and lost convincingly, I never had a clue.

Then I looked into ChessBase (in 1995 it wasnot that simple) and was shocked to see black scored over 50%. Then the line was played in the Super Madrid Tournament, but it looks very tempting.

I play against the advance sometimes transposing from a 2.c3 Sicilian.

@loyaltothefrench:

May I suggest 6...Nc6? An old book I had just stated 6...Nc6? 7.Qg4! +-. The line is actually suggested / recommended by Watson in PTF2 or PTF3. My experience, again as white, I played 7.Qg4 g6, and lost horribly (I tried too hard to 'punish' black for his 'incorrect' opening)

I can see the French being difficult to defend against 2300+ players. They have the experience to be patient, and will know quite well the typical plans. At the top 3...Nf6 seems much more resilient (Anand and Shirov play this as black) but you will score much more easily against weaker players with 3...Bb4 (I can play both as black)

Against titled players I would try 7...Qc7 (or even 6...Qc7). If you know well your theory and typical plans, they will have problems up to 2450, I would tentatively suggest (I've seen it happen). If you dislike 7...Qc7, may be the Armenian variation?
  

Fernando Semprun
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Smyslov_Fan
YaBB Moderator
Correspondence fan
*****
Offline


Progress depends on the
unreasonable man. ~GBS

Posts: 6902
Joined: 06/15/05
Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #20 - 09/19/05 at 00:31:04
Post Tools
Against the Advance Variation, depending on my mood and my estimation of my opponent, I will play the Wade Variation:  1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Bd7!? 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Be2 and I can now choose between the mainline 6...Nc6 or Wade's 6....Bb5.  I can even choose the theoretically dubious 6...cd4 and if 7.cd4 Bb5!  I've scored a lot of quick wins this way because White often has no idea how to attack without his light-squared Bishop and Black's traded off his most obvious liability.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
basqueknight
Ex Member


Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #19 - 09/19/05 at 00:12:37
Post Tools
Oh and agaisnt the advance i play an early f6 going for the "hanging" center. with play most often coming down the f and c files. Very fun stuff.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
basqueknight
Ex Member


Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #18 - 09/19/05 at 00:11:27
Post Tools
My old repertoire which im bringing back gos as follows.

Against the excahnge i to play Nf6 and the c6 idea

against the tarrasch i play a rubinstein mostly trying to transpose into a burn variation

against he classical with Bg5 the burn most often gxf6. This tends to liven up the game a lot. very violent battles can often be waged and this is part of the reason i dont mind ginving up the solidity of my king side pawns.

against the steintz i play in basic style Nc6 a6 and a future b5 adter i exchange my knight for the piece which white decides to put on d4. I castle king side and launch an attack on the queen side as quickly as possible.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
M.Nb
Guest


Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #17 - 04/04/05 at 22:14:57
Post Tools
<If only I could find openings against d4 and c4 that were so consistent!  Against 1. d4 I do open 1...e6>
The solution is quite simple: if White does not play 2.e4 or 2.Nc3, Black has 2...f5!
In the Iljin-Zjenevsky you will also get the same pawn structure in even more than 90% of your games.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Willempie
God Member
*****
Offline


I love ChessPublishing
.com!

Posts: 4312
Location: Holland
Joined: 01/07/05
Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #16 - 04/04/05 at 19:24:10
Post Tools
It is not weird to never face a KIA, I never did as well (except in blitz).
The thing with Uhlmanns book is that for some reason he got me to play the opening and every time I play a french I am not thinking but winning. I am still not sure it is due to him or not.
  

If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
bravehoptoad
Guest


Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #15 - 04/04/05 at 18:27:58
Post Tools
Oh, the books I use.  I have all three editions of Watson's book.  I also use Jacob's _French Classical_.  It's not a well-written book, particularly, but it does have great coverage of the McCutcheon.  I've marked up Uhlman's book from cover to cover, but don't hardly use any of his lines anymore.  :-P

  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
bravehoptoad
Guest


Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #14 - 04/04/05 at 18:23:00
Post Tools
Even though the French is my only response to e4, I've never yet faced the KIA in a tournament game.  Is that weird, or not?  Dunno.  I live in San Francisco, where at least half the people I'm playing against are Russian, and they've never been a big KIA people.  I PLAN to use the 3...Nf6, 4...Bc5 variation, because by luring White's center forward, that looks like it leads to more normal Frenchie pawn structures I'm used to from the rest of my repetoire.

Against the Exchange I also study almost no theory, since the play is so unforcing.  If White castles 0-0, I like to castle ...0-0-0, and vice versa, but in a lot of these games I somehow spend a couple tempos to get the bishop pair. 

I love playing against the Advance.  Black's moves all seem so natural.  I usually play the 3...c5, 4...Nc6, 5...Qb6 with ...f6 as early as comfortable.  I've been playing this line since I was 10.  I love the way both sides play all over the board.

Against the Tarrasch, I like the 3...Nf6 lines.  It's true these lines can be a bit of a mess, but I love the structures.  Locked centers rule!  And these lines are so similar to the ones in the Steinitz.

