Solid & Powerful Chess Opening For Black Against 1.e4 [Tricks & Traps]

what's up Grandmaster Igor Smirnoff is here and today I'm going to address perhaps the most common question that students ask me is Igor what is the best chess opening for black against White's first move Pawn A4 and I'm gonna share with you an opening that my students had lots of successes with which is the French defense and I'm gonna explain in a moment why this is so successful for black and how you should utilize it properly and I'm gonna slow down and explain the reason behind every move so that you don't have to memorize these variations but you really understand them deeply better than most of your opponents and that you are ready to play the French defense which is very suitable for beginners but it's going to serve you all the way up till you become a Grand Master of the world champion the universe Champion whatever it's a really universal opening one of the good reasons to play the French defense especially for beginners is that you instantaneously cover the weakest point of your position that F7 Pawn which is the door to the residency of your king because instead if you play Pony five the most common move that one has lots of various kinds of attack against these Pawn instantaneously or later in the game they've got Bishop C4 the Italian game The Bishop's opening uh the Kings Gambit where they also Target the same weakness long term different kinds of uh you know Scholars Checkmate threats or fry liver attacks where they add the Knight to attack this pawn and there are so many tricks that you gotta be careful with that sometimes you can just go down Valley if your opponent knows all those tricks with the French defense that's just not the case you close the door to your cane instantaneously there are no Checkmate checkmates that are possible in any near future you you aren't gonna face any quick attack against you that's for sure moreover on the next move after Pawn D4 and pawn D5 you completely solidify this diagonal so for sure there is no Bishop C4 and there is no attack on this diagonal in this game and that's one great advantage of the French defense the other one is that if you look at the database you'll see that Pros usually in this case play the most principled move which is Knight to C3 or sometimes nine to D2 which is also pretty good but amateurs are usually frightened of the extensive theory of those variations and instead of the most principled moves they very often opt for a simpler move 25 which indeed makes White's life simpler but it also less aggressive and gives you a clear attacking plan for the middle game which makes it easier for black to play it and so we're going to start off with this variation in particular because that's what what is the most common approach of white against the French defense and later I'll tell you what to do against other moves as well but for now let's start with this most common move 0.5 uh now in general what's the White's plan and what is the blocks plan here uh the upside of these Pawn E5 advancements of this Advanced variation is that these Pawn got into your territory and now it takes away these two squares so that for example you can now develop your knight normally which is somewhat uncomfortable for black but there was a price for that why is stretching out their position a little too much and by putting these pawns further away from their rest of their army they make them more vulnerable to your attack because they are closer to your position to Black's position and so it's easier for you to attack them harder for white to defend and that's going to be your long-term plan to attack these two poles we cannot really attack the E5 Pawn here because it's already defended and for that reason we do attack this Pawn on D4 and we do this instantaneously with the move Pawn to C5 we do want to break down these pawns and to capture that one by one that's our plan white does not want that so they do play Pawn to C3 and you play Knight C6 putting more pressure into these both pawns primarily into the pawn on D4 and you're you're going to Simply keep developing your pieces and keep attacking that poll again the Simplicity of your plan is another great advantage of the French defense now in this position let me also cover different moves not only the moves that are played by top Grand Masters but also the moves that are commonly played by players of 1200 1500 1700 rated or so okay one of those moves which are common on this amateur level is remove Pawn to F4 white understands that you are targeting their Pawn chain in the middle of the board and they want to strengthen it but actually this is wrong and it just kind of stretches the wise position further without enough support and it makes it even easier for you to attack it so after opponent F4 what we do here is we play Queen to B6 attacking this Pawn for the third time and now this is a real threat we are going to capture the pawn if white doesn't defend it therefore white needs to defend it so Knight F3 is played and now you're thinking okay how do I attack this Pawn once again and there is a very common maneuver where you bring your 9 from G8 to F5 either through the e sound square or through the H6 Square both Maneuvers are equally good here we can go Knight H6 Knight F5 and put more pressure onto this pawn and ultimately capture it uh one question you may be wondering is like okay if that's Pro Pawn is a problem for a while what if white simply trades it off well that solves the problem of this Pawn but of course it's still pretty good for black because first of all you develop your Bishop with a Tempo secondly you do control this diagonal which uh you know potentially attacks the White's cane where we're threatening for example something like Bishop up to check what cannot Castle anymore in this game you are ready to bring your knight to the attack as well for something like G4 and then F2 therefore that definitely doesn't solve all of White's problems let's take it back instead what usually tries to maintain this opponent somehow to defend it how do they do it uh one of the common blunders of white is just playing some developing moves something like Bishop E2 looks like there is just