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| May-30-06 |
| borisbadenoff: <Holden><12.Qe5 Kg8>Hmm Qe5 is not possible here? <but that looks too passive for me>
Sometimes defense is the best attack or was it the other way around. If you play versus a strong opponent he has it easier later on to attack you because he will probably be able to block your too early forced attack. And then suddenly you have a (for example) a underdeveloped kingside or kingsaftey and your opponent will take advantage of that. But enough philosophized about chess.
I guess you could already have done better at move 4. Instead of moving the e-pawn again you should develop one of the kingside minor-pieces. But that's also a question of taste/playing style. 11. a4 for example isn't at all passive. It has the idea Ba3+. Which forces black to Ne7 and a blocked Knight for some moves. At sometime Ke8 must follow which should gain you a tempo or two. A other idea could be Nh4. The problem is your weak point c3. Which can be attacked by Qa5 or by Nb6-Na4. Thats also why a4 is a good idea. It blocks the field for the Knight Other ideas |
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May-30-06
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| Holden: <borisbeadenoff> I meant 12.Qh5. Should have proofread, sorry. Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, I've been bitten by Qa5 more than once while playing against the French. With the K on f8, I see that the threat of Ba3 is a bit more annoying than usual. Thanks again for your thoughtful and informative post! |
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| May-30-06 |
| alphastrike20: does the french defence have a chance of making a come back? |
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Aug-05-06
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| ganstaman: I was starting to study the French a bit and was looking for some information on the Fort Knox variation (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3/d2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 and 5...Bc6). Unfortunately, I couldn't find much (though the opening explorer is helpful and I did find these games http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...). It takes two moves to activate the light square bishop, but it does develop that bishop to a pretty good diagonal. Is it any good? Worth playing at all? Does anyone have any experience with it or know some secrets that would be good to know? Any advice in general on the French? |
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| Aug-05-06 |
| NateDawg: <ganstaman> The Fort Knox and Rubinstein variations are in general more defensive for Black than the more common variations of the French. The main line of the Fort Knox runs: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3.  c3 dxe4 4. xe4  d7 5. f3 c6 6. d3 d7 (for games with 6...xe4, see K Moutousis vs Besarion Khetsuriani, 2005)
7. 0-0 gf6 8. xf6+  xf6 9. e2 d6 10. c4 f5 11.  e1 0-0. 
click for larger viewChessmaster 10 evaluates this position as +0.20 for White. As for your question about the French Defense in general, I prefer the MacCutcheon variation (C12), as it provides more chances for attacks and counterattacks. An example game is Fischer vs Petrosian, 1962 |
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Aug-05-06
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| ganstaman: <NateDawg> Thanks. I was actually interested in the MacCutheon as well, and plan to play it (well, at least play 3...Nf6 and then hope for the best). I was interested in the Fort Knox as a way to deal with 3.Nd2 (especially since I could also use it as an alternative to mix things up against 3.Nc3). I also don't mind being on the defensive as long as I have a legitimate shot at surviving and eventually winning. Also, since I haven't played the French before, I wanted to sample many of its lines to see what I like. And it was a little hard to find info on the Fort Knox, especially since this is its ECO code, along with many other lines in the French... |
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| Aug-06-06 |
| soughzin: I feel overwhelmed in the theory of Nc3 sometimes(as white) even though don't play against the winawer main complex. I avoid some mainline stuff by playing the Alekhine gambit (4.Nge2) to the winawer and attempt to get to the chatard against the classical but they still take some memorization. Not to mention the Mccutcheon too and the burn... Sometimes I think about doing Only the advance just to cut theory; is there anyone else finding themselves in the same boat? |
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Aug-06-06
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| ganstaman: Actually, I cut down on a lot of theory by playing differently even earlier -- 1.f4 :) But seriously, you do have a valid concern and solution. How often do you face the French, though? Depending on the style game you like to play, the KIA is also playable. What's great about that is that it works against nearly every response to 1.e4 except 1...e5 or 1...d5. That is, you can play it against the Caro, Sicilian, and the French. Let's see.... ah, here: Game Collection: King's Indian Attack . Cuts down on the theory you need to know by even more than just playing specific variations of each opening. |
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Aug-06-06
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| ganstaman: I should mention that there are other game collections featuring the KIA, but this was the first that I found. You can just search 'KIA' in the game collections search area and many come up. |
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| Aug-06-06 |
| soughzin: Well I'd like to ideally get openings that I can learn with(as a chess player) as I play more and are "theoretically" pretty strong. Plus I tend to go for a little more piece play which isn't quite the KIA,BUT I must say I have contemplated going the system route and the kia wouldn't the weakest for sure so thanks for the advice. |
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| Aug-08-06 |
