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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) French Defence : Searching for the Truth (Read 4010 times)
kylemeister
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #14 - 10/31/23 at 16:40:04
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kylemeister wrote on 10/15/23 at 00:10:05:
I think it was from that book that I became aware of one of White's alternatives, 8. a3.

Just to add, I see that Christof Sielecki went with this line in
Keep It Simple 1.e4 – 2.0.
  
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #13 - 10/16/23 at 16:35:52
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The meeting of ...a5 with a4 reminded me of Karpov-Ljubojevic 1986, but that was with 8. g3 a5 9. a4 cd4 10. cd4 Bb4+ 11. Kf2 g5. I seem to recall that that line without the a-pawn moves became a hot topic in 1985.
  
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #12 - 10/16/23 at 15:50:25
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kylemeister wrote on 10/15/23 at 00:10:05:
Re 8. h4"!?" a5"!?", he gave two continuations, both leading to equality. They were from Engedal-Poulton 1994 and Psakhis-Farago 1988


Psakhis and Farago were two French defense experts. I played through their game and was not dissapointed:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. c3 Nc6
7. Ndf3 Qb6 8. h4 a5 9. a4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Ndb8 11. h5 h6
12. Bd3 Bd7 13. Ne2 Na6 14. O-O O-O-O 15. Kh1 Be7 16. Be3 Kb8
17. g4 Nc7 18. Qd2 Qb4 19. Nc3 f6 20. Qh2 fxe5 21. fxe5 Rhf8
22. Nb5 Nxb5 23. Bxb5 Qb3 24. Qe2 1/2-1/2

In addition to the game's 10...Ndb8, Black can consider 10...Bb4ch and 10...h5. Generally, Black is fighting from behind the barricades, to borrow a metaphor from Moskalenko. At first, I did not like 9a4 as it leads to a hole on b4. On the other hand, White can occupy b5. Looking further, it seems that White may be better after 9a4!?

I will check out Pedersen's analysis at the next opportunity. For now, I think this may be the biggest challenge to 3...Nf6.
  
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #11 - 10/15/23 at 00:10:05
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In the Tarrasch book Pedersen just addressed "a few recent devlopments" re 8. Ne2 f6"!".

Re 8. h4"!?" a5"!?", he gave two continuations, both leading to equality. They were from Engedal-Poulton 1994 and Psakhis-Farago 1988.

I think it was from that book that I became aware of one of White's alternatives, 8. a3. I noticed that Patrick Wolff played it against Doug Root in the recemt US Senior. (Pedersen's main line followed Bauer-Apicella 2000, ending with "White has marginally the better chances.")
  
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #10 - 10/14/23 at 20:40:09
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A.  1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. c3 c5 6. f4 Nc6 7. Ndf3 Qb6 8. Ne2 *

reaches the same position as

B.  1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nce2 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. f4 Qb6 8.Nf3.

This position is covered in a chapter of Steffen Pedersen's book on the French with 3Nc3. The chapter is titled the Shirov-Anand variation. I don't know if he covers it in his book on the Tarrasch French. I looked at this position before and concluded that it was very interesting and offered equal chances.

However, by the Tarrasch move order (A), White has a serious alternative to the natural 8Ne2. I think Black is hard pressed after 8h4!? as discussed on this thread. Black has tried many continuations. I think the best two are 8...a5!? and 8...h5!? The latter leads to positions that are more blocked than I like. The game Istratescu Andrei (ROM)-Stamenkovic Zoran (SRB) It, 1994 was agreed drawn after:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3 Qb6 8. h4! a5! 9. h5 a4 10. h6 g6 11. Ne2 a3 12. b3 f5 13. Be3 cd4 14. cd4 Ndb8 15. Kf2 Bd7.

Along the way, White had 14Ned4!? Black could have varied earlier with 11...Be7!? Both sides could vary earlier.

I think 8h4! a5! keeps Black in the game.
  
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tp2205
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #9 - 06/05/21 at 04:10:20
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an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 06/02/21 at 21:56:30:
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.f4 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6 8.h4 cxd4 9.cxd4 Bb4+ 10. Kf2 f6 11. Be3 O-O 12. Ne2 Be7 13. Rb1 Qd8 14.Kg1 Nb6 15.b3 Bd7 16.Nc1 Be8 17.h5 Rc8 18.Nd3 Nd7 19.g3 Nb4 20.Nxb4 Bxb4 21.Bd3 Qb6 22.Rb2 (played in Jukic - Kneutgen)

...

