1 e4 e6
2 d4
White plays like this in nine
out of ten French Defences. He has a host of alternatives on
move 2, - Nc6, Qe2, b3 etc., but only 2.d3 is played often enough (5%
of French Defences) to justify spending much time preparing to meet it
as Black.
2 … d5
3 e5
The French is often reckoned
to be a stodgy and passive opening, but only by those that don’t
understand it. With his second move Black attacks White’s centre.
He aims to force either an exchange on d5, or to encourage Black to
advance e4-e5. The immediate advance, as in this game, accounts
for about 9% of all French defences. More popular choices are 3. Nc3
(45%) and 3. Nd2 (32%). Also significant is the exchange variation 3.
ed (4%). All other moves are rare, which doesn’t necessarily
mean they are bad. Advancing the e-pawn, either now or later,
costs White a move that could have been used for development, and
fixes the central pawn position making it susceptible to attack.
3 … c5
Black immediately strikes at
Black’s centre. White has gained space on the K-side, and the e5 pawn
prevents Black from getting a Knight to f6. The pawn chain as a
whole imprisons Black’s Q-bishop. This looks bad for Black, but his
slight lead in development and his pawn levers (c5 and f6) give him
excellent chances. The initiative now belongs to Black, but to
make something of it he has to play dynamically to create threats and
problems. The position demands that Black be every bit as active
as in any Sicilian position. If he plays slowly White will catch
up in development and Black is then likely to get squashed.
Black does have other options
at this point. For many years I used to play 3...b6 with the
idea of ...Ba6 to exchange the bad bishop. Many years ago
White was often very accommodating. For example S H Niman – K
T Rose, Chorley Open 1984 continued:
4 Bd3?! Ba6 5 Nf3 Bxd3 6 Qxd3
Ne7 7 O-O Nf5 8 b3 c5 9 Rd1 Nc6 10 c3 Rc8 11 a3 Na5 12 dxc5 bxc5 13
Qb5+ Nc6 14 Nbd2 Qb6 15 Qd3 h5 16 Rb1 Qc7 17 Qe2 g6 18 Nf1 Bg7 19 Bf4
O-O 20 h3 Rfd8 21 a4 d4 22 g4 hxg4 23 hxg4 Nfe7 24 c4 Nb4 25 Ng3 Nec6
26 Qe4 d3 27 Bg5?! Nxe5! (sacrificing an exchange for Black square
control is a common theme in the French) 28 Bxd8 Nxf3+ 29 Qxf3 Rxd8 30
Ne4 Rd4 31 Rd2 f5 32 gxf5 exf5 33 Ng3 Qe7 34 Qe3 Be5 35 Re1 Nc6 36 Qf3
Qd6 37 Kg2 Kg7 38 Red1 Nb4 39 Rh1 Qc6 40 Qxc6 Nxc6 41 Rhd1 Nb4 42 Nf1
Rd7 43 Ne3 Bc3 44 Kf3 Bxd2 45 Rxd2 Rd4 46 Nd1 Kf6 47 Nb2 Ke5 48 Ke3
f4+ 49 Kf3 Kf5 50 a5 g5 51 Na4 g4+ 52 Kg2 Na6 53 Nc3 Nc7 54 Na4 Ne6 55
Kf1 f3 56 Nb2 Ke4 57 Nd1 Rd7 58 Nc3+ Kd4 59 Na4 Rh7 60 Kg1 Nf4 0-1
Nowadays players of White are
much more belligerent, and try to mess up Black’s idea right away.
For example: 3 … b6 4 Bb5+ c6 5 Ba4, and the Bishop will be
deployed to c2 where it can help in a later K-side attack.
Short, Vaganian and others
have played 3 … Ne7 with the plan of b6, Bb7, Nbc6, Qd7,
etc. but you have to be a super-GM to play like that and get away
with it – I have tried it and I can’t!
4 c3
White almost always plays
this, but 4 Qg4, 4 dc and 4 Nf3 are all playable and
less explored alternatives that set Black different problems.