nothing wrong with this move and yet you're gonna win lots of games with the very simple maneuver you're gonna take here and after an exchange you do play Knight to F5 and you attack this Pawn three times white defends it twice and there is nothing white can do to to defend it further so on that next move You're Gonna Take It again this also opens up this diagonal of to recapture the pawn and why it's in trouble white cannot of course defend it with the bishop over here because you simply win the mission so that's one way for you to win lots of games easily pure opponent is more experienced he is likely to play Bishop to D3 which is the right approach for white because from here it does control this Square F5 so if you land your knight there why can't at least exchange it there's no problem for you by the way if that exchange happens you're quite happy to have two Bishops Advantage but at least white maintains their position and they don't lose a pawn at this point you may be wondering hey but that blocks White's Queen so what if we just win the spawn can't we win this Pawn on D4 that's actually one of the most common traps in the French defense that you gotta be aware of you cannot win this Pawn immediately because if you do that if you try to trade everything on D4 then yes for a second you win a pawn but white has a very common Bishop B5 discover check tactics that helps them to just win your queen so definitely you don't want to go here however it doesn't mean anything changes in your plan you just need to prepare it a little bit and so this diagonal is weak you've got a very simple move Bishop to D7 which covers your kingdom on this diagonal and now the threat to the D4 Pawn is real you aren't going to capture it on the next move it has to deal with it once again and for that reason they played Bishop C2 so that their Queen is active and is defending these Pawn once again and now there are different ways to go about this I like a little tricky move Rook to C8 which puts your rook in an ambush and what usually castles here because what else can I do and if they do Castle you've got a really shocking combo here it starts off with this exchange on D4 usually at some point you do trade there because then this Pawn on D4 becomes real weak and you already capture it and at this point we can see the point of putting our Rook to C8 because uh now this C file is open and our Rook is active one common way for you to take advantage of this would be to co-play 9b4 very often it's a good move for black as in this position just as well we're hitting the bishop this is uncomfortable by the way if you can exchange an opponent's Bishop for your knight this is good overall because the bishop is a little bit stronger than a knight and in the French defense in particular because this bishop is active like the dark Square Bishop of white is passive the light score Bishop is active if you can trade it off that's great but in this particular case besides Knight to be 4 you've got an even stronger option which is also worth remembering as common tactics here it is Knight takes D4 you temporarily sacrifice your knight because you you know comma come on top at the end of the line the white can take it with either a queen or Knight but both cases are pretty bad Queen takes D4 loses instantaneously I mean first of all this bishop is hanging but even stronger is to play Bishop C5 and to win the queen because it's been down to the king so that's completely about it for white let's take it back it is stronger for white to take it with the Knight than Bishop comes over here to C5 and you can see that White's position is shaky overall this Knight is pinned it's also attacked you have this Rook putting pressure along the C file the only way to defend the night is playing Bishop E3 but that weakens this Pawn on B2 and now you capture that pawn which also threatens this Rook on A1 the only way to defend the Rook would be Knight to D2 but now this d49 is lost Bishop takes D4 it's nice how your position really like rolls out onto white and you start just capturing everything Bishop takes D4 hits this bishop has this bishop as well a special takes Queen takes D4 Chuck To The King The King has to go now there is another common move which is worth remembering uh one of the common problems of black in the French defense is a bad Bishop on D7 the light score Bishop because it's restricted by its own Pawn chain and therefore whenever you can bring this bishop out of the pawn chain to an empty space so to say that's usually a great idea to do and here you can play Bishop B5 relocating your Bishop to much more active diagonal and attacking The Rook um The Rook hand has to defend this Pawn so let's say something like rookout 3 is played and now you have another nice tactics Bishop E2 attacking the queen and deflectonate from the defense of this Rook on A1 now we capture The Rook with a check check to the cane oops somehow I can't make this Arrow let me try again yeah delivering check to the king and our Rook is active along the sea file hitting this bishop and it's interesting how after White's Pawn on D4 you know Fallen just White's Contin entire position collapsed and you started to capture like everything at every turn and you know you just destroyed the White's position completely let's come back to the starting position of this variation and let's see what else your opponents can try against you and how are you gonna deal with it uh White may try also here playing Bishop to B5 because you know why I realize that you're going to put pressure onto these Pawn so why not to develop a push-up and being this annoying Knight in this case you do play a bishop d song it's very simple solution to the Ping and there is a very usual tactics if White hero plays virtually any move for example Knight of three or again virtually any move you have a very sudden tactic Knight takes E5 and you just win a pawn what's the trick well you open up this attack so if white takes here you take the bishop and you win a pole along the way that Paul 95 and if white is Instead try stake in here then your knight sneaks back to D7 with that extra Pawn on E5 that we grabbed which just gives you a material advantage with no compensation