But castling does avoid blundering you kingside pawns Black surely hardly ever goes o-o after 6.. Qa5 -> a4? Personally I don't understand why anyone ever castle queenside in the Winaver as black  

Mind you the lines I use in after 7..o-o (8.. Nc6, Qc7 and 11.... Nce7) is dependent on a massive sea of very random tactics to hang together, so could be 'fun' vs specifically prepared players. 8.. f5 is rather more rational of course.

Also there is the 7...0-0 Winawer. It can lead to relatively sharp but balanced positions if you neither enjoy an extremely positional game nor an extremely sharp game (7...Qc7). There are enough lines within the Winawer complex for a viable French repertoire.

BPaulsen wrote on 08/31/11 at 11:03:54:

No, not present tense, but past tense. You just convinced me to stick to the Winawer.

BPaulsen wrote on 08/31/11 at 04:40:12:

4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.h4 b4 10.Na4 Qa5 11.Nxc5 Nxc5 12.dxc5 Bxc5 13.Bxc5 Qxc5 14.h5 h6 15.Qf2 and here I lost after Qe7 16.o-o-o a5 17.f5 o-o 18.Bb5. After 15...Qa5 Black is allright and has decent counterplay.
I lost another game after 9.Be2 b4 10.Nd1 a5 11.c4 but won one after 9.g3 thanks to White's abysmal play.

MNb wrote on 08/31/11 at 02:30:54:


Losing after 4. Bg5 Be7 isn't unusual. I've said my piece about that line on here just recently.

4. e5 is another matter. Black should be able to escape death easier there.

Quote:


When white castles short black has to limit his ambitions to equality barring a major white error. That's also the downside to white's chosen method of play - white has also limited his own ambitions.

At one point I was writing an e-book that gets into this very issue, but stopped writing it because Watson is supposed to do a 4th "Play the French" in the near future, and the French market is oversaturated as it is right now. Maybe one of the books will get into the significant differences between white playing 0-0-0 and 0-0 beyond the superficial stuff like black is less likely to get mated.

Quote:


Being a correspondence player so long as you have the correct theoretical antidotes that really shouldn't ever happen.

What particular line did you get posed problems in? The only line that has opposite-sided castling that requires black to think outside the box a little is when white plays Nb3 (if black knows the idea even that's easy to handle). Other than that, so long as black doesn't push his luck there it shouldn't be a problem.

BPaulsen wrote on 08/31/11 at 00:52:11:

I know; I still took the liberty to answer. That's what a forum is for.

BPaulsen wrote on 08/31/11 at 00:52:11:

Even though one game began with 4.e5 and another with 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 I lost twice in similar ways: I played a la the Sicilian with ..a6 and b5, White castled short, I had equalized, thought I could initiate more counterplay on the Queenside and got mated. That was very depressing.
At the other hand in my last four games with the Winawer I equalized, did not get too much counterplay but did not get mated either.
Now I wonder what this tells about my (lacking) chess skills, because I realize very well this is more or less contrary to the general view on 3...Nf6 and 3...Bb4. So this makes me quite insecure. Do I understand zilch about the French? But why do I have such fine results against the Tarrasch and the Advance then? If it weren't for this (and because I want to play 1.d4 e6) I would have given up the French long ago.
At least I understand that I'm not a typical Frenchie, whatever that may mean.

Note: I do know now what I did wrong in those two 3...Nf6 games. That doesn't solve the mystery though: I am tempted to return to 3...Nf6 in order to create more winning chances as Black!

Note 2: my memory deceives me for the zillionth time. I actually lost three games with 3...Nf6. In an older one White castled Queenside and still my counterplay came too late.

BPaulsen wrote on 08/30/11 at 23:26:37:

In my results in actual games.

BPaulsen wrote on 08/30/11 at 23:26:37:

As I wrote before I use of the Winawer to avoid losing. 

My main weapon is Sicilian Najdorf, but in these days I am seriously thinking to not choose the French as my second one. Actually 3. Nc3 is giving me hard times and causing too many headaches, maybe it's time to study the more correct 1...e5 although my first intention was to have a semi-open + 1...c5.

I don't like 15...g5 either. Is there anything wrong with ...g6, now or after some preparation?

Mainly because neither the Black Queen Blues nor the Eingorn Variation 7...Kf8 provide much winning chances (even though they helped me avoiding to lose after 3.Nc3) I have looked at other options. I don't like Black's chances after 6...Qc7 7.Qg4 f5 8.Qg3 cxd4 9.cxd4 Ne7 10.Bd2 0-0 11.Bd3 and White does have attacking chances.
At the other hand the Poisoned Pawn looks too risky for me, not so much because of Black being a pawn down, but because of that pawn running to h6 or h7. Apparently I'm not the only one, because Black's results overall are not particularly good.
I have found objections against all non 4...c5 variations. At one hand that is convenient, because I do have the Winawer in my repertoire as White as well via 1.d4 e6 2.e4 (I play corr. chess). At the other hand I haven't been able yet to find the right equilibrium between solidity and unbalances for Black. I don't have that problem against the Tarrasch (just 3...Nf6) and the Advance (something with ...Nh6).

