The French Defence - By Alexander

Hello there dear reader. What follows is the text of a talk I never actually gave (for reasons that do not concern us now) on the French defence. It is an opening that I have been playing for about twenty years. It has served me well over that time and I am extremely fond of it. Let me introduce you to this excellent opening.
The French defence is characterised by the sequence of moves beginning 1. e4 e6. Black's idea is to stake a claim in the centre with a pawn on d5 instead of on e5 or c5. Most games continue 2. d4 d5, after which white has to make a decision about what to do with his e-pawn.

The Advance Variation

The first possibility I want to talk about is that of 3. e5, which is called the advance variation. This is a very natural reaction to the position when you first see it and I have had it played against me many times. I must say that I can not remember ever having lost with the black pieces from this position which, given that some of my opponents have been quite strong, suggests either that this move is difficult to play with white and easy to play as black or that the resulting positions suit my style very well. I think that in fact both are to some extent true. Black almost always plays 3. ... c5, in this position striking out at white's centre immediately, which makes a lot of sense. Once white supports his d-pawn with 4. c3 we arrive at what is arguably, the most important pawn configuration in the French defence. White has more space and can develop his pieces more easily than black. Black will have to put pressure on the white central pawns with his pawns on c5 and eventually f6. The fixed pawn structure makes plans for both sides very clear. White must make use of his break f2-f4-f5 while black must make use of his break c7-c5. One of the reasons I like this position so much for black is that he has already made his most important break. Despite white's space advantage the development of his pieces is not at all straightforward for him. His dark squared bishop is needed to cover his b2 pawn because black will almost always place his queen on b6 to put pressure on that very pawn as well as to increase the pressure on whites d-pawn. With white's c-pawn on c3 to sure up his d-pawn the most natural square for his queen's knight is already taken. The result of this is that white will often have to place his pieces on unnatural squares in order to complete his development. White players frequently feel the need to add even more cover to their d-pawns with the knight manoeuvre Nb1-a3-c2. The problem with this is that c2 is not a very good square for this knight as it is not clear where it is heading. It could be argued that the e3 square beckons from where it supports the f4-f5 advance. However, white does have a dark squared bishop to think about and the c1-h6 diagonal is really the only scope it has. If white does station his knight on e3 this bishop will be either locked out or locked in, and neither outcome will make it very happy. Having pondered the matter for a few sentences you may be thinking, ah, but why can't white put his queens bishop on b2 from where it can add support to the d4 and e5 pawn structure. It is true that this is possible and that moving the pawn to b3 to free the b2 square has the advantage of blocking the pressure on the b file created by the black queen on b6. However, while the white pawns remain on d4 and e5 the prospects for white's bishop look fairly grim. It must be said that black has development problem of his own. The main problem he has is with his queen's bishop which is locked in by his pawns. Black often has to try to exchange off this piece by placing it on the a6-f1 diagonal. This can be done in one of two ways. The more straightforward of these is to play b6 and then Ba6 while the knight remains on b8. The time lost by recapturing on a6 with the knight is negligible in this kind of closed position. The second and more difficult is to play Qb6 and then Bc8-d7-b5, again moving the bishop to this diagonal. The problem with this is that black tempts white to play c4 which can open the position to whites advantage in some situations. Black can also have trouble with his king's knight as the f6 square is ruled out by whites e-pawn. The f5 square suggests itself as from this square the knight adds pressure to white's d-pawn. However, it is obvious that the d3 square is a natural home for whites light squared bishop and from here it threatens to capture on f5 wrecking black's lovely f7, e6, d5 pawn chain which is the core of his position. On the other hand, very few players are willing to swap off their good bishop for a piece which they think they can drive away with their pawns. Time and again white will play the move g4 kicking away the knight from f5 and more often than not he or she will live to regret it. The move g4 seems like a very good idea at first glance. Black is attacking on the queenside so white begins his pawn storm on the kingside. Add to this the time gained on black's knight and the thematic preparation of the break f5 and the move looks perfect. However, as I have said, white will often regret his moment of fun. Not only does the move prevent his king from finding safety on the kingside but it also chronically weakens crucial squares down the f-file. Given that black will often open the f-file himself with f6 and that he will castle kingside bringing his rook to the f-file this is a very bad thing. I'm bored of talking about the advance variation now. I think I'll talk about the Nc3 variation for a while instead. I may come back to the advance variation later.