4 … Nc6
Alternatively 4 … Qb6
with the plan Bc8-d7-b5. This was once popular but 21st
century players tend to fight such positional plans with sharp
aggression that shows them up as rather slow and lacking in dynamism:
e.g. 5 Nf3 Bd7 6 Be2 Bb5 7 c4! Bxc4 8 Bc4 Qb4+ 9 Nbd2 dc 10 0-0 Nc6
11 de Bxc5 12 Qe2 Nge7 13 Nxc4 O-O 14 b3 Qb5 (Malaniuk-Vaiser Tashkent
1987). The books say that Black is OK here but I prefer White.
What is more, there are many ways for Black to go wrong in the
sidelines of the last 8 or 9 moves, and few ways for White to slip up.
Black can avoid the
complications of 7. c4! by playing first 6 … cd 7 cd and
only then Bb5 but I still don’t like his position.
And in match and tournament games where the result matters you
shouldn’t get into positions you don’t like even if everyone else
thinks they are OK!
5 Nf3
The main line, but again White
has alternatives that take the game away from well-studied lines, the
most important is 5 Be3, as championed by GM Viktor Kupreichik,
which has earned him a huge plus score against strong (but not quite
top class) opposition.
Anne-Laure Desnoes played this
way against me at Sautron 2004. 5...Qb6 6 Qd2. White’s
idea is to get her QB active at the cost of temporarily imprisoning
the QN. 6...Bd7 7.Nf3 f6 8.Bd3 fxe5 9.dxe5 Qc7 10.Bf4 Nge7
11.O-O !? Stereotyped. At the time I thought my system was
better than anything Kupreichik’s opponent’s had tried, but when I
looked at the game that evening I wondered how I would have survived
if White had held off castling and met a later g6 with h2-h4-h5. The
game continued 11 … g6 12 Na3 a6 13 Rfe1 Bg7 14 Qe3 O-O 15 Bh6?
Rxf3!! This is a common way for Black to give up the
exchange in the French. 16 gxf3 Bxh6 17 Qxh6 Nxe5 18 Qe3 (18 Qf4
was better, though Black can disentangle without too much trouble
beginning with with 18 … N7c6. If 18 Bc2 Rf8 ) 18 ... Nxd3 19 Qxd3
Rf8 20 Nc2? White’s game is falling apart, but this puts up no
resistance at all. Nf5 21 Ne3 Nh4 22 Kf1 Nxf3 23 Red1 Nxh2+ 24 Ke2
Qf4 25 Kd2 Qxf2+ 26 Kc1 Rf3 27 Rd2 Qxe3 28 Kc2 (Continuing through
inertia?) 28 …Qf4 29 Qe2 Nf1 30 Rxf1 Rxf1 31 Kb3 31 ... Qa4# 0-1
My young French opponent did not display Kupreichik’s skill in this
line – but she has the advantage of being much better looking than the
famous GM!!
5 … Qb6
This is the old main line, and
after trying all the alternatives up to here you begin to realise
why. It is easy to make this move automatically, but in fact Black
has several viable-looking and virtually unexplored alternatives such
as 5 … f6, 5 … Nh6, 5 … Nge7, 5 … Qa5 etc. The flexible
5 … Bd7 is the most reliable of the 5th move
alternatives, as popularised by Korchnoi, and adopted with success by
other French experts such as Short, Gurevich, Nikolic, Dolmatov, Dreev,
Speelman, Lobron and others.
So at last we reach the main
“tabiya” of the Advance French. Many players head unthinkingly for
this deployment of forces, with no appreciation of the rich
possibilities they are passing up along the way.
White to play
White has three main choices.
By far the most popular is 6 a3. This seems nonsensical when
you first see it, but it has the powerful idea of playing b4,
gaining space on the Q-side, and preventing most of Black’s tactical
possibilities on that side of the board. Black can try to cross black
up with Belyavsky’s move 6 … a5 with a very difficult game
ahead, or can ignore White’s Q-side threat and hit his centre from the
other direction with 6 … f6, leading to a complex and double
edged fight.