Which brings up 3. Nc3, when I play 3...Nf6.  Usually this means a Steinitz with 4. e5, and leads into lines similar to the 3...Nf6 Tarrasch, often transposing exactly. 

When White does rarely play 4. Bg5, I get into my favorite line, the McCutcheon.  When I first started playing chess as a kid in the '70s, this was the line I could most often count on getting, but as club players follow the fashion of super-GMs, it's pretty rare I get to it these days. 

I like this repetoire because I get similar pawn structures in almost every case.  That's one reason I hate the non-3...Nf6 lines against the Tarrasch.  I might as well be playing a completely different opening.  There are a few cases where I end up with a much different game, like the Exchange, or the 5. exd5 or 6. exf6 McCutcheon, etc., but that's fewer than 10% of my games. 

If only I could find openings against d4 and c4 that were so consistent!  Against 1. d4 I do open 1...e6, and I'd say a third of the time they opt for the French.  There must be a lot of people who play 1. d4 because they hate the Sicilian!

  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Eaglesfan2
Guest


Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #13 - 03/26/05 at 17:24:02
Post Tools
Here is my repetoire

against KIA: 3...Nf6 followed by Bc5 transposing to "universal system" of tarrasch

against Tarrasch: 3...Be7

against Nc3: 3...Nf6 and Ba5 Winawer. I usually play Nf6 in tournament games but have been experimenting with ba5

against Advance: 4...Nc6 and 5...Qb6 or 5...Bd7. I play both about equally
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
jpmoldovan
YaBB Newbies
*
Offline


I love ChessPublishing
.com!

Posts: 6
Location: Springfield
Joined: 08/09/04
Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #12 - 03/25/05 at 01:48:17
Post Tools
I have played the French for 24 years & this is my current repertoire :

- Anti-French lines (KIA, etc.)  : Usually 2...c5. I don't mind transposing into a Kan or Taimanov Sicilian;

- Exchange : I prefer a setup with ...Bd6, ...Nc6, ...Nge7, ...Bg4 & ...Qd7 & 0-0-0;

- Advance : 3...c5 idea 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Nc6;

- Tarrasch (The only variation that gives me trouble.) : 3...Nc6 by default, because it's more independant than 3...c5 4.exd5 Qxd5. I don't like 3...c5 4.exd5 exd5 (isolated d-pawn) or 3...dxe4 (surrenders the center), had bad results with 3...Nf6 (1-4-0),& found 3...Be7 enigmatic.

- Classical 3.Nc3 : 3...Bb4 idea 4.e5 Qd7 + ...b6 & ...Ba6. I used to play 4...c5 + ...Qc7 but 4...Qd7 etc. is a better anti-Qg4 remedy & my results with it are very good (8-3-2).
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
glycerinpony
YaBB Newbies
*
Offline


I love ChessPublishing
.com!

Posts: 4
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: 01/19/05
Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #11 - 03/05/05 at 13:19:08
Post Tools
How do you guys find the time to read all these books and
study all these games? I have Watson 3rd. edition and an
ancient one-volume book by Psakhis (which is propably completely outdated, so i never look at it).

Nc3: I used to play Bb4 (and then either the Armenian variation or 4.-,Qd7), but nowadays the Qg4 lines look
dangerous to me, so I'm likely to switch my attention to
3.-,Nf6 intending to capture on e4 in case of Bg5. 4.e5 does not look so terribly dangerous to me.

Nd2: I  dont trust the Nf6 variations, so I play the main line
c5 + Qxd5 lines. I don't think this is better than the exd5
lines, and might switch to them in order not to be outprepared in the Qxd5 lines.

e5: I play Nc5+Qb6, answering a3 and Be2 by Nh6 ala Watson.

KIA: Come on whitey. You can do better than that.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Willempie
God Member
*****
Offline


I love ChessPublishing
.com!

Posts: 4312
Location: Holland
Joined: 01/07/05
Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #10 - 02/25/05 at 21:50:15
Post Tools
I follow Uhlman (Nf6 against Nd2), but for those idiots who play Qe2 i answer e5 Grin
  

If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
TomR
Junior Member
**
Offline



Posts: 65
Joined: 08/31/04
Gender: Male
Re: One French Player's Repertoire
Reply #9 - 02/25/05 at 11:33:24
Post Tools
Against KIA i play the unusual 2..d5 3..Nf6 and 4..Bc5 in an attempt to avoid mine lines. After e5 Nfd4, d4 Be7 it transposes to....

Against the Tarrach 3...Be7, quite fashionable - but not unbearably theoretical - still scope for coming up with original ideas.

Against 3.Nc3 i play the Armenian variation 5.a3 Ba5!?
(look out for my game in the February update)

Against the Advance: ...Qb6, Nc6 etc. sometimes Nh6, sometimes Nge7.

Against the Exchange - no repetoire really, just natural moves.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: [1] 2 
Topic Tools
Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg Facebook Google Google+ Linked in reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Yahoo