The Nc3 Variation

The Nc3 variation (1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3) is generally considered the main line of the French. The move increases white's pressure on d5 and supports the e4 pawn. If black takes the pawn on e4 then we reach the Rubinstein variation of the French defence, which I will return to later. Black's second option is to play the natural 3. ... Nf6, which increases the pressure on e4 and adds support to d5. Once again white has to decide what he is to do about his centre. The first option open to him is to advance with 4. e5. However, the position after black's reply 4. ... Nfd7, should remind you of the advance variation with the difference that white cannot support his centre with c3 and black's kings knight cannot easily get to the f5 square. I should briefly mention the other knight move available to black here, namely 4. ... Ne4. White is virtually forced to capture this knight (or play the cunning Nce2, see below...) as if he plays a move like 5. Bd3 then after 5. ... Nxc3, 6. bc white will have suffered damage to his pawn structure without having obtained sufficient compensation. The position should be compared with the Winawer variation which will be discussed below. I have recently been made aware of the possibility of playing 5. Nce2 with the idea of trying to trap black's knight with 6. h4 and 7. f3. If black plays the normal looking 5. ... c5, then he will find his knight is rapidly running out of squares after 6. h4. The move 6. ... Be7, is met with 7. g3 which does not give black any way to get his knight out of there. (Arguably black gets some compensation for the night in the form of a couple of pawns, and disruption to whites kingside after say, 7. ... Nxg3, 8. NxN Bxh4, 9. Nge2.) Thus the move 5. ... f6, is superior. The resulting positions are unclear. (Returning to the position after e4 e6 d4 d5 Nc3 Nf6 e5 Ne4) if white captures the knight on e4 with 5. NxN then after 5. ... de, it appears that white is doing very well. An obvious plan for him is to play Be3, Qg4 and then simply capture the pawn on e4 with Qxe4. However, black's counterplay comes from the d file. After 6. Bema3 black plays the thematic c5 and after white bolsters his d pawn with c3 black will increase the pressure with Nc6. Black will then play Ne7 to f5 kicking the bishop on e3 and sentencing the pawn on d4 to death. White will sooner or later have to play dc and then black will recapture there and have a fine position in which the white pawn on e5 may become a target. There are also many tactics with Qa5, Bb4 or Ba3 for black which make use of his queenside activity. Whites best shot then is 6. Bc4 threatening d5 and after a6 a4 black will be left with a fairly cramped position (although he can try ... b6, ... Bb7, and the Nc6-e7 manoeuvre to try to control d5 before playing c5 it is unlikely that this will allow him to achieve equality, though it may offer good practical chances.) Returning to the more sensible 4. ... Nfd7 white will usually bolster his centre with 5. f4 and then black will play the natural 5. ... c5. Sooner or later white will have to give up his centre pawn on d4 by playing dc. The consequences of not doing this can be quite dire as black has an automatic plan of a6, b5 and then either b4 or c4 or both. Given that white must capture on c5 we have a position in which black has an extra centre pawn and the half open c file at his disposal while white will need to make use of the d4 square with his knights. A recurring theme in this position is that black advances his queenside pawns, dislodges the white knight from c3 and then plays Nd7-c5-e4. If he can achieve this then he will have excellent prospects as from this square the knight fulfils a great many aggressive and defensive rôles. White as always will attempt to generate play on the kingside often with the thrust f4-f5. The greek gift sacrifice (Bd3xph7) comes up again and again in the French defence so it is important to be aware of it. Consider the position after the sequence of moves 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 Nf6, 4. e5 Nfd7, 5. f4 c5, 6. Nf3 Nc6, 7. dxc5 Bxc5, 8. Bd3 O-O. Black's last move was a mistake because white can now play 9. Bxh7+! and if black is foolish enough to take this with 9. ... KxB then white will play 10. Ng5+ and it will all be over soon. If Kg8 then Qh5 is a killer and if Kg6 then white has all sorts of goodies especially Qd3, Qg4, and even h4. Black must