Introduction

One of the great attractions of is of chess so exciting. Two equally strong that the game spreads its wings to players can have two completely dif- cover the whole social ladder. No mat- ferent ways of looking at the same po- ter where a person is from, what age sition. Individual personality really they are, or even where they are going, does come through when you’re play- chess can be shared as a tool for enter- ing the game. tainment and knowledge. Children, Now you may be wondering what adults, men, women, lawyers, politi- on earth has this to do with the French cians, prisoners, accountants, Napo- Defence? Well, let me try to explain. leon, etc, can all enjoy a good game of Throughout the , the chess. has had the reputation When the battle commences the of being a rather solid opening where outside world is forgotten and the White has most of the attacking oppor- players can drift off into their own tunities. It has been considered to be a world of the imagination. The one fairly safe and solid reply to 1 e4, with thing that I find most intriguing about Black often relying on his solid the game is the way in which a per- formation to push the advantage son’s personality can come across in through in the middlegame or even the the way that they play. My own style of ending. play is stereotyped as being extremely once said of the attacking and rather gung-ho. A classic opening: ‘I have never in my life played opposite is that of the English Grand- the French Defence, which is the dullest master Keith Arkell. Keith is known for of all openings!’ his love of the endgame and the ‘nib- This is where I beg to differ. I have ble’. Indeed, Danny Gormally described always considered the French to be an Keith as the ‘Grinder’ and myself as the exciting opening that offers Black very ‘Gambler’ in his entertaining book, Play good counterattacking possibilities. Chess like the Pros. Steinitz had obviously not looked at the To me this is what makes the game opening in the same way that I have!

5

Attacking Chess: The French

Indeed, in the context of chess, I am not The French from even sure if the word ‘Defence’ is ap- Black’s Perspective propriate when muttering the word ‘French’! The title of this book rather 1. The ...c5 pawn break gives away what we are going to be You will find it very hard to play a aiming for. I have tried to pick the most game in the French Defence without aggressive, exciting and sound varia- playing this advance. The move ...c5 is tions that are playable for Black in the often used as a lever by Black, a lever French Defence. I have personally that aims to attack White’s pawn cen- played most of these variations men- tre. tioned and they have often led to some By the nature of the opening moves great encounters. White normally gains a space advan- If you really want to get to grips tage and without any pawn breaks with the French Defence then I would Black would be left with a horribly pas- recommend that after studying this sive position. This is just one reason book you also take a look to see what why it is so important to chip away at the top grandmasters are playing in White’s centre. the French, such as Berg, Korchnoi, Lpu- W______W tian and Morozevich. This will help you obtain an even better understanding of [rhb1kgn4] the opening as a whole. You must also [0p0WDp0p] try to get into the habit of working out [WDWDpDWD] what typical middlegame plans you [DWDp)WDW] should be aiming to execute and even [WDW)WDWD] what type of endgame structures bene- [DWDWDWDW] fit Black and White. Saying that, this [P)PDW)P)] book is hardly geared towards reaching [$NGQIBHR] an endgame! W------W I often think that the most impor- Here we have a typical French Ad- tant thing when learning any opening vance and in this posi- is to understand the main concepts tion Black should play . This is 3...c5! behind the moves that both sides play. such an important pawn break to re- Thus unlike certain books we won’t be member! Without this break White diving head first into the variations. would have a very solid grip over the Instead we will begin by considering centre. various key concepts, aiming to under- In the French Black must do his best stand the various plans and aims on to keep attacking White’s centre. offer to both sides. Later on we will see that the Ad-

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Introduction vance Variation of the French can often 3. Activating Black’s light-squared develop into a game of ping-pong. via d7 and e8 Black attacks the centre, White defends With the move 1...e6 Black voluntarily the centre, Black attacks the centre... cages in his light-squared bishop. This minor piece can easily remain a bad one throughout the game. For this rea- 2. The ...f6 pawn break You will often find that one of the main son Black should always keep his eyes assets that White has in the French is open for the chance to give it some life. his pawn on e5. This pawn cramps One common way of bringing a lit- Black’s position and gives White a basis tle bit of joy to this piece is by the ma- to develop an attack from. Thus it is noeuvre ...Íd7-e8-g6/h5. It is worth often a good idea to attack the bridge- noting that this is only possible after head with the break ...f6. Black has played ...f6. Take a look at the following example:

J.Hector-E.Berg Swedish League 2005 M.Adams-V.Epishin W______W Tel Apel 1992 [rDb1W4kD] W______W [0p0Whp0p] [WDk4Wgn4] [WgnDpDWD] [0p1bDW0W] [DWDp)WDW] [WDnDp0W0] [N)W)WDWD] [DWDp)WDW] [)W)WDWDW] [WDp)WGW)] [WDWDN)P)] [)W)WDNDW] [$WGQIBDR] [W)BDW)PD] W------W [$NDQDRIW] By playing the undermining 9...f6! W------W Black was able to generate some action After Black’s light-squared 11...Íe8! in the centre and on the kingside. It is bishop finds an active post on h5. From worth noting that the break ...c5 was h5 the bishop puts White’s on f3 ruled out here due to White having in an unpleasant and helps to in- pawns on b4 and d4, so Black really had crease the kingside pressure. to rely on the ...f6 break in order to Just compare the two possible avoid being suffocated. This was a squares for Black’s bishop, d7 and h5. great game and I recommend that you On d7 the bishop is basically a big take your time going over it later on in pawn, but on h5 it obtains a whole new Chapter Three. lease of life.

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Attacking Chess: The French

This case was an exception though, 4. Closing the position with ...c4 At a number of points throughout this as after the natural sequence 10 Íf1 book I am going to suggest plans based I was able to employ an- Íd7 11 g3 on ‘controlled aggression’. In a lot of other typical French idea. cases this will mean that Black’s first W______W aim is to stop White from gaining good [rDWDkDW4] attacking chances and only then will Black go on to the offensive himself. [0pDbhp0p] The next position is an example of this: [WDnDpDWD] [1WDp)WDW]

C.Briscoe-S.Williams [WDp)WDWD] British Championship, [)W)WDN)W] Great Yarmouth 2007 [WDPGW)W)] W______W [$WDQIBDR] W------W [rDbDkDW4] Here the pawn break gave 11...f6! [0pDWhp0p] me plenty of counterplay in the centre [WDnDpDWD] and on the kingside, as we’ll see in [1W0p)WDW] Chapter Five. [WDW)WDWD]

[)W)BDNDW] 5. Good and bad minor pieces [WDPGW)P)] Whenever you start to play an opening [$WDQIWDR] you should be aware of which pieces W------W tend to be useful and which pieces can Black has to be a bit careful here as hinder you. Basically you must be White’s light-squared bishop is posi- aware of the strengths and weaknesses tioned on an active diagonal. 9...0-0? of your position. would be a mistake as it would allow In general the dark-squared bishop White the chance to play 10 Íxh7+! is often one of Black’s best minor gaining a dangerous attack through pieces. This will obviously depend on the use of the Greek Gift. For that rea- the particular variation, but take the son I decided to first play . This following position as an example. 9...c4! forces White’s bishop to a passive square and closes the centre. J.Emms-S.Williams One word of warning though: do be British League (4NCL) 1999 careful when playing the ...c4 advance, as Black can often lack counterplay af- This is one of main positions in the ter it. Tarrasch Variation. Black has already

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Introduction played his two main breaks, ...c5 and Black is getting ready to play the ...f6. queenside advance ...b4 when he W______W would be able to off his pas- [rDb1kgW4] sive light-squared bishop. Unfortu- nately for Ni Hua it was White’s move [0pDWDW0p] and Alekseev was able to play . 15 b4! [WDnDphWD] After the sequence 15...Íxe3+ 16 Ìxe3 [DWDpDWDW] ... f6 17 Ìd4 Ìxd4 18 cxd4 [WDW)WDWD] W______W [DWDBDNDW] [rDWDW4kD] [P)WDN)P)] [DWDnDW0p] [$WGQIWDR] [b1WDp0WD] W------W He should now play . This is [0pDp)WDW] 10...Íd6 a very good square for the bishop, tak- [W)W)W)WD] ing aim at the white and covering [)WDWHWDW] the all-important e5-square. In actual [WDW!BDP)] fact White often spends three tempi [$WDWDRIW] trying to exchange the dark-squared W------W bishops with Íg5-h4-g3. ...Black was left with a shockingly We have already mentioned that bad bishop on a6 and White went on to Black’s light-squared bishop can be- win quickly. come a bad piece. Let’s just take one look at an example of this. The French from White’s Perspective

E.Alekseev-Ni Hua Ningpo 2008 1. Exploiting the space advantage W______W The nature of the opening gives White a space advantage and his pawn centre [rDWDW4kD] on d4 and e4/e5 is often a good basis to [DWDnDp0p] build an attack around. This is why it is [b1nDpDWD] so important in the French to play ac- [0pgp)WDW] tively as Black. Black must try and at- [WDWDW)WD] tack the white pawn formation as [)W)WGNDW] quickly as possible. If Black fails to do [W)W!BDP)] this then something along the lines of [$WDNDRIW] the following nasty accident can hap- W------W pen.