My vote goes for the older
move 6 … c4, to cramp White’s development, and in particular
to keep his KB restricted. One follow-up is the (slow) idea of
playing on the Q-side with Nc6-a5, Bd7 etc. but much more
dynamic is an early f6 to break up the centre and get some
Black square play for the KB. Black accepts a weakness on
e6 because White never has time to get at it. Here is a typical
example:
7 Nbd2 f6 8 Be2! (most
accurate) fe 9 Nxe5 Nf6 (actually 9 … Nxe5 is objectively better, but
gives White less scope for error) 10 0-0 (Here is the reason. With 10
f4! White would have better chances) 10 … Bd6 11 Ndf3 0-0 12 Qc2 Qc7!
13 Bf4 Nh5 14 Nxc6 Nxf4 15 Nce5 Bd7 16 Rfe1 (16 g3!? looks more
interesting) 16 … Rf5 17 Bf1 Ng6!! 18 Nxg6 hxg6 19 Re3 Raf8 20 Rae1
Qb6 (preventing Ne5) 21 R3e2 g5! 22 Ne5 Bxe5 23 de Be8! 24 h3 Bg6
(Strategically the battle is over now, but winning is still hard work)
25 Qd2 Rf4 26 g3 Rf3 27 Bg2 (27 Qxg5 Rxf2+) 27 … Rxg3 28 Kh2 Rd3 29
Qxg5 Be4 30 f4 Bf5 31 Rg1 Qd8 32 Qxd8 Rxd8 33 Rf1 d4! 34 cxd4 R8xd4 35
Rf3 b5 36 Kg3 a5 37 Rxd3 Rxd3+ 38 Kf2 b4!! 39 ab ab 40 Be4 Rxh3 41
Bxf5 exf5 42 Rd2 (if 42 e6 Rh2+) 42 … Rh2+ 43 Ke3 Rxd2 44 Kxd2 Kf7 45
Ke3 g5! 46 fg f4! 0-1 Teske-Uhlmann Nordhausen 1986.
Black’s next idea is 6 Bd3.
Obviously Black does not fall for the cheapo 6 … Nxd4 7 Nxd4 Qxd4 8
Bb5+. Instead he threatens to take the pawn by preventing the
bishop check thus: 6 … cd 7 cd Bd7. Now White sacs a pawn with
8 0-0 Nxd4 9 Nxd4 Qd4 10 Nc3.
In this position Black can
take the e-pawn and survive: 10 … Qxe5 11 Re1 Qb8 12 Nxd5, but
why go into such a wild tactical melee which White is likely to have
played many times, and probably had on his board the previous night
when preparing for the game? A much more pragmatic winning try is
10 … a6, and if 11 Qe2 then 11 … Rc8! when it is
very hard for White to generate any play for his pawn deficit. My
verdict on this whole line is that it is a good try for White in a
rapid-play game, but not good enough at slower time limits.
The old main line is 6 Be2,
but if you try playing the White side you will perhaps come to
appreciate why 6 a3 has replaced it. 6 b3?, by the way,
is just bad. After 6 … Bb5+ White must either give up a pawn,
or play the very odd-looking Ke2.
6 Be2 cxd4
This move order may be
slightly inaccurate. It may be better to play 6 … Nh6
right away, threatening to continue with cxd4 and Nf5,
whereupon White appears to have nothing better than 7 b3
transposing to the game. If he goes 7 Bxh6 Black
continues with 7 … gxh6 followed by Bg7, 0-0, cd, Bd7, and
f6! with good play (but not the apparently strong
7...Qxb2?! because of 8 Be3!! leading to an advantage in
both material and position thus: 8 … Qxa1 9 Qc2 cxd4 10 Nxd4 Bd7 11
0-0 Nxe5 12 Nd2 Qxf1+ 13 Bxf1 planning Qb3 and Nb5).
