french defense - tag
The French Defense is a vast opening. It has a distinct flair to it that attracts players of all strengths. Some players like Wolfgang Uhlmann are such devout French players that they have played only the French defense throughout their entire career.
Picture this. You’ve set up an unbreakable defense that White just can’t bust through. It’s like you’ve got an impenetrable fortress. Then you pick one of the winning combos and totally outplay your opponent… positionally.
The French Defense has become a popular choice of late among Grandmasters and club players. This opening affords great scope for imagination and creativity from both sides. White has numerous ways of tackling the French defense. From the enterprising Nc3 to the straightforward e5 each offers unique characteristics. A potent weapon against the French is […]
Openings: When you only start playing chess, it is enough to know only basic opening principles such as controlling the center, developing your pieces, castling early, and so on. After some learning and practicing, you will reach the point where you will start studying opening theory. It will familiarize you with typical plans and ideas, […]
French Defense is not played because most GMs and super-GMs play 1…c5 and 1…e5 to 1.e4 instead of it. On being asked why it is so, Peter Svidler recently commented: “I think the answer is twofold. Firstly, both the Spanish and the Sicilian offer you a much broader scope to choose from. If you play […]
Bacrot Method’s creator is an extremely strong player with a wonderful chess career. Although for most of his career, he has been a 1.d4 player, Bacrot switches to 1.e4 every now and then. In previous articles, we have written about the importance of being practical in your opening choice. Following the sharp lines in the […]
Preparing for a game has become an important factor in today’s tournament practice. In times when the level of the average chess player has increased drastically, the pre-game preparation is considered a key step towards the desired outcome: victory. Of course, times have changed and nowadays this task is more difficult every day.
French Winwawer Structure: One of the main weapons against 1.e4 is the French Defense (1…e6) and a very popular variation of this defense is the so-called Winawer Variation which arises after the moves: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 The positions arising from this variation usually yield a thick central pawn structure with white […]
Fort Knox Variation in The French Defense: The French defense is a very popular choice nowadays among chess players of all levels. It’s quite flexible and it offers black unbalanced positions almost in any line. In this article, we will have an inside look at the so-called Fort Knox variation of the French and we […]
French Defense is a very solid opening choice for black. White is able to set up an “ideal pawn center” e4-d4, but black starts contesting it right away with a move 2…d5. This Opening is played by chess players of all levels, including the most elite GMs. For example, Alexander Grischuk was employing it very […]