9

Attacking Chess: The French

come across quite often in the course E.Gullaksen-S.Williams Oslo 2004 of this book. Black has weakened W______W White’s queenside by exchanging on [rDbDW4ni] c3, but he has also left his kingside [0pDWDp0p] open to attack. [WDWDpDWD] W______W [DW1p)nGN] [rDbDkDW4] [WDWDW)QD] [0pDWhp0W] [)W0BDWDR] [WDnDpDW0] [WDPDWDP)] [1W0p)WDP] [$WDWDWDK] [WDW)WDWD] W------W [)W)WDWDW] In this game I had done nothing to [WDPGW)PD] tackle White’s strong pawn on e5. The [$WDQIBHR] pawn on e5 can often be the bane of a W------W French player’s existence. In this posi- White now played which is 10 Ëg4! tion I tried to strike out with , but the only way that he can hope to gain 17...f6 White had already massed his forces an advantage from the opening. You too near to my king and was able to will find that this is the case in a num- finish me off by playing ber of instances. White must play ac- 18 Íxf5 exf5 when I had no choice but to tively otherwise he will pass the advan- 19 Íxf6! resign. tage over to Black.

2. Let’s start an attack with Ëg4! 3. The f4-f5 breakthrough Black’s g7-pawn will often become a White will often attempt to support his target in the French. This is especially pawn on e5 with the move f4. This con- true in some of the double-edged sys- structs a big pawn centre that Black tems that I am going to recommend. has to keep an eye on. Take a look at One of the best ways for White to start the following position. an attack against Black’s kingside is by playing the move g4. Ë S.Williams-M.Jeanne Uxbridge 2010

J.Tomczak-E.Toth Szeged 2008 (see following diagram)

This is a fairly standard type of Black has just played the move structure and one that we are going to 12...h5.

10

Introduction

W______W 4. Good and bad minor pieces In general White’s best minor piece is [W4b1kgW4] quite clearly his light-squared bishop. [0WDnDpDW] This piece is often of the utmost impor- [WDnDpDpD] tance when starting an attack, as we [DW0p)WDp] can see here. [WDW)W)PD]

[DW)BDNDW] C.Bauer-E.Berg [PDWDNDW)] Internet (blitz) 2004 [$WGQDRIW] W______W W------W This was a bit careless as it allowed [rDbDWDWi] me to play which began a devas- [1pDngr0p] 13 f5! tating attack. Black will often leave his [pDnDp0WD] king in the centre of the board in the [DWDp)WDW] French, but this can carry some risk. For [N)W)W)W)] a start, Black must always watch out [)WDBGNDR] for any breaks that will open up his [WDWDWDPD] king. This is a classic example. [$WDQIWDW] After 13...hxg4 14 fxg6 gxf3 15 W------W Black’s king The opening has been a disaster for gxf7+ Êxf7 16 Îxf3+ Êg8 had been ripped clear of all protection. Black. He has been left with a passive W______W and cramped position. White now played , starting an attack [W4b1Wgk4] 18 Ìg5!? against the black king. This is only pos- [0WDnDWDW] sible due to the strength of White’s [WDnDpDWD] light-squared bishop. The bishop on d3 [DW0p)WDW] is a monster of a piece which aims di- [WDW)WDWD] rectly at Black’s king. [DW)BDRDW] White is often advised to try to hold [PDWDNDW)] on to his light-squared bishop for as [$WGQDWIW] long as possible. Losing the bishop will W------W often mean losing the possibility to There is no defence to the onslaught attack. of White pieces flooding in. Following

17 Îg3+ Íg7 18 Íg5 Ëe8 19 Ìf4 Acknowledgements White’s attack was overwhelming and I would just like to say a quick thank the game was soon over. you to everyone who has helped me

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Attacking Chess: The French put this book together. My main praise an opening that you can play. No more goes to John Emms for his continued playing the Alekhine! patience and generosity in handing out extended deadlines. Simon Williams, If you ever get around to reading Farnham, this book, Gary O’Grady, you will have March 2011

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