Another bit:  9...f6 was played by Uhlmann in one of the games in his "Ein Leben lang Französisch."

Psakhis mentioned 9...f6 (citing a Rubinstein game) approvingly in "The Complete French" from 1992.

It seems that i am the only one in this world that i believe that the opposite castling positions are in White's favour? At least the positions that everybody discusses and were analysed by Watson, because i think that with a slight modification Black is OK. In fact i am referring to the following idea by Rubinstein:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bd3
(5.h3 is another potential problem)
5...Bd6 6.O-O Nge7 7.c3 Bg4 8.Nbd2 Qd7 9.Re1 and now 9...f6!! a very deep move!

If Black plays 9...O-O-O White will start an attack with b4-Nb3 and so on BUT...

White has to play something. If 9...f6 10.Nf1 then 10...O-O-O! now that the Nf1 cannot easily go to Black's King while the ...f6 move is always usefull in these positions. If White tries to be flexible and play 10.b4 hoping for 10...O-O-O then after 10...O-O! with the idea ...Bf5 he finds himself in a difficult position because in the ...O-O variation the move b4 is out of place and creates weeknesses. See a Moskalenko's game in Flexible French for this theme.

But my main recommendation is the simple 4...Nf6 waiting for c4 to play Bb4+ and Nc6 and if 5.Bd3 ( a bad place for a Bishop in these IQP positions) then 5...c5! The game is unbalanced and Black plays for the win.

Fromper wrote on 07/07/11 at 16:55:03:


Me too (I have curious feeling of repeating again again the same advices  ).

I will ponder that I prefer to play Nc6 when White has played Bd3 and c3, ..., position (specially pawns) is specific then to engineer some special plan with ooo.

I don't feel it suitable with a quick 4.c4 move (Morphy liked it because he enjoyed center-open lines)...I prefer a quick Bb4+ ; Nf6 ; oo as an answer.

Everything works!

That's my advice on the French Exchange; there is almost nothing you can do that will get you in serious trouble as long as you look at things first (and, you know, get off the e file).  I like the idea of controlling the e4 square, although I would generally combine this with playing c7-c5, with reasonable IQP positions and/or pressure in the center.  The French Exchange is like a Petroff with a free tempo for Black (which Black must use to play Ne4-f6!).  White has fewer dynamic chances than in the Petroff, but also fewer ways to get in trouble.

If you're going to play ...Nc6 without ...c7-c5, consider castling Queenside!

BirdBrain, this line is covered in 'How to Play Against 1.e4' by Neil McDonald, and provides a good case for ...Nc6 against 4.Nf3 and 4.Bd3. In fact, I highly recommend this book, which will answer several of your questions and give you a reliable and reputable repertoire. 

On another note, I think 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 c5 6.0-0 c4 7.Re1 Be7 8.Bf1 0-0 is a good try for Black, which unbalances the position quite a bit while maintaining a very solid position. Even 4.Bd3 c5 is quite sensible, but to enjoy these lines you do have to be happy with IQP positions.

Yeah, 6. c4 led to positions that weren't my type, so those are the ones you need to check most.

BPaulsen, I do like the ...Nc6 - I think it is aggressive and provocative.  I will study on the Bb5 variations.  I just played a nice game that actually employs some of the ideas in the ...Nc6 Bb5 variation that SmyslovFan discussed.  Of course, this isn't a high-rated match (1415 v. 1644 chess.com), but the principles you guys are telling me are making sense, and are a big help!  (NOTE - I even ventured 2...d5 against 2. Nf3 this time!  thanks to your recommendations BPaulsen - according to what you said, I definitely will be a ...c4 player against the Wing Gambit)



1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd6 6.O-O Nge7 7.Bg5 O-O 8.Re1 f6 
9.Bh4 Ng6 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.Nc3 Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 Nxh4 14.Qg4 Ng6 15.h4 f5 
16.Qh3 Qxh4 17.Qf3 Rae8 18.Red1 Qh2+  0-1

Also - I know I had previously discussed playing ...Bg4 against the Nf3 setup after Nc6, but here, since White already looked like he wanted to part with his light bishop, I decided to retain mine on principle (does this make sense - seems to make sense to me) and went with ...Bd6.