7 cxd4 Nh6
Black’s idea is to exploit his
pressure on b2 to develop the KN without blocking the KB (as with the
old move Ne7). With this move order 8 Bxh6 is not
a possibility because 8 … Qxb2 is winning a pawn - White no
longer has any way to trap Black’s Queen. The drawback of the
preliminary exchange on d4 is that White now has the extra possibility
of 8 Nc3! and that solves his Q-side development problems.
After 8 … Nf5 9 Kf1?! is risky … Black just plays 9
… Bd7 and after 10 Na4 Qd8! Black has a very good game
(e.g. 11 Bf4 Be7 12 g4 Nh4 13 Nxh4 Bxh4 14 Nc5 Bc8!!
preserving the bishop pair and countering the threat of 15 Nxd7
Qxd7 16 g5. Black stands very well)
But after 8Nc3! Nf5
white can play the strong 9 Na4! … e.g. 9 … Bb5+ (9 … Qa5+
leads to the same unfathomable complications) 10 Bd2 Qa5 11
Bc3, and now the opening books quote the game Harley-Maric
London 1992 which continued: b5!? 12 a3 Bxc3+ 13 Nxc3 b4 14
axb4 Qxb4 15 Bb5 Bb7 16 Qa4 Qxb2 17 Nxd5 exd5 18 0-0 Nfxd4 19 Rfb1
Nxf3+ 20 gxf3 Qd4 21 Bxc6 Qxa4 22 Bxa4 Bxa4 23 Rxa4 0-0 24 Rb7 Rfe8
with a slight edge to Black. But this line teaches us more
about the care (or lack of it) that authors put into checking what
they write. The not-so-very-hard-to-find 17.Nd1!! leaves Black
busted.
8 b3?
This is given as the main
continuation of the Be2 line in most of the opening books, so
the sheep continue to play it. It has the twin ideas of ending
the possibility of Qxb2 for good, and defending d4 with Bb2.
But I don’t rate the move! It is slow, weakens the dark squares, and
makes it difficult for White to develop his QN effectively.
8 … Nf5
9 Bb2
Now the books give 9 …
Bb4+ as the main line, and Black certainly scores well after 10
Kf1, but White tends to defend rather weakly in the games in my
database, despite having FIDE ratings in the 2400’s and 2500’s.
If Black wants to play Bb4+ he can also do it a move earlier
instead of Nf5, then 9 Kf1 0-0 and Black has the option
of Ng4 as well as Nf5. Such is the richness of chess
that I can’t find any examples of this move order in international
tournaments.
9 … Be7
Uhlmann, who played the French
more often than any other GM, reckoned that the White king stood
better on f1 than e1 or g1 (after castling), and preferred to develop
his K-bishop to e7. Who I am to argue with the greatest-ever
exponent of the French defence?
It is easy to play over the
moves from an opening book superficially and think that White is OK
here. It is only when you arrive at the position in a real game and
have to find the next move for White that you realise just how
difficult it is for him. For example 10.Na3? is unplayable,
because of 10...Bxa3 and 11...Qa5+.
10 O-O Bd7
I have had this position
several times and have a 100% winning score from here. A year earlier
N Jolley of Wigan was unable to find anything constructive and
temporised with 11 h3? After 11 0-0 g4 Nh4 12 Nxh4 Bxh4
he blundered with 14 Ba3 and his position fell apart after
14 … Nxd4.
I think White’s best plan at
move 11 is 11.Kh1! It avoids weakening his K-side, and prepares
some tactics by getting his K out of the way of annoying N-checks on
f3 or e2. Play could continue 11 … 0-0 12 Nc3 and White
is solving his Q-side problems (if 12 … Nxd4 13 Nxd5! – this is
one of the ideas behind Kh1). The trouble with this line is that
White has no realistic winning chances and it is not easy for him to
admit that his position is burned out after only 10 moves! No one has
yet tried this possibility against me.
11 g4?!
White has played this horrible
weakening move in many GM games, but that does not mean that it is any
good!
