Crushing the French

Submitted by Phobetor on Wed, 08/27/2008 at 1:43pm.

In a recent game I played, I encountered a French opening and answered it with the French Advance. After the inclusion of the moves a2-a3 and a7-a5, black was practically unable to accept the Milner-Barry gambit, which is very risky for black, but even more so of he can't play a7-a6 anymore. Instead, on move 9 he played 9... f6? which made matters only worse. I continued with normal developing moves, restricting black from any form of active play, and when the time was right, I started a crushing attack with a piece sacrifice. Below is the game with annotations.

» posted in Phobetor's Blog

| 1124 reads | 10 comments

Comments:

by Vandarringa - 4 months ago
Iowa United States

Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 111

As someone who plays the French, I'd say that black's tenth move was a mistake. He should have played 10...fxe6, the point of 9...f6 (which also wasn't the best move). Trading pawns (and knights if necessary) on e6 leaves black with a passed pawn instead of a backward one.

More importantly, the point of black piling up on d4 is to take it when he gets the chance. He missed his chance on move 9: after cxd4 he should have taken again with the knight. White has no traps to defend it, since black's bishop is on d7.

by jay - 14 months ago
San Jose, CA United States

Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 1286

Super interesting. I have a horrible record against the french, so this was very helpful.

by Phobetor - 14 months ago
Eindhoven Netherlands

Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 1202

Thanks all for the compliments

@ davidetal: If you leave out the moves a2-a3 and a7-a5, your suggestion of taking on d4 is a well known gambit, the Milner-Barry Gambit. I'm not sure how theory stands on that gambit, but it's at least very dangerous and risky for black.

However, the extra moves a3 and ...a5 also help white. White will develop his knight to c3, and with the black queen on d4, black will have to prevent Nb5 in some way. a7-a6 is usually the move to prevent that, but with a7-a5 played, black can't play that anymore.

by touchdown - 14 months ago
Marseille France

Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 2

Instead of 6...a5, 6...f6 seems to be better for Black. 7...Qb6 is not good. 7...a4 is interesting.

by davidetal - 14 months ago
Tarragindi Australia

Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 1755

Thanx Phobetor, great game!

In my limited understanding of the French, Black's opening is all about pressuring d4; if he wins that square, he should win the game. Given that, why not 9 ...Nxd4? If 10.Be3, then Black has either Nxf3+ or, better, Bc5.

(I must be missing something obvious!)