RE tp2205's suggestion 9...Be7, I haven't had time to look at it yet, but it has been played, and scores better (54%) than 9...Bb4+ (63%). Or perhaps he meant 8...Be7, which does even better (50%).


I mostly meant 8...Be7. No need to play cxd4 when you don't intend to play Bb4+. But I was talking more generally about Bb4+ against the Tarrasch with f4. My fingers always want to play Bb4+ but more often then not that just wastes a tempo. The admittedly vague explanation I use for myself is that getting the white king to safety takes two tempi. O-O,Kh1 or Kf2-g3(2), or Kf1-g2. Safety means not on the e- or f- file and not on the a7-g1 diagonal. After Bb4 you often have to return to e7 quickly anyway and in that case you have given White one move for free.
  
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #8 - 06/03/21 at 22:02:21
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MNb wrote on 06/03/21 at 16:30:22:
Perhaps it's because I'm getting old, but I have problems with the small letters at Chesspub.

You can change your browser settings:
  • Firefox | Options | Language and Appearance | Advanced | Minimum font size = 14 (default is None)
  • Chrome | Settings | Appearance | Customize Fonts | Minimum font size = 14 (default = 0)
  • Safari | Preferences | Advanced | Accessibility | Never use font size smaller than 14 (default = 9)
Edited:
Default in Safari is unchecked, so that's None or zero like Firefox and Chrome. Edge should be like Chrome, I think.

Adjust 14 to whatever your actual preference is.
  
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MNb
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #7 - 06/03/21 at 16:30:22
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an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 06/03/21 at 14:10:29:
The Stockfish lines are in the pgn attachment to my previous post.

Thanks. Perhaps it's because I'm getting old, but I have problems with the small letters at Chesspub. So I missed it.

an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 06/03/21 at 14:10:29:
Unfortunately I have even less time today, so not sure when I will get to 8/9...Be7.

Same with me.
  

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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #6 - 06/03/21 at 14:10:29
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The Stockfish lines are in the pgn attachment to my previous post. On my own I was analyzing 17.b3 or 17.Bd2 Qa6 18.b3 as the most sensible ideas, but I ran out of time and did not want to put some nonsense in the attachment, so I just pasted the Stockfish variations. Not the greatest, but better than nothing. 17.Nf4 has the idea of 18.Ng5 (already prepared by Kf2-g1) and 19.Qh5. 17.Bc1 I don't understand at all. But the evaluations are so large I don't think black will be able to repair all four moves.

Looking at two of Jukic's games, I think I see the same pattern as in my own games. I would need to look at more of his games to confirm, but here goes: He is (was) a good positional player who knows his openings well, can get great positions, but has trouble swinging the axe. Then the decisive moment is gone and he has to muddle through somehow. Working with the engine can benefit a great deal, because the engine is *great* at swinging the axe. I think looking at 17.Nf4 in detail and seeing why it works (or almost works, since Stockfish did not reach great depth) would be very helpful in future games when needing to switch to axe-swinging mode. 17.Nf4 is not at all obvious - more like an attack than a tactic. Defenders also need to analyze this. It's precisely this kind of latent kingside attack that black so often preempts with the sacrificial moves ...Nxe5 or ...Rxf3.

Unfortunately I have even less time today, so not sure when I will get to 8/9...Be7.
  
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MNb
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #5 - 06/03/21 at 06:05:54
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@Ordinary ChP: I'm not going to argue with Stockfish, but I'd like to see a few lines.
@RivertonKn: 14....Qxa2 is a big no no of course with that undeveloped queenside.

9...Be7 10.a3 transposes to 9.a3 Be7 10.h4 as in Howell-l'Ami, Wijk aan Zee 2010, which went well for Black. So 9.h4 Be7 10.h5 f6 remains. The main idea is to bring up the usual tactics with ...fxe5, ...Nxe5 and/or ...Rxf3. As they say: further research is needed.
  

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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #4 - 06/03/21 at 00:51:34
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In reply to TOP questioning 22 g4 in my opinion White is trying to open up Black's king favorable while Black is uncordinated and White finds it easier to swing his pieces to the kingside.

