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
 

Comments:

by jay - 2 months ago
San Jose, CA United States
Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 1092

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

by Phobetor - 2 months ago
Netherlands
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 719

Thanks all for the compliments Laughing Wink

@ 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 - 2 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 - 2 months ago
Tarragindi Australia
Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 1176

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!)

by knight_of_columbus - 2 months ago
Philippines Philippines
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 1

amazing game!.

by lubo - 2 months ago
Sofia Bulgaria
Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 246

Oh WOW! It's a hell of a game!

Well played!

by Phobetor - 2 months ago
Netherlands
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 719

Thanks GatoNegro Laughing

@ lostapiece: The French isn't that bad. Only the way black played it in this game was bad Wink

by lostapiece - 2 months ago
tamworth,capital of mercia England
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 3209

why do people (as black )play the french !?

by GatoNegro - 2 months ago
Utrecht Netherlands
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 357

Good game and good annotations!

 

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