11 … Nh4
This is of course the point of
Be7. Now the GMs invariably play 12.Nxh4 Bxh4 but
Black has a fantastic plus score from the resulting position,
whichever way White attempts to complete the development of the Q-side
(i.e. after either 13 Nc3 or 13 Na3). An example is
Mortensen-Hansen, Danish Championship 2000 which
demonstrates the problems resulting from White’s structural defects:
13 Na3 f6! 14 exf6 Bxf6 15 Nc2 0-0 16 f4 Be7 17 Ne3 Rf7 18 Kh1 Raf8 19
f5 Bg5 20 fxe6 Bxe6 21 Nf5 g6 22 h4 gxf5 23 hxg5 Qd8 24 Qd2 f4 25 Bf3
Qxg5 26 Rae1 Rf6 27 Rf2 Rh6+ 28 Kg1 Rff6 29 Rg2 Rh3 30 Qf2 Rfh6 31 Kf1
Bf7 32 Ke2 Re6+ 33 Kd2 Rxe1 34 Kxe1 Bg6 35 Rh2 Nb4 36 Be2 Re3 37 Kd1
f3 0-1
My opponent’s reply is worse,
and is the prelude to a whole string of dubious decisions. It is
amazing how quickly his position goes from difficult to hopeless. I
will leave it for you to find improvements for White over the next few
moves.
12 Ne1?! O-O
13 f4?! f6
14 Kh1 fxe5
15 fxe5?! Rxf1+
16 Bxf1 Rf8
17 Be2?
Intuitively one immediately
feels that there is a combination in the air, but it is useful to
analyse the position logically, and make explicit the features that
operate subconsciously to create this belief.
What has White done wrong?
He has moved the pawns around his K, creating weaknesses, yet leaving
his King restricted; retreated a N to the back rank interfering with
the co-ordination of his major pieces and the defence of his King;
left a threatening Black knight in the vicinity of his King; neglected
(too lazy to calculate the lines?) to solve the problem of developing
his QN and QR; failed to deal with the pressure on his P centre; and
allowed one of his few active pieces (the KR) to be exchanged -
conceding the important f-file in the process. If there is any value
in the concepts and rules of thumb that we use to help us make
decisions at the chessboard then Black ought to have something
terrific here.
Let’s use this position to get
some practice in calculating tactics and making combinations, and work
through the lines without moving the bits on the board. It is pretty,
but not especially difficult, because though we are going to look 8 to
10 moves ahead there are not many sidelines. So with a bit of
effort most club players should be able to see it through to the end.
The idea 17 … Nxe5
comes immediately to mind because 18 dxe5 opens the h7-g1
diagonal, bringing the Q into the attack. This is the first
possibility to explore, and if it is good enough we will not need to
look at anything else. There is no need to look for any other
candidate moves just yet, whatever Kotov (Think
Like a Grandmaster) might advise!
So: 17 … Nxe5 18 dxe5 Qf2
with the strong threat of Qf1+ and Rxf1 mate. First we
notice that the N at e1 cannot move because of Qg2 mate.
Next we check that the weak looking defences don’t work: after 19
Nd2, or 19 h3 then 19 … Bc5 threatening mate on g1
is too strong (e.g. 20 Ndf6 Rxf6!). So now we look around for
tougher defences. It would actually be quite easy to overlook the
possibility of 19 Bd4 because of the “phantom pawn” on d4, and
I nearly did! Even though in my calculations that pawn has moved to
e5 there is some subconscious level of thought that thinks that the d4
square is still occupied by a pawn, and therefore inaccessible!
I’d speculate that this is due to the mind taking some kind of mental
shortcut that notices only what seem to be the relevant aspects of
each move – and sometimes gets it wrong!
In the case of d4xe5 I had
quickly noted the enabling of ...Qb6-f2, and the loss of control of
c5, but was slower to see other changes in the position like the
freeing of d4 (significant) and the opening of the rank from g4 to a4
(not significant). The way to avoid this kind of error when
working out tactical sequences is to very deliberately register every
detail of the changes in the position that are brought about by each
move that you are considering. You then need to practice
thinking that way until the process becomes second nature, almost
subconscious, and such errors no longer arise.
