The Best French Defence Games

Hello all,

I am currently studying the French Defence and am working on a Lichess study (and accompanying series of Youtube videos) where I learn French Defence opening theory by analyzing games played between strong players.

As I am still learning, I am interested in any games that you all might know that have great theoretical value or where the players played very well (or had some interesting ideas).

So, I ask you all: what are your favourite games that feature the French Defence? And also, who are your favourite players who use it on a regular basis? Personally I really like the way that Shirov plays the French.

If you are interested in my study, it is located here: lichess.org/study/YMUeboT9

If you are interested in the series of Youtube videos, they can be found here:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjAuDrWl4uxp5B0c3yV9UPQorqLmus2my

Petrossian had some great ones.

@greysensei Interesting, are there any games/lines where you liked how he played in particular?

Players: Nimzowitsch and Shulman.

From GM Shulman's games, I learned what to do against the Exchange-French: You play Bd6, Ne7, Ngc6

Better to see it with human eyes:


: No knight-pins against you - you can play f6. No 'check's along the e-file. You can even play Bf5 After White has played Bd3, followed by Qd2 and then you can castle both sides - having a non-bore in the Exchange.
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Against the Tarrasch Var. Shulman plays b6 a lot, but... he's losing in most of these games... to people I've never heard of... But since he's the leading expert - here you go.

Against the Main Line, Shulman plays a Winawer.

Against Advanced Variation, you can get the bishop out and equalize on the spot, Kramnik has a e4-e6 free chessable course, and he wonders why this variation isn't more popular - (playing c5, Qb6, Bd7 followed by bishop out - Wade Variation)

Always glad to help a 300 higher rated player. No flowers needed, I like regular salad.

@KingsKnightTwitch

I watch them in a Russian-language youtube channel. This game is amazing where Petrossian in his typical fashion locks down the position. Then somehow manages to make the "French Bishop" good:

www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106868

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuDvN8oNlNg&t=541s&ab_channel=%D0%A8%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8B%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BC%21%D0%A8%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8B

And here's one also from Petrossian in the Winawer, where he sacs an exchange and starts rolling pawns, eventually getting connect-5! Found it on the same channel:

www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1057392

@Nisko1234 I was familiar with that structure in the Exchange French, but didn't know about its originator. Will definitely look for some games by GM Shulman featuring that structure as it is an interesting approach. What should Black do if White tries 5. c4 and tries to argue that the bishop on d6 is misplaced?

I have seen that idea in the Advance Variation before, but I personally don't like it because Black can fall greatly behind in development

I personally would be worried about something like

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 Bb5

and then White either castling kingside or trading the bishop and playing Na3. Black solves the French bishop problem, but falls behind in development.

@greysensei I really like that Winawer game in particular. Petrosian's exchange sacrifices are always great. The Advance Variation game's okay but these days it seems that French players will delay castling queenside in the 6. a3 c4 middlegame as White will be quite happy to immediately push the b-pawn (even if it's a sacrifice) and the c8-square is often used for maneuvering the kingside knight.

French is so dangerous it's considered 'tier-2' by top players ...

Surely by now every conceivable French line has been exhaustively explored, yet many of the lines are likely too difficult for even the strongest masters to willingly play ...

My own opinion is the French is only tier-2 because people may not be good enough to handle it.

@boilingFrog I agree. Tier-2 sounds right. My understanding is that many grandmasters like using the French since it's not as drawish as 1. ... e5 but isn't as risky as the Sicilian Defence. Most lines in the French have been explored (mainly because a lot of the sidelines are bad), but there is still enough unexplored territory left for it to be interesting and enough opportunity available to try to outplay your opponent and play for the win with the black pieces.

For example, the line
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Qb6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nh6 8. Bxh6 Qxb2

is still fairly unexplored but is interesting due to the imbalances present in the position.

The advanced always turns into a Winower of some kind, then black is usually smothered, and if he tries f6 at some point then it's just over ...