| NateDawg: <soughzin> If you are looking for a simple variation without a lot of theory, you could play the Exchange variation, 3. exd5 (C01). However, I don't particularly like this opening for White as it simplifies too much and frees Black's bishop. In general the French Defense does not require as much memorization as the Sicilian or King's Pawn game, and I find it worthwhile to learn the main lines. I like to use the Steinitz variation against the Classical (3. c3 f6 4. e5). I find it gives White a great chance for a kingside attack with g4, d3, and the possible advance of the h-pawn. Against the Winawer I usually play 4. e5 also, followed by 5. a3 and again a kingside attack. (See my posting on C19 for an example of a kingside attack White can get). I find these lines to be very interesting and to not require much memorization. |
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Aug-08-06
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| Eric Schiller: <natedawg>you can postpone the exchange for one move and play the knight out to c3 first, avoiding the dull symmetrical lines. I've done that from time to time. |
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| Sep-23-06 |
| yanez: I like the rubenstein when I'm in a solid mood
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| Oct-02-06 |
| jamesmaskell: Heres a recent game. TC 100 mins for the whole game. I was White. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 c5 4. Be3 cxd4 5. Bxd4 dxe4 6. Nxe4 Nc6 7. Nf3 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Qxd4 9. Nxd4 a6 10. Bd3 Bb4+ 11. c3 Be7 12. 0-0-0 Bd7 13. Bc2 Nh6 14. h3 Rd8 15. Rd3 0-0 16. f4 f6 17. g4 f5 18. Ng3 fxg4 19. hxg4 Nxg4 20. Ne2 Nf2 0-1 Horrible blunder at the end (I just didnt see the knight fork) and Rd3 was poor as well, but for my second game against the French Ive played much worse... |
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| Mar-10-07 |
| drukenknight: World's worst windmill attacks. Most amateurs do not understand the psychological nature of chess. The idea here is to kill as many black pieces as possible w/ the QN in order to produce psychological fear in the opponent. In a subsquent game, I played the Reti opening he resigned immediately! 1 e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. Nc3 dxe4
4. Nxe4 Nf6
5. Bg5 Be7
6. Bd3 O-O
(23 games got to whites 6th but only Barry/Arizpe 2006 got to this position 7. c3 (the novelty, Barry game went Nf3 b6 but I recalled my earlier game posted above and wanted to use the Q/B battery) ...Nbd7
8. Qc2 h6
9. Bh4 Nh5
10. Bxe7 Qxe7
11. g4 Nf4
12. O-O-O Nb6
13. h4 h5
14. g5 Bd7
15. Nh3 Nxd3+
16. Qxd3 Nd5
17. a3 Qd8
18. Rhg1 g6
19. c4 Ne7
20. Qc3 c6
21. Kb1 b5
22. d5 exd5
23. Nf6+ Kh8
24. Nxd7+ Kg8
25. Nf6+ Kg7
26. Nxh5+ Kh7
27. Nf6+ Kh8
28. Nxd5+ Kg8
29. Nf6+ Kh8
30. Rxd8
A few days later I returned to my study and found bits of black pieces stuck to the carpet and walls. Does anyone know a good stain remover? |
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Jun-17-07
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| Thorsson: <ganstaman> I don't know if you're still interested in the Fort Knox, but if you are, you could do worse than look for games by Alexander Rustemov, who is undoubtedly its leading GM proponent. I have done extensive analysis of the FK from the White perspective and can confirm that it is extremely hard to break down. |
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Jun-17-07
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| Open Defence: <Thorsson> is the Fort Knox the line where Black plays dxe4, Bd7 followed by Bc6 ? |
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Jun-17-07
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| ganstaman: <Thorsson> I had basically given up on the FK in favor of simply more exciting lines (ie give white more chances to win...), meeting 3. Nd2 and 3. Nc3 with 3...Nf6. But thanks for the suggestion, which I may actually look at. I love the French, but am trying to find a way to add a little variety to my games and may otherwise have to begin to throw in a few 1...e5's (gasp!!). |
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Jun-17-07
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| ganstaman: <OD> Yes, that's it. |
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| Oct-29-07 |
| get Reti: Why do people play the Fort Knox variation (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3/d2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 and 5...Bc6) when they can fianchetto the light bishop instead without blocking the c pawn from advancing two squares? |
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| Dec-11-07 |
| Freidenker: I'm curious about something, what do you guys think of 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3. Nc3/Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 b6! ? My database gives a pretty bad % for this line (for black), but the perf. rating suggest this is mosly because black players had lower ratings. I know 3...Nf6 is probably more accurate, but I just feel too uncomfortable with it. |
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| Dec-11-07 |
| centercounter: Freidenker, I think Yasser Seirawan used to play something like that, although I don't know if it was exactly that. You can delay with 3. ... Nd7 also, instead of 3. ... Nf6. I recently played against 3. ... Bd7, but because of the exposure of the B at c6, I cannot recommend it. |
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| Dec-11-07 |
| mrbasso: <Freidenker> White has a comfortable position after 5.Nf3 Bb7 6.Bb5+ and 7.Bd3. I wouldn't recommend it. |
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| Dec-11-07 |
| Freidenker: I see exactly what you both means... 5.Nf3 Bb7 6.Bb5+ look very annoying for black. Then, what's the best way to play the dxe variation ? (I think it's called Rubinstein). According the database here, the best way seems to be with an early Bd7/Bc6. |
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| May-19-08 |
| Alphastar: 3. ..Nc6 also falls under this ECO, which is an interesting move. Not very natural as it blocks the c-pawn but its hard to obtain a tangible advantage as white. |
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