MNb wrote on 08/29/11 at 20:10:16:


I have never believed in Qa5. White has a very easy-manouevring game at disposal. I am really sorry for Lima, but today Svidler totally crushed his Blues:

http://chess.ugrasport.com/?page_id=1007&gameid=1000120009

MartinC wrote on 08/29/11 at 13:35:30:

Moskalenko wasn't mixing anything, he very much played like Muzychuk-Rajlich, Ohrid 2009, a game he likes.

MartinC wrote on 08/29/11 at 13:35:30:


I will take a look to their games

Thank you for the kind answer!

ErictheRed wrote on 08/29/11 at 03:22:36:


5. Ndf3 followed by Bxh6 can't be good for Black with the bishop in e7 and not in g7 supporting the f6 break. It seems like a worse advance variation with Bxh6. 

Gilchrist is a legend wrote on 08/29/11 at 07:44:43:


The Queen's Blues has a very poor score. Black is still fighting for a draw, if White is well prepared there is a little chance only to play for a win. The Author is experiencing some difficulties even in his baby Blues.

[Event "Sitges op 37th"]
[Date "2011.07.23"]
[White "Lacasa Diaz, Jose Antonio"]
[Black "Moskalenko, Viktor"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2392"]
[BlackElo "2591"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qa5 7. Bd2 Qa4 8. Qg4
g6 9. Nf3 c4 10. Be2 Nc6 11. Qf4 h6 12. Ra2 Bd7 13. O-O Rh7 14. h4 O-O-O 15.
Nh2 Rf8 16. Ng4 Qa5 17. a4 Qd8 18. Qg3 Nce7 19. Ne3 f6 20. f4 h5 21. Bc1 Nh6
22. Ba3 Nef5 23. Nxf5 Nxf5 24. Qf2 Rff7 25. exf6 Qxf6 26. g3 Bxa4 27. Bc5 b5
28. Qf3 Rc7 29. Re1 Rxc5 30. dxc5 Qf8 31. Qf2 Rc7 32. Bf1 Rc6 33. Bh3 Kd7 34.
Re2 Qxc5 35. Qxc5 Rxc5 36. Kf2 Ke7 37. Bxf5 gxf5 38. Re5 Kd6 39. Re1 Rc7 40.
Re2 Rg7 41. Re5 Rg6 42. Re2 Kc5 43. Re1 a5 44. Re5 Kd6 45. Re1 Rg7 46. Re2 Ra7
47. Ke3 Kc5 48. Kd2 Rg7 49. Re3 Rg6 50. Ra1 Kd6 51. Ra2 Rg7 52. Ra1 Ra7 53. Re5
Ra6 54. Ra2 Ra7 55. Re3 Rg7 56. Ra3 Rg4 57. Ra1 Rg7 58. Ra3 Ra7 59. Ra1 Ra6 60.
Ra2 Ra8 61. Ra3 Rg8 62. Ra1 Rg6 63. Re5 Rg7 64. Ra2 Ra7 65. Ra1 Ra6 66. Ra2 Ra7
67. Re3 Rg7 68. Ra3 Ra7 69. Ra1 Ra6 70. Ra2 Ra8 71. Re5 Ra6 72. Ra3 Ra8 73. Ra1
Ra6 74. Ra2 Bb3 75. Ra1 Ba4 76. Ra2 Ra8 77. Ra1 Ra7 78. Ra3 Ra6 79. Ra1 Kc5 80.
Ra3 Kd6 1/2-1/2


I don't consider the Advance to be dangerous, both 6. Nh6 or c4 are fine for Black. 

MartinC wrote on 08/29/11 at 08:45:44:


I can't decide what to play in case of Nd2 and Nc3 only. The motto is "fighting for a win", I do want to play in an aggressive but sound way, I don't need to follow drawy lines as Black

Against the Tarrasch whenever I occasionally play the French I have played 3...c5 4. exd5 exd5. I feel like there are more chances to equalise than other lines despite its unpopularity. I always found the positions easy to play with good chances to outplay an opponent positionally.

Against 3. Nc3, maybe Winawer lines such as 3...Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3 6. bxc3 Qa5. It seems fairly solid. The unorthodox lines with 4...Qd7 5. a3 Bf8 are worth consideration also.

Against the Advance Variation, consider the very solid 3...c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 c4.

Check this thread: http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1300201492

Also, is there something wrong with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7 4.e5 Nh6?  It obviously avoids the 4...c5 5.Qg4 Kf8 line and is maybe worth looking into.