dom wrote on 10/08/06 at 13:14:14:


I think Sveshnikov is as serious as serious can be about this matter and that a lot of GMs share his view that 1...e5 and 1...c5 are the best responses to 1.e4 from a Godseye point of view. That being said it is an exaggeration to give a question mark to 1...e6; this should be "?!", even within the view of Sveshnikov himself.
Another way of looking at the virtues of the french is by looking at the games of the very best. I don't have access to a database, but from the top of my head I can't remember Fischer or Kasparov ever having ventured it. Karpov tried it once and was immediately crushed by Geller in some Soviet championship in the seventies. Tal occasionally used it, but I remember reading somewhere that he just didn't feel very comfortable with it or words to that extent.
Not sure whether this proves anything though..

Quote:


The source of Sveshnikov article is an old review from 1994!, nº77 called: Revista Internacional de Ajedrez. Sveshnikov writes about the Scotch opening and says that 4...Nf6 is the best move too. 
I will look at FNAC too. The Spanish version is fine for me too.  Thanks. 

kylemeister wrote on 10/08/06 at 16:09:17:


I respectfully suggest that either your memory has let you down or the translation is bad! (If you can show real evidence to the contrary, I shall be happy to revise my view, of course! )

In 1991 Sveshnikov wrote a major article on the Advance French. An English version of this article was published in NIC YB20. In it he wrote:

"(...) the move 3.e5!? is objectively stronger than the passive 3.Nd2 (...). 3 Nc3 should be considered as White's best move."

I submit that, whether one agrees with him or not, his views actually show great consistency over time.

Mortal Games wrote on 10/08/06 at 15:33:37:


Please name the source of the article - I have a large collection of material by Sveshnikov in many languages and I have not found him to be inconsistent about this matter. He is almost absurdly dogmatic and fixed in his views.

Of course Sveshnikov can lose to Bareev! That proves nothing. More relevant is the fact that even though his opponents know that he will usually play 3 e5, he manages to score 68% with it from 124 games in my database! (59 wins, 50 draws, only 15 losses).

I ordered my copy of his 3 e5 book from FNAC. However,  I should perhaps warn you that the French translation is not very good - perhaps better than nothing, if French is your only language,  but containing many mistakes - my impression is that it has not been translated by, or checked by, a strong chessplayer.

The Spanish version is fine. I have not yet seen the recently published German version.

Two games with 8.dxc5 (found on chessbase online datbase):

[Event "Rubinstein mem 35th"]
[Site "Polanica Zdroj"]
[Date "1998.08.17"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Oll,Lembit"]
[Black "Ivanchuk,Vassily"]
[Result "1/2"]
[Eco "C02"]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Rc8 7.0-0 a6 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.Bf4 Nge7 10.Bd3 f5 11.exf6 gxf6 12.Nh4 0-0 13.Qg4+ Kh8 14.Qh5 f5 15.b4 Bb6 16.Nd2 Bc7 17.Be3 e5 18.b5 axb5 19.Bxb5 Qe8 20.Qxe8 Rcxe8 21.Nb3 f4 22.Bc5 b6 23.Ba3 Nb8 24.Be2 Nbc6 25.Bb5 Nb8 1/2

[Event "Roznov Friendship-A"]
[Site "Roznov"]
[Date "2002.12.06"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Simacek,Pavel"]
[Black "Obsivac,Josef"]
[Result "1/2"]
[Eco "C02"]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Rc8 7.0-0 a6 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.b4 Bb6 10.Bf4 Nge7 11.Bd3 Ng6 12.Bxg6 fxg6 13.Na3 0-0 14.Qd2 Rf5 15.Nc2 Qf8 16.Bg3 Rxf3 17.gxf3 Ne7 18.Kg2 g5 19.Nd4 Qf7 20.Rac1 h6 21.f4 g4 22.f3 gxf3+ 23.Rxf3 Rc4 24.Bf2 Bxd4 25.Bxd4 Nf5 26.Rf2  1/2

Mortal Games wrote on 10/08/06 at 12:09:45:


Really? What is your source? Sveshnikov's views on these matters have been consistent for many years now: best is 1...c5; next best is 1...e5.

Quote:


It is funny that Sweschnikow states that in his new book, because the same Sweschnikow was known some time ago to have said that: "Beeing a 1.c5 player, I have to admit that, 1...e5! is the better reply to 1.e4.  
It is interesting to read the introduction of the new book of Senkov and the views about 1...c5 in general: http://www.chess-stars.com/graphics/eshop/books_special/The_Safest_Sicilian.pdf 
And here, it is funny again to see that Delchev (one of the authors of the book) is now learning 1...e5! and Senkov in a recent thread said that at the top, it seems that all are thinking that 1...e5 is the only correct move, but that is not important to us, club players to create our repertoire.   
The advance variation of the French is an easy way to play and some top players play it, but the only way for an advantage is 3.Nc3! but here too, is an academic advantage, players need to know a lot of theory and in pratice, the better player will always win from either side.    
 

Hi MNB,

Those were the (wise?) words of GM Sweschnikow, not mine. And indeed he has been playing the advance against the french for decades now.