Chess Openings- French Defense Part 2

http://www.thechesswebsite.com

We continue in part 2 of the French Defense to see in depth analysis of the finer points that black should concentrate on when playing this defense and how to look for weaknesses in white's attack. Be sure that you watched Part 1 first.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• chess
• french defense
• strategy
• openings
• learn

[musicalmike235]

What about the exchange variation 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. exd5 exd5, 4. ...?

[rfuglesang]

The true french defense: Make a wall of all you pieces covering the squares on lines a-f, call it the Maginot and hope your opponent doesn't try to go around it

[Addv3rsitY]

we should play

[paddy110287]

@musicalmike235 This is called the exchange variation /watch?v=9_Rb-2KzTx8

[mattmossop]

I tried this in a game and realized that if white moves his knight to d2 you won't be checking the king... but you can still get two pawns out of it... not sure if that's worth it?

[20MinutesNoRusH]

@gunnin9gecko Actually Be7 is the best counter to Bg5. a6 might work too, but you will probably have to weaken your kingside or play Be7 anyway.

[Plzdontattack]

@rfuglesang dude france could easily f**k germany up

[OSCARA320]

kevin, at 1:49, after taking on b2 with the queen, if he develops his knight to d2 to protect his rook with the queen, even if you take the pawn on c3 you wont check the king because the knight will be preventing it, so this variation is an exchange between a knight and a pawn?

Doesn't look a very good one to me.

[OSCARA320]

Nice vid kevin! just a little comment, as this is a defense for black, I think its better to turn the board to have the black pieces as if we were playing with them, I rely a lot on your videos with my visual memory so its pretty hard if the board is presented as if I was playing with the white pieces.

Please keep going with the vids!

[noxure]

I love playing the French as well. As white I specialize myself in queens gambit openings and therefor mastery of the French is a solid weapon against e4 players who have to master a lot of other themes and often neglect the French because it's less commonly played.

I found the Tarrasch variation to be the sharpest variation for white.

1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3.Nd2 Nc6, 4.Nf3

May not have the best reputation, but it's solid enough and has some surprisingly aggressive lines for attacking players.

[RandyIsC0o00o0L]

@SaSao96 Knight c3.

[RandyIsC0o00o0L]

@musicalmike235 Probably knight c3... then Nf6.