avoid this outcome! Anyway, lets move on to consider what happens if white plays Bg5 on move four instead of e5. Then black can choose between the standard Be7 and the McClutcheon variation with Bb4. This latter is not a bad system but I must confess I know very little about it other than that white ends up with a wrecked Queenside and black ends up with a wrecked kingside after e5 h6 etc. After 5. ... Be7 6. e5 Nd7, (Ne4 isn't as good here because black will miss his dark squared bishop), White can play either the very positionally aggressive h4 which is the Alekhine Chatard attack or the normal BxB. After h4 black has a number of viable options including (but not limited to ) BxB, h6, f6, and c5, the first of which is the obvious move; why not win a pawn? Well, white gets long term pressure down the h file and can often generate strong play on the kingside with an early queen sortie to g4. The other moves rather dodge the issue but it is clear that very few strong players have confidence in the Alekhine Chatard attack as there are very few recent master games in which white has employed it. I suspect that there simply is only just enough compensation for the pawn and that white players are searching for more than equality. After the normal 7. Bxe7 Qxe7, white appears to have an improved version of the Steinitz variation (that's the one we talked about earlier where white plays 4. e5), as he has swapped off his bad bishop for blacks good one. Although this may be true, black does now have one less piece and as he has the more cramped position this should be to his advantage. On balance then the bishops coming off in this way does not particularly favour either player. Right, I think I'll now move on to consider the Winawer variation which is one of the most interesting and sometimes complex lines of the French defence. The main line of this variation runs as follows. 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. e5 c5, 5. a3 BxN, 6. bc Ne7, and now 7. Qg4 gives black the choice between the extremely complex 7. ... Qc7, and the slightly less complex and braver 7. ... 0-0. After 7. ... Qc7, white can win two pawns immediately with 8. Qxg7 Rg8, 9. Qxh7. Black then takes on d4 with cd and white plays Ne2 to defend against the threat of Qxc3+. The resulting position is genuinely unclear (I mean that it's not that I'm too lazy to analyse it, it really is beyond the ability of the worlds chess elite to agree on a concrete evaluation of the position). After the alternative, 7. ... 0-0, white appears to have an automatic attack against blacks King with moves like Bd3, Nf3, and maybe Ng5 and Qh5. However, black can resist these attacks quite well. The most accurate continuation after 7. ... 0-0, is 8. Bd3 (definitely superior to 8. Nf3) 8. ... f5, 9. ef Rxf6, 10. Bg5 Rf7. The position is probably marginally better for white but I think most people would use the notation =/+= rather than just += to describe it. Lets now look at some earlier deviations in the Winawer. On move 7. white has alternatives to the aggressive Qg4. The most natural move on the board is 7. Nf3. After this black has the interesting idea of playing b6 followed by Ba6 trying to exchange off whites good bishop for blacks bad one. However, white can prevent this by responding to 7. ... b6, with 8. Bb5 Bd7, 9. Bd3 which is definitely worth the tempo spent. Thus black more often continues normal development with Nc6 and Qa5 and may sometimes choose to fix the doubled pawns on c2 and c3 with ... c4. Another idea for white is 7. a4 which intends Ba3 which would put the bishop on a very useful diagonal. However, black usually replies with 7. ... Qa5 and after 8. Bd2 plays 8. ... c4, tying the bishop to the d2 pawn. Going back earlier still we should consider the move 5. Bd2 for white which intends Nb5 homing in on the d6 square. Black should play Ne7 here and evaluate his king so that the knight arriving on d6 will not be so terrible. Deviations at move four by white in this line are quite common. 4. ed is the exchange Winawer when after 4. ... ed, 5. a3 black may well wish to avoid 5. ... BxN, (as white's play is so easy in this position) and prefer the slightly passive but nevertheless plausible 5. ... Be7. 4. Qg4 is arguably premature and after 4. ... Nf6, 5. Qxg7 Rg8, 6. Qh6 Rg6, black has plenty of play. 4. Nge2 should be met with 4. ... de, 5. a3 BxN, 6. NxN and now 6. ... Nc6, instead of 6. ... Nf6, which is not so good because of 7. Bg5.

