There have been a lot of French defences played so far at the European championships (see
http://www.eurobudva2009.com or
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic.html) with Black scoring quite well.
Of the games I have looked at so far, these two caught my attention.
[Event "10th EICC"]
[Site "Budva MNE"]
[Date "2009.03.07"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Durarbeyli, V."]
[Black "Yemelin, V."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C03"]
[WhiteElo "2439"]
[BlackElo "2578"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2009.03.06"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Bd3 c5 5. dxc5 Nf6 6. Qe2 O-O 7. Ngf3 a5 8. O-O
Na6 9. e5 Nd7 10. c3 Naxc5 11. Bc2 b6 12. Re1 Ba6 13. Qe3 f6 14. b4 fxe5 15.
Nxe5 Nxe5 16. bxc5 Bxc5 17. Qxe5 Rxf2 18. Qxe6+ Kh8 19. Kh1 Qh4 20. Nf3 Rxf3
21. gxf3 Qf2 22. Be3 Qxf3+ 23. Kg1 Bf1 24. Rxf1 Bxe3+ 25. Qxe3 Qxe3+ 26. Rf2
Rf8 27. Raf1 g6 28. Bb3 Rxf2 29. Rxf2 Qxc3 30. Bxd5 Qc1+ 31. Kg2 Qg5+ 0-1
This game features one of the sharpest lines in the 3...Be7 system.
[Event "10th EICC"]
[Site "Budva MNE"]
[Date "2009.03.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Caruana, F."]
[Black "Drasko, M."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2646"]
[BlackElo "2533"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2009.03.06"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Qg4 O-O 8. Bd3
f5 9. exf6 Rxf6 10. Bg5 Rf7 11. Qh5 g6 12. Qd1 Nbc6 13. Nf3 Qf8 14. O-O c4 15.
Be2 h6 16. Bc1 Qg7 17. h3 Bd7 18. a4 Rd8 19. Ba3 Bc8 20. Qd2 Kh7 21. Rae1 Nf5
22. Bd1 Rc7 23. Ne5 Nxe5 24. Rxe5 Rc6 25. Bg4 Ra6 26. Bc1 Rxa4 27. Bxf5 gxf5
28. Kh2 Rg8 29. Rg1 Ra1 30. g4 Qf6 31. Rg3 Qg5 32. gxf5 Qxd2 33. Bxd2 Rxg3 34.
Kxg3 exf5 35. Rxd5 Ra2 36. Rd8 Rxc2 37. Be3 f4+ 38. Kxf4 Bxh3 39. Rb8 b6 40.
Rb7+ Kg6 41. Rxa7 Rxc3 42. Ra6 Rb3 43. d5 c3 44. Rxb6+ 1/2-1/2
This game shows Drasko holding a very strong young GM at bay in the Winawer. Drasko is a French defence expert whose games are nearly always worthy of attention. He is one of the few GMs who still places his faith in answering 7 Qg4 with 0-0.
I was thinking of analyzing these games in April's article so I was quite surprised to see some analysis already posted on chesspub. Needless to say, I would integrate some lines into the analysis to make my job easier.