for white so that's already gives you a winning position there is also one trap that more experienced opponents may try against you here we do know that you are threatening Knight take C5 and so a more experienced player will take here on C6 probably you do recapture and now they play 9 and F3 and the position overalls okay by the way it's great for you that this exchange occurred now you know white doesn't have their light score Bush which is a key piece overall in the White's middle game attack because imagine the middle game position where you castle kingside if White had that Bishop on D3 iron your inside position that could be dangerous but without that Bishop why really can not develop any attacks so for now you can already be happy but here's the Trap I was talking about at this point you may come up with them of Bishop B5 which cuts off white skin can't Castle anymore now looks very strong first looks very annoying for white but that's what they're hoping for um because it actually loses four black so that's why I wanted to share this trap with you they can play here uh 0.84 and you move your Russian back now they take here on C5 you do recapture and here's the problem they play Pawn before attacking this bishop and once it goes away somewhere does it really matter Pawn B5 just wins this bishop so that's the trap a very sudden one therefore even strong players got trapped like this sometimes but if you do know it's it's very easy to get away from this let me go back a couple loops here after white just played Knight three let's come back to this position here instead of playing Bishop B5 the symbol solution is that if you do want to play that move you just need to trade on D4 first okay and after that you're good to go so you trade there and you then play Bishop B5 now life's cool they cannot trap your Bishop anymore these pawns aren't going anywhere if they try and you'll capture it and again the position is approximately equal but you have no problems whatsoever it is rather white who has to be careful and try to fight for an inequality okay now let me show you one of the very common ways how you can outplay white blame normal moves and still you come out top if white plays the correct move Knight to R3 which is a stronger smooth for right here we still play Queen B6 putting more pressure onto this weak Pawn and Bishop D3 is the correct move putting the bishop on an active position which potentially in the future can help white and for now we are ready to trade on D4 but we got to be careful we do know that we cannot take this Pawn right away if you do that you fall into that trap that we've been talking about previously Bishop B5 check and you lose the queen we don't want to go here therefore instead of that let me just come back couple moves here instead of taking this Pawn right away we simply play the bishop D3 the bishop D7 first preparing for this Pawn to be captured now I need to do something about this one may choose to sacrifice this Pawn train to get some compensation we're going to talk about that in a minute but some of your opponents will not be willing to do that and they'll try something else what can they do if they try Bishop E3 in fact it's very common blunder because it blunders these Pawn on B2 and from there you're gonna attack The Rook so that's completely bad for white Bishop E3 is a common error another way is to drop the bishop back enabling the queen to defend this pawn and now we've got these common attack and move Knight before that we've been talking about previously yes it doesn't win the game on this part but initiating these exchange is actually a very good thing for you and why cannot run away from this exchange if they try something like this should be free that a very good thing that you can do is to bring your piece out over here either Bishop over here to B5 or queen over here the A6 which cuts off white skin can't Castle anymore moreover on the next move if they try whatever they want this Knight D3 check is extremely annoying in fact it simply wins the game because you know you attack on this diagonal directly with your queen so white doesn't want to put their King there and if King goes to D2 I mean it is ugly and you take Knight F2 hitting the queen hitting the Rook so you just win since white can't save the rubbishop they have to give it up so they play something like castle and now you happily grab the bishop that's nice once this bishop is taken away again white can never really develop any significant attack against your king side so you can already feel well about that and now you can just develop something like Rook C8 let's say getting a rook involved and attacking the queen Knight C3 now we do need to develop our King side pieces and one of the problems pieces that you have is this Knight because we cannot develop it to a normal Square it will be captured by a pole so what do you do well as we know we usually then just simply change the route of the Knight and we develop it through Ison we developed 97 and after I play something Bishop E3 this Knight can go either to C6 and hit this Pawn or the F5 and hit the spawn equally well Knight F5 is is a pretty good Square for the Knight it attacks this pawn it potentially attacks the bishop and is an active Knight overall uh while maybe worried about this Pawn on D4 as well as above this ping so let's say they play some like Queen D2 now you develop your bush up also and although right now it may look like the position is about equal in fact strategically wise position is very difficult because you'll just keep attacking this Pawn in the middle game let's say they place on The Rook C1 New Castle and in the middle again what you're going to do is to play Rook C4 with more pressure onto this Pawn double Rooks along the C file you know maybe play Bishop B4 attacking this Knight along this diagonal so the point is you can keep attacking along the C file you can put more pressure onto this Pawn you attack overall and provide it is much harder to figure out any attacking plan and that's how even experienced players playing white often goes down their position deteriorates gradually and you just win because they have nothing to do and you keep developing your attack okay now