The Tarrasch Variation

Now I'm going to talk a little bit about the Tarrasch variation of the French. After 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, white plays the at first odd looking 3. Nd2. One of the advantages of this move is that it avoids the Winawer variation which some players find does not suit them with the white pieces. Another advantage is that it allows white to protect his d pawn with his c-pawn, with pawn to c3. The obvious disadvantages are that it blocks the c1 bishop, that it does not control the d5 square in the way that Nc3 does, and that it unprotects the d4 pawn. These are of course very general points. It might turn out that in this position they do not matter very much. If white isn't impressed with 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 Nf6, 4. Bg5 and thinks that it is unwise to play the bishop to g5 in this position then he may well decide that he doesn't want to develop his queen's bishop yet. If black has no way of taking advantage of white's unprotected d4 pawn then it doesn't matter that it is temporarily unprotected. And if control of the d5 square isn't important to white then he won't mind not controlling it. It is however a good general rule that the d5 square is almost always important! A minor GM once said that "to be a professional chess player is to spend your life living out of suitcases and fighting for control of the d5 square". Anyway, down to concrete variations. The two main continuations from the position after 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 are 3. ... Nf6, and 3. ... c5. The former is the more solid option while the latter produces more open and tactical positions. After 3. ... Nf6 white almost always continues with 4. e5 and the main line runs 4. ... Nfd7, 5. Bd3 c5, 6. c3 Nc6, 7. Ne2. Black must now choose between 7. ... cd, 8. cd f6 and 7. ... cd, 8. cd Qb6, (or the immediate 7. ... Qb6) though they may transpose into one another. If we stick with the more flexible 7. ... cd, 8. cd f6, then we can consider two moves for white. The first is the apparently obligatory 9. ef and after the sensible 9. ... Nxf6, we have an interesting position in which the chances are probably balanced. Black has three pawn islands to white's two which should favour white, but on the other hand, black does have two centre pawns which if advanced effectively would favour black. Black can also play down the f-file. It is important for black to prevent white from exchanging dark squared bishops or gaining control of the e5 square. If white can achieve a bind on this square he will have excellent chances. The other 9th move for white is the slightly wacky 9. Nf4. Black sacks the exchange for superior activity after 9. ... Nxd4, 10. Qh5+ Ke7, 11. Ng6+ hg, 12. Qxh8 Kf7. Black should be doing quite well here; he has excellent compensation for the exchange. Earlier deviations are of course possible. Instead of 7. Ne2 white may choose the at first natural looking 7. Ngf3. The problem with this move is that it leaves the knight on d2 with nowhere good to go to. Black should probably resist the temptation to try to win a pawn with 7. ... Qb6, because after 8. O-O cd, 9. cd Nxd4, 10. Nxd4 Qxd4, 11. Nf3 white has more than enough compensation for the pawn. Black will have trouble finding active roles for his pieces and with finding a good square for his queen. Instead, black should consider 7. ... g6!? and after fianchettoing and capturing on d4 he will consider playing f6. Another important possibility for white is 5. f4. After 5. ... c5, 6. c3 Nc6, 7. Ndf3 white's centre is fairly solid but his development is unspectacular and black has plenty of tactical chances after 7. ... cd, 8. cd with Qb6, a bishop check on b4, f6, and even g5. Black's alternative to 4. ... Nfd7 is 4. ... Ne4, which can result in a position considered earlier if white captures (after 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 Nf6, 4. e5 Ne4). If he does not capture and plays for example 5. Ngf3 then after 5. ... NxN, 6. BxN Qb6, black will be doing ok. 3. ... c5 leads to more open positions. This is a line of the French I'm not particularly interested in. A sample line is 4. Ngf3 Nc6, 5. ed ed (5...Qxd5 is good too) 6. Bb5 Bd6, 7. dc Bxc5 is fine for black. 3. ... Be7, is also possible and has been quite popular from time to time. White's best is to avoid playing e5 and instead develop naturally with Bd3 and Ngf3. 3. ... Nc6, though odd looking, has quite an impressive pedigree. Black decides against an early c5 and plans to cause white trouble with f6 instead. The knight will have to move again, but black hopes that it will have been worth it.

