French Advance! - Page 3 - Chess Forums

Malbase · 07-10-2007, 01:03 PM

I played 8... Be7 9. b3 f6?! 10. f5 fxe5 11. fxe6 Nf8 12. dxe5 Bxe6 13. Nf4 O-O-O.
There are 1171+ games in the database. of those 1171+ games two are with
8. - Be7 9. b3.
Commentary: The idea of Black is to attack White Center. A theme in
many variations of the French. See games by Botvinnik. The Winawer
has that idea.
With the Nimzovitch: (Fine) Once championed by Keres.
If I am not mistaken tried by Steinitz at times. 45 years ago by Tal, in the World Championship.
Fine indicated the problem with the Nimzovitch (Advance):
The release of tension leaves Black with a variety of good Defences.
See the following two games won by Black:
[Event "Toulouse op"]
[Site "Toulouse"]
[Date "1990.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Deis,Alain"]
[Black "Daloz,Jean Michel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "C11"]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6 8.Ne2 f6
9.b3 Be7 10.Be3 0-0 11.Ng3 Qa5 12.Qd2 cxd4 13.Nxd4 fxe5 14.Nxe6 exf4 15.Nxf4 d4 16.Bc4+ Kh8
17.Bxd4 Nxd4 18.Qxd4 Bf6 19.Qe4 Nc5 20.Qd5 Qxc3+ 21.Qd2 Qxa1+ 22.Kf2 Qxh1 23.Qd6 Bg4 24.Qxf8+ Rxf8
25.Nxh1 Be5 26.h3 Rxf4+ 27.Kg3 Re4+ 0-1

[Event "Leipzig VfB op 14th"]
[Site "Leipzig"]
[Date "2007.03.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Herfurth,Thomas"]
[Black "Seifert,Volker"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "C11"]
1.Nc3 e6 2.f4 d5 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.d4 c5 6.Nce2 Nc6 7.c3 Qb6 8.Nf3 f6
9.b3 Be7 10.g3 cxd4 11.cxd4 0-0 12.Bh3 fxe5 13.Bxe6+ Kh8 14.Bxd7 Bxd7 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.fxe5 Bg4
17.Qd3 Bb4+ 18.Bd2 Rf3 19.Qb1 Re3 0-1

Chamaco · 07-10-2007, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by Phobetor

I have a question about the French (but not really Advance) too

Yesterday I played a game in the French Advance through transposition, and after 1. Nc3 Nf6 2. e4 d5 3. e5 Nd7 4. f4 e6 5. Nf3 c5 6. d4 Nc6 7. Ne2 Qb6 8. c3...

...I played 8... Be7 9. b3 f6?! 10. f5 fxe5 11. fxe6 Nf8 12. dxe5 Bxe6 13. Nf4 O-O-O.

Can anyone tell me if this is the best way for black to handle that position (and if black's position is better/worse after those moves) or if black should play it differently?

I have to run now so have not time for my usually lengthy posts !

Howvwer, this is not an advance french, but we ended up by transposition into a Tarrasch French variation. If I recall correctly, Black has an ok game by means of Be7, 00 and fxe5, because there are thematic sacrifices on e5. In the long run, Black can also regroup by means of Rf7 and Nf8, and recycling the lightsquared bishop should not be a problem

Check out an old game of mine here, the scheme is similar, although not identical, however it can be instructive:

[Event "Koltanowski Memorial"]
[Site "San Francisco"]
[Date "2000.12.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Snyder, L."]
[Black "Casadei, M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C05"]
[WhiteElo "2091"]
[BlackElo "2137"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2000.12.14"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3 Qb6 8. g3
Be7 9. Bh3 cxd4 10. cxd4 f6 11. Kf1 fxe5 12. fxe5 O-O 13. Kg2 Kh8 14. Ne2 Ndxe5
15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Rf1 Nxf3 17. Rxf3 Rxf3 18. Kxf3 e5 19. Bxc8 Rxc8 20. Kg2 Rf8
21. Ng1 Rf2+ 22. Kh3 Qe6+ 23. g4 Qf6 24. g5 Qf5+ 25. Kg3 Rf1 0-1

Phobetor · 07-10-2007, 06:14 PM

Originally Posted by Perseus

I've played the gambit continuation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. c4?. It doesn't work, though anything goes in blitz.

For Phobetor's suggestions I have more respect, in my experience they have a greater tendency to work. I would add though that you should at least familiarize yourself with one of the more established variations (Classical or Steinitz for instance).

A member from my club (2000+) plays the 2. c4, 3. cxd5 and 4. Qb3 regularly as white; he plays it whenever he can. If black knows what he's doing, he can probably equalize easily, but that's the idea of those variations: to surprise your opponent.

I've played the French myself as black a few times, and ran into the Wing Gambit twice. In both games, I had difficulties and should have lost if white played it right. It's like playing the Morra Gambit: in many games you'll have a very good game, but in some games your opponent will be prepared and you get a horrible position.

Perseus · 07-10-2007, 09:37 PM

I remember NM Dennis Monokroussos posting about this very line. His conclusion was much the same.

Which is why I would always suggest using one of the main lines as primary choice. It never hurts to have one of these nasty surprises ready for your unsuspecting victim though!

Malbase · 07-11-2007, 01:46 PM

Chess Base which has been around for quite a while has a website called:
Chesslive.de.
When looking up a move go there first.
The site has many more games than Chessgames.com.
To down load a game or a series of games do not press "VIEW AS PGN".
When you have a list of games Click * to the left of each game.
I would advise not clicking on 1000 games at a time, because you might get a crash. Go for about 50 games or less at a time and start from there.
Avoid "junk" games.
Note: You do not have to worry about transpositions.
There should be a DVD available for the Chessbase collection.
I own an original Macintosh Chessbase product from 1995 which has every game ever played up to that date. The program has sorting abilities.
Window users can use the new DVD collection with the same features.