we're approaching the main line which will only occur if you're playing some really experienced an advanced level opponent in this position after you put pressure to this Pawn you're ready to capture it without they're trying to hold on to these porn with something like Bishop C2 is actually impossible but a rather passive option of white you can go after this bishop take it away and white is doomed for a passive position therefore instead sometimes your white players will just sacrifice this Pawn on D4 because they cannot defend it normally anyway hoping to get some compensation let's say you take there on D4 now you're opponed up and they play Knight C3 so their idea is just to take a leading development and although they're upon down they hope to develop some quick attack against your undeveloped position and there are some tricks for white here but the main rule that you gotta develop remember here is that you simply shouldn't be too greedy and you shouldn't grab the other Pawn on E5 because then you're really falling behind in development you are playing just way too many moves with a single piece with a queen forgetting about the rest of your army and lighting white attack so we don't want to be greedy and there is a very useful prophylactic move that you get to play Here pawn A6 if not one has some tracks with 9 and B5 and some attacking ideas but if you do know the right move Pawn A6 then you're basically securing yourself from any attacks of white because if you just look at White's position like how can one really attack you I mean there are many good ways for white to do so also your queen is putting pressure right if white moves the bishop away you're happily trading Queens going into win an end game you're still threatening this Pawn on E5 and maybe they'll take it later so white may be concerned about that if I play something to defend this Pawn on E5 let's say queen E2 then you just finish your development as usual we do know that since Knight doesn't go there on to in the French defense you just change the route we play an id7 and from there usually that goes either to F5 or to C6 in this particular position Knight F5 seems not so good because white can take it and destroy your Pawn structure therefore it is more likely that your knight will come here to C6 in the future I mean right on the next move actually we'll put more pressure onto the Central Pawn and you're good to go because again you're upon up your position is fully secure after Knight to C6 you can see that you're fully covered all around moreover you hit this Pawn white cannot really play Bishop E3 I mean they can but that'll lose this Pawn on E5 right because that closes the Queen's diagonal so you'll you'll just take the pawn and why not I mean why can't attack your D4 is coming at some point right so that's how you maintain your good position while saving your extra material okay now we covered the main line the advanced variation Pawn to E5 and we're gonna quickly cover the rest of the options for white um which are basically nine to C3 or Pawn takes D5 and they're much easier for us to analyze so it's not going to take much time if Pawn takes D5 that leads to an exchange variation and there is no danger for you here the position is just symmetric your Bishop now is no longer a lock there on C8 can be developed in the future and basically you can play any normal development moves they're all or equally good but what I recommend is a more aggressive plan where you Castle queenside and so you do want to develop those Queen side pieces first of all so if you play Knight to C6 bring in the night out after white plays Bishop D3 you play Bishop G4 developing in the bishop put in this pin and so indirectly you know attacking these Pawn on D4 as well let's say white girls Pawn to C3 and uh you can go Bishop D6 it's the usual Square for the bishop and this vibration because we do know that white will Castle probably on the next move and our Bishop takes an active part in our future attack now we can just play Queen D7 we continue with our plan to Castle queenside we aren't scared of some potential checks along the e-file because if they try that you can easily cover your king Knight to E7 notice that we brought our Bishop to D6 in advance so that it's not locked on f8 and that gives you a very harmonious position with lots of attacking prospects for the middle game if whatever tries Bishop G5 again we aren't scared of that at all first of all I mean your knight is already defended but you can just easily kick this bishop away after a special page four in your Castle Queen side so that is the setup that you want to achieve and from here you can go Knight to F5 potentially on the net in the future and you know attack this bishop on H4 or you can just start with this Pawn assault on the king side pushing G5 pushing the H Pawn forward starting your king side attack and your position is good objectively it should be about equal but I'd say that it's actually easier to play it with black because you have some attacking ideas and one is going to figure out how to deal with them and the final two options which in fact will lead to the same variation for us are either nine to C3 or 9 to D2 but in those both cases however they develop their Knights I recommend that you trade here on A4 so we will reach the same position which is easier for you don't need to learn two variations you just learn one and after 9 takes E4 there's a very good variation which I recommend playing here I have another video where I cover even more details I do recommend that you check it out and so you'll have like all around knowledge about the French defense and also if you enjoyed this video give it a thumbs up and do subscribe to the channel for more like that and I'll talk to you soon

Channel: Remote Chess Academy

Views: 881,947

Keywords: french defense, french defense chess, french defense advance variation, french defense exchange variation, french defense traps, french defense theory, french defense for black, french defense explained, french defense opening theory, french defense basics, best chess opening against e4

Id: f0FIJePXmgk

Length: 22min 39sec (1359 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 11 2023