French DefenceC00 – C19
1…e6 prepares …d5 with a pawn behind it, so that when White pushes past with e4-e5 the centre locks and the game becomes a fight about pawn chains rather than about pieces. The rules of that fight are worth learning once and then applying forever: attack a chain at its base, so White's d4-e5 chain is answered by …c5 and then …f6, and White's play runs the other way, up the board towards Black's king. The famous problem is the light-squared bishop, stuck behind e6 and d5 with no diagonal, and the standard solutions are …b6 and …Ba6, a timely …f6 opening the e-file for it, or the Winawer's decision to trade the *dark* bishop on c3 instead and take White's structure with it. The French is the most solid answer to 1.e4 that still plays for a win, and it produces positions no other opening does.
Played by
- Viktor Korchnoi — the French was his defence of choice for six decades and in two title matches against Karpov
- Wolfgang Uhlmann — played almost nothing else against 1.e4 for forty years and wrote the book on it
Model game
Tolush – Botvinnik, USSR Championship, Moscow 1945
Next: e4