Odds And Ends

Though I am loath to discuss it for the sake of (relative) completeness (or at least a semblance of balance) I must. That of which I speak is the exchange variation which is possibly the most uninspiring variation of any opening in chess. Any white player who employs this system ought to be utterly ashamed of himself. The variation runs 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. ed :( ed. Here further symmetry can follow with 4. Bd3 Bd6, 5. Nf3 Nf6, 6. O-O O-O, etc. Alternatively white can play 4. c4. Equally, after 4. Bd3 black can play 4. ... c5. The resulting positions are unappealing. The player with the IQP doesn't have any particularly interesting plans at his disposal and the player without has nothing better to do than play against the IQP. It's all bog standard stuff with one player seeking activity and the other positional pressure against the weak point. There is nothing special about the position so it's just no fun. It's all been done before, old news, stagnant water.
Marginally more interesting is the Kings Indian Attack. But I don't want to talk much about that. Suffice it to say that if black prevents white from playing e5 e.g. after 1. e4 e6, 2. d3 d5, 3. Nd2 c5, 4. g3 Bd6, 5. Bg2 Nge7, 6. Ngf3 Nc6, followed by f6 then white will not be able to launch his usual kingside attack (because it has to be based around a white pawn on e5). Black is then free to make progress on the queenside.
The variation which runs 1. e4 e6, 2. Nc3 d5, 3. Nf3 is just a bit rubbish. After 3. ... Nf6, 4. e5 black should probably avoid 4. ... Ne4!? (unless he can be bothered studying it properly) and just transpose into a more normal line with 4. ... Nfd7, 5. d4 c5 when white's inability to defend d4 with c3 or e5 with f4 should leave him with plenty to think about and little to do.
The weird 1. e4 e6, 2. Qe2 can be met with 2. ... Be7, threatening d5 or 2. ... c5 transposing to an improved sicilian (as white's queen is misplaced). Take your pick.

A Glimpse of the French Defence - A Possible Repertoire

This part of the text was an article I wrote for a university website many years ago. The site was lost and now the article exists only in the Wayback machine, and here. As the subheading suggests this is intended to give the reader a glimpse of the French defence and to provide him or her with just enough to play the opening in a blitz game. I hoped it would tempt people to study the opening in depth as a result of their immediate success! (If you do want to study the opening in more depth then you should take notice of the paragraphs beginning with "More normal".) It focuses on just four games, one each for systems 1, and 3, and two for system 2. We will cover: 1. The Advance variation, 2. The Romanishin variation and 3. The Exchange variation.

A. Advance variation

Howell,J (2375) - Mestel,A (2515), British Ch (Swansea) 1987

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 Black stakes a claim in the centre and waits for White to decide what he intends to do about his e-pawn. 3 e5

White decides to press on and this is the most important position to understand when playing the French Defence. The central pawns are fixed and it is White who has more space. Black must therefore seek to free his position. He has two breaks, ...c5, and ...f6, both of which attempt to break down the White centre. Black also suffers from a lack of mobility and so he must be creative with his pieces in order to find sufficient activity for them. Thus the g8-knight will often come to f5 and the c8-bishop frequently finds its way onto the f1-a6 diagonal.

White on the other hand has the breaks f5, and c4, the latter serving usually only to weaken White's own d-pawn. The push f5 also takes some time to engineer effectively and so it is Black who is likely to direct the course of play for the next few moves. White's queenside pieces can cause him some problems as the c1-bishop is often needed to cover the b2-pawn and the b1-knight cannot go to c3 as that square is needed for a pawn to defend d4. On the other hand, White's space and mobility advantages should not be underestimated - Black must drum up counterplay rapidly in order to achieve equality.