MNb's 13... Qa5 I think White can offer more wood to the fire and play 14 Kg1 Qa2 15 Nc3 Qa5 16 Bd3 f5 17 Ra1 Qb6 18 Ng5

And also have not looked at 9...Be7 but 10 a3 or 10 h5 might deserve a look.

Thanks for the replies! AJ

  
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #3 - 06/02/21 at 21:56:30
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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.f4 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6 8.h4 cxd4 9.cxd4 Bb4+ 10. Kf2 f6 11. Be3 O-O 12. Ne2 Be7 13. Rb1 Qd8 14.Kg1 Nb6 15.b3 Bd7 16.Nc1 Be8 17.h5 Rc8 18.Nd3 Nd7 19.g3 Nb4 20.Nxb4 Bxb4 21.Bd3 Qb6 22.Rb2 (played in Jukic - Kneutgen)

RE RivertonKnight's variation with 22. g4, I have to admit I don't understand any of the moves given.

RE MNb's variation with 13...Qa5, after 14.a3 b5 15.Kg1 fxe5 ( 15... b4 has been played ) 16. fxe5 Nb6, the top four Stockfish-11 choices for white all seem to be basically winning: 17.Nf4, 17.b3, 17.Bd2, 17.Bc1.

RE tp2205's suggestion 9...Be7, I haven't had time to look at it yet, but it has been played, and scores better (54%) than 9...Bb4+ (63%). Or perhaps he meant 8...Be7, which does even better (50%).
  

Jukic-Kneutgen-1995-1.pgn ( 2 KB | 89 Downloads )
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #2 - 06/02/21 at 11:49:57
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RivertonKnight wrote on 06/01/21 at 19:12:26:
...
This line was mentioned in the general forum by ReneDescartes up to White playing 11 Bd3? I was wondering what move should Black look for improvements ... because 11 Be3! looks more challenging and maybe provide a sample variation ...
...

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.f4 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6
8.h4 cxd4 9.cxd4 Bb4+ 10.Kf2 f6 11.Be3



The currently acceptable answers would be 3...c5 or if you want to be a smart ass then 1...c5. That being said my conclusion the last time I looked at these lines was that Bb4+ tends to be a waste of time in most variations and the less forcing Be7 should be preferred. But I could not come to any conclusion as to whether to play f6 and O-O or Nb6, Bd7 and a5-a4
  
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MNb
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Re: French Defence : Searching for the Truth
Reply #1 - 06/02/21 at 05:53:22
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Perhaps 13...Qa5 14.a3 b5 15.Kg1 fxe5 16.fxe5 Nb6 heading for c4.
  

The book had the effect good books usually have: it made the stupids more stupid, the intelligent more intelligent and the other thousands of readers remained unchanged.
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RivertonKnight
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French Defence : Searching for the Truth
06/01/21 at 19:12:26
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I used to play the French (King Korchnoi!!) and it still has it's allure ... but there is still something telling my inner-self it is not quite as playable as it seems on the surface?

This line was mentioned in the general forum by ReneDescartes up to White playing 11 Bd3? I was wondering what move should Black look for improvements ... because 11 Be3! looks more challenging and maybe provide a sample variation ...

Cheers, AJ

[Event "Oberwart op"]
[Site "Oberwart (Austria)"]
[Date "1995.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Jukic Branimir (CRO)"]
[Black "Kneutgen Alexander (GER)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C05"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[BlackElo "2145"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]
[Remark "VII"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.f4 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6
8.h4 cxd4 9.cxd4 Bb4+ 10.Kf2 f6 11.Be3 O-O 12.Ne2 Be7 13.Rb1
Qd8 14.Kg1 Nb6 15.b3 Bd7 16.Nc1 Be8 17.h5 Rc8 18.Nd3 Nd7 19.g3
Nb4 20.Nxb4 Bxb4 21.Bd3 Qb6 {1-0,47 Jukic Branimir (CRO) 2400  - Kneutgen Alexander (GER) 2145 , Oberwart 1995 Oberwart op}
22.g4 Nb8 23.exf6 Rxf6 24.Qe2 a6 25.a4 Bd6 26.Rf1 Bxf4 27.Bxh7+
Kxh7 28.Bxf4 Nc6 29.Kg2 Kg8 30.Bg5 Rf8 31.h6 {How does Black improve on this line?}
1-0

  

PGNFRENCHA.txt ( 0 KB | 80 Downloads )
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