Let’s continue: 19 Bd4 Qf1+
20 Bxf1 Rxf1+ 21 Bg1 Bc5. Black has given up a whole Queen to
threaten checkmate. The position is still forcing so we have to
calculate right down to the end. I now saw only two reasonable
ways for White to stop the mate: h3 and Nd3. Nd3
looks tougher so lets try that first: 22 Nd3 Rxd1 23 Nxc5. Now
we are a piece down and the B at d7 is attacked, but White is still
tied in knots, so we just continue looking at the most obvious moves
and as it turns out they are good enough! 23 … Bc6 24 h3 (the
only way to prevent 24 … d4 mate) 24 … d4+ 25 Kh2 Nf3+ 26
Kg3 Rxg1 and there is no need to look any further. Black has
recovered his piece, is a pawn up, and all his pieces are both safe
and active. We might find something even better if this
variation appears on the board, but what we have seen is good enough
to justify the combination.
Now for the other possibility:
22 h3 Rxg1+ 23 Kh2 and here you just have to have enough
familiarity with N forks to spot the idea of 23 … Rxe1!
(Perhaps this is what White overlooked when he played his 17th move?)
Obviously both 24 Qxe1 Nf3+
and 21 Nc3 Rxd1 22 Rxd1 are losing too much material so the
Queen appears to have only two moves: 24 Qd3 and 24 Qc2.
(if 24 Qd2 Nf3+ anyway!). Again, let’s try the most
obvious and forcing move for Black: 24 … Bg1+. In reply
25 Kg3 attacks the N at h4 so how about 25. g5.
It quickly becomes clear that White’s king is left with no moves.
Check it out. He is blocked by two of his own pawns, and Black's
g-pawn, N and B co-ordinate beautifully to take away all his other
squares. Try to see this without moving any of the chessmen.
So whether his Queen is on c2
or d3 White is helpless against the threat of 26 … Re3+. Black
is going to end up with 2B’s and P for a R, and White’s e-pawn is
likely to fall quickly as well, leaving an easily won endgame.
Finally we just have to make
sure that walking into the discovered check is no good either: 24
... Bg1+ 25 Kh1 Bd4+ 26 Kh2 Bxe5+! and whether the White Q is on
c2 or d3 it is curtains.
Black now has to decide
whether to go ahead and play the sacrifice right away. Sitting on
one’s hands is a good idea at moments like this. It would be a
mistake to rush ahead too quickly. It all looks in order, but it
is a Q-sac and the tiniest hole anywhere would throw away a nice
position. If there is no combo Black could probably win with
quieter positional moves.
If I were short of time I
would play the sacrifice anyway, and trust my intuition that it is
working even if some details have been overlooked in the calculations.
As it was I had plenty of time, so I decided to check everything
again, asking at every point, have I missed something? What else
could he do? Well there are a few little points to tidy up.
Here is one: White could try 22 Nc2. What is the point of
that? It guards his a1-rook so the QN can at last get out. Does
this bust the combination? Let’s stay calm and calculate: 22 Nc2
Rxd1 and White is level on pieces and still a pawn up with active
pieces. So it ought still to be winning. Let’s look a bit
further: 23 Nc3 Rxa1 24 Nxa1 Bxg1 25 Kxg1 Nf3+ and 26 … Nxe4.
Two pawns up with an easy win.
So everything appears to work,
and it is time to see if it turns out the same on the board as it did
in imagination:
17 …
Nxe5!!
18 dxe5 Qf2
19 Bd4 Qf1+!
20 Bxf1 Rxf1+
21 Bg1 Bc5
22 h3 Rxg1+
23 Kh2 Rxe1!
24 Qd3 Bg1+
25 Resigns
Final Position: after 24...Bg1+
Black’s knight-on-the-rim was
anything but dim!