Another idea for White is to play his queen to g4 once Black has moved his king's bishop, as from this square the queen attacks the weakened g7-pawn. Black has a number of ways of dealing with this attack, all of which have some disadvantages: ...g6 weakens Black's dark squares on the kingside, whilst castling into White's attack is clearly risky. It is sometimes possible to sacrifice the pawn (and usually the h7-pawn as well) with ...Ne7, Qxg7 Rg8, with some compensation, whilst ...Kf8 is sometimes played but can leave the king stranded there. Black must choose the most appropriate course for the particular position he is in. "Following the pawns" we can see that Black should be seeking to play on the queenside and White on the kingside. Black should try to gain control of the c-file and possibly manoeuvre his knight into c4; a very useful square. White will usually storm the kingside. 3 ..c5 The first break. 4 e5 Qb6 Increasing the pressure on White's d-pawn (and b-pawn) and making the following manoeuvre possible. 5 Nf3 Bd7 More normal is 5. ... Nc6, 6. Be2 (6.Bd3!?) cd, 7. cd Nh6, 8. Nc3 (8 BxN?! Qxb2) 8...Nf5, pressuring d4. 6 Be2 Bb5

This is not a main line but I believe it is a viable system. Karpov played it once (in 1973, vs. Hecht. That game went 7. 0-0 Bxe2, 8. Qxe2 Qa6, after which Black was fine. The game ended in a draw.) and Black immediately attempts to exchange off his bad bishop for White's good one. The loss of time incurred by this procedure is not very significant here as the position is closed and so White will find it difficult to take advantage of his lead in development. 7 c4 This is the critical line. Other moves by White do not give Black any real problems. He will be playing an Advance French without having to worry about his queen's bishop. Every French Defence player's dream! 7 ..Bxc4 8 Bxc4 Qb4+ 9 Nbd2 dxc4 10 a3 It should be noted that White has a better way to play this position, the main line of which involves a piece sacrifice. However, there is still room for argument in that line and in a blitz game Black will certainly have good chances. Also, very few White players will find that line over the board. If you want to play it safe you might want to consider capturing on d4 on move 6 so that after 7. cd Bb5, White will not have the option of c4. This idea was suggested by Neil McDonald. 10 ..Qb5 11 Qe2 cxd4 12 Nxd4 Qd5

It is clear that Black has nothing to fear in this position. He has a better bishop and a target to aim at in the form of white's e-pawn. The d5-square may also make a handsome outpost for one of Black's knights and Mestel went on to win.

B. Romanishin variation

Velimirovic,D (2525) - Romanishin,O (2595), Tallinn 1977

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Be7

Again, this is not a main line but it is perfectly viable. It's been played by such Grandmasters as Seirawan, Short, and of course Romanishin himself. Black waits to see what White intends to do. If White pushes on to e5 then Black will argue that the knight on c3 is misplaced as c3 cannot be played to support the pawn on d4. If White instead plays 4. Nf3 then Black will play 4. ... Nf6, and if 5. e5 then 5. ... Ne4, is quite playable (because the often clever Ne2 by White is ineffective here as f3 is not immediately possible). If White then captures, then after ...dxe4 the White knight will have to retreat to g1 and Black will be able to pile on the pressure with ...c5 and ...Nc6. If after 4. Nf3 Nf6, White plays 5 Bd3 then Black can play ...c5 with an unclear* but playable position.

More normal than 3... Be7 are 3... Bb4 and 3. ... Nf6. After 3...Bb4, the main line is 4. e5 c5, 5. a3 BxN, 6. bc. After 3. ... Nf6 White can choose between 4. e5 Nfd7 when the modern 5. Nce2 is tricky (as it prepares c3 bolstering White's centre) and 4. Bg5 Be7, 5. e5 Nfd7, 6. BxB QxB, when Black's minor pieces look fairly unhealthy although his position is in fact quite reasonable.

4 e5 b6 Black wants to get rid of his problem bishop. The immediate 4...c5 is equally good. After 4. ... c5, one of White's most promising ideas is to play the move 5. Qg4 attacking g7. Objectively 5...Bf8 may be best to be quickly followed by ...h5 and ...Nh6-f5. However, this is a bit passive so I recommend the 'weakening' 5... g6. After 6. dc h5, 7. Qf4 Nh6, 8. Nf3 Nc6, Black's position is quite playable as his king's knight will soon be well placed on f5 with the h- pawn preventing White from dislodging it with g4. A similar idea could be employed after 4. ... b6, 5. Qg4. 5 g4 Very bold (and probably dubious). White is a strong player but he underestimates the potential in Black's position. Of course, White is trying to force a rapid f4-f5 but he doesn't get the chance. 5 ..Ba6 6 Bxa6 Nxa6 7 f4 h5 The bad bishop is gone and black begins to chip away at White's over-extended "bubble". 8 gxh5 Bh4+ It makes sense to disturb the White king. 9 Kf1 Ne7 10 Qe2 Nb8 11 Nd1 Nbc6

Again, ...c5 is a strong alternative but Black wishes to punish White on the kingside and Romanishin won in just another 14 moves.

*If Black doesn't want to play this kind of position then he can capture on e4, which will give him a typical Rubinstein. (which is definitely fine).

Kuzmin,G (2550) - Romanishin,O (2595), Leningrad 1977

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Be7 More normal than 3... Be7 are 3... Nf6, 4. e5 Nfd7, (when White can choose between 5. f4 c5, 6. c3 Nc6, 7. Ndf3 Qb6 [Be7!?] and 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6, 7. Nge2,) and 3. ... c5, 4. Ngf3 Nc6, 5. ed ed (5...Qxd5 is sometimes possible as a response to ed) 6. Bb5 Bd6, 7. dc Bxc5. 4 e5 c5

As in the previous game Black waits to see what White will do with his e-pawn and once again White feels compelled to press on. As always in this kind of position Black must attempt to break free and for once Oleg plays ...c5 straight away. If white were to try 4. Nf3 instead then 4. ... Nf6 5. e5 Ne4, 6. Nxe4 dxe4, would reach a position considered in the previous game. If White plays instead 4. Bd3 then Black should try the odd looking 4. ... Nc6, 5. Nf3 Nb4!?, with a quick ...c5 to follow. 5 dxc5 Nc6 There is no hurry, the pawn on c5 isn't going anywhere. 6 Ngf3 Qc7 7 Bb5 Bxc5 8 Nb3 Bb6 9 0-0 Nge7 10 Bf4 Bd7 Black has completed his development and has a very sound position. The bishop on b6 is well placed and the other bishop - you will be pleased to hear - eventually found its way onto the wonderful h1 to a8 diagonal.

C. Exchange variation

Tatai,S (2455) - Korchnoi,V (2665), Beersheba 1978

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 exd5 The position after White exchanges on d5 is as equal as they get. This game shows how Black can inject some life into the position. 4 Bd3 c5 Unbalancing the position by guaranteeing himself an isolated d-pawn. There are of course other ways to avoid a draw. If you do not wish to play an isolated queen's pawn position then you might consider playing ... Nc6, ... Bg4, ... Qd7, and .. O-O-O . More normal (and dull as dishwater) is 4. ... Bd6, 5. Nf3 Nf6, 6. 0-0 0-0, with more imitation and symmetry to follow. 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 Qe2+? This is a waste of time. White should have continued with his development. 6 ..Be7 7 dxc5 Nf6 8 h3? This is another wasted move, again, White should be concerned about his lack of development. 8 ..0-0 9 0-0 Bxc5 10 c3 Re8 11 Qc2 Qd6 12 Nbd2 Qg3!

A very pretty move but also quite devastating. 13 Bf5 Re2 14 Nd4 Nxd4 The moves speak for themselves. White wasted too much time with 6. Qe2+ and 8. h3. 0-1

Have fun!

OK, that's it! Well done for reading the whole thing (unless you skipped bits).

I wish you well with the French Defence - Alexander