The French Defense: Tame The King’s Pawn Opening

The French Defense (1...e6) is one of Black’s most classic ways to answer the King’s Pawn Opening. While it has a reputation for being extremely solid and occasionally dull and boring, it’s really a fascinating opening that you can play a million different ways!

Brimming with diversity, more positional players may indeed like to play the French in a steady, defensive style — yet more attacking players can enjoy some super juicy, tactical lines that defy the opening’s dry reputation.

In this whistle-stop tour, we’ll run you through some of the more exciting ways to play the French Defense that score extremely highly at amateur level. At the end, we’ll also reveal two particularly successful lines you can try out with White that almost no French Defense player will know!

Three Main Variations of the French Defense

Part of what makes studying the French Defense rather complicated is the enormous number of variations that White can choose from. Here, we’ll look at ingenious ways to destroy three of the most common!

The French Defense Advance Variation

In today’s amateur chess, the Advance Variation has become White’s favorite way to counter the French Defense. This is somewhat surprising, since statistics show it’s an inferior choice! The database of millions of online games at lichess.org shows that it immediately scores Black a substantial majority of games.

One of the reasons that the Advance Variation scores so poorly for White is that most players haven’t studied the opening in sufficient depth. Most club-level players know that it begins with 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3, yet now Black has several strong ways to continue.

5...Bd7

While 5…Qb6 is the main line and scores very well for Black; there’s another move that scores even better: 5...Bd7.

While 5...Bd7 looks like a passive move for Black; it’s deceptively sharp and attacking. This tricky move cunningly invites White into all kinds of traps. Since most opponents won’t have studied it, they’ll be all too susceptible to stumbling into them.

6. Bd3

A common theme in the French Defense for White is placing the light-squared bishop on d3 to attack Black’s kingside in the middlegame. Yet in this variation, you have a brilliant plan to crush it!

By replying 6...Rc8, Black sets up a clever counter. Almost regardless of what White plays, Black aims to follow up by playing 7...cxd4 and 8...Nb4, attacking the light-squared bishop and the c2 square, which would trap White’s rook.

From play: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Bd3 Rc8 7. O-O cxd4 8. cxd4 Nb4

White now has no way to protect both pieces, so must allow you to trade your knight for its all-important light-squared bishop. From here, Black goes on to win the vast majority of games.

6. Bb5?

At first glance, 6.Bb5 looks like a natural move for White. In many similar situations, it would be, but here it’s a grave error. In reply, Black replies with 6...Nxe5, capturing a critical pawn while discovering an attack on White’s bishop.

Now, if White captures the bishop, Black can recapture with the knight. If White captures the knight, Black snaps up White’s bishop and immediately denies White kingside castling. Black ultimately comes out a pawn up and liberated from White’s annoying e5 pawn.

The French Defense Exchange Variation

The French Defense Exchange Variation (1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5) has a reputation for being rather boring and 'drawish.' But it doesn’t have to be so! With the right setup, Black can often win in the middlegame with menacing attacks on White's kingside.

Following the exchange of pawns, White has many ways to continue development, so there’s no point in learning responses to every one of them! Instead, aim for a setup that you should be able to achieve in the majority of games.

A very successful pattern that you see time and again in the Exchange Variation or delayed exchange variations is posting pieces on the following squares: Bd6, c6, Nbd7, and Qc7. A typical position looks like this:

Notice how from here, Black’s queen-bishop battery points ominously toward h2. Black has also preserved the option to castle queenside, which can lead to pawn storms and fast flying attacks at White’s camp. Although the position is objectively quite balanced, it’s a tricky one to play correctly for White.

In the example above, upon playing 10...Qc7, Black goes on to win 58% of games.

The French Defense Main Line—Fort Knox Variation

While seen less often than the Advance Variation or Exchange Variation in the amateur game, a statistically stronger option for White is 3.Nc3, the French Defense Main Line. So what’s your best way to defy it?

One option that scores very well in the amateur game is the Fort Knox Variation. In this line, Black exchanges pawns on e4 before developing the light-squared bishop to c6:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 leaves the board looking like this:

Following this, 6...Nd7 is recommended to prevent White’s knight from hitting e5. Now, develop your second knight to its natural square 7...Ngf6.

If White Captures: Nxf6

Now, at some point within the next couple of moves, White will often snap up your knight on f6. This is what you were secretly hoping for! Why? After your queen recaptures, you’re threatening an ugly trade of minor pieces and queens on f3.

Since trading would land White with double, isolated pawns, your opponent must respond, but how? Notice how the knight can’t move away, since that would leave the d4 pawn hanging.

From play: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8. Nxf6+ Qxf6

Curiously, by far White’s most popular option now is 9.Bg5, but it loses the game! After 9...Bxf3 10. Bxf6 Bxd1, Black comes out a minor piece up.

If White plays its best move, 9.Be2, you simply play 9...Bd6 to fire your second bishop at White’s kingside. Now, with both bishops and your queen lined up to attack, White’s king is vulnerable. Your opponent must now tread carefully to avoid a deadly mating attack!

High-scoring Ways to Play the French Defense as White

If you’re an amateur chess player, it’s important to remember that while you’ll only occasionally play against the French Defense, your opponent will be a specialist! This makes it harder to obtain an advantage on their home turf.

Instead, why not learn a rare variation that will catch them off guard? It turns out that unusual lines for White are some of the most successful!

2. Qe2 – The Chigorin Variation

An excellent offbeat choice to thwart Black's usual plans is 1. e4 e6 2. Qe2—the Chigorin Variation. Many opponents will now immediately make the mistake of playing their typical 2...d5 anyway, but it's now a weak move!

With White’s queen pinning Black’s pawn on the e-file, Black must now use its queen to recapture the d-pawn. White can then win a tempo and a head start in development by following with 4. Nc3.

The best reply to the Chigorin Variation is instead 2...c5, transposing into more of a Sicilian Defense. In this case, you continue by fianchettoing your light-squared bishop. Playing c2-c3 to control d4 and pushing your king's pawn e4-e5 are also typical themes.

Very few opponents will know the right moves, and the statistics confirm that the Chigorin is a solid choice, even at grandmaster level!

The Steiner Variation: Orthoschnapp Gambit

If you’re truly determined to scare the life out of a French Defense expert, you could try the Orthoschnapp Gambit. Following on from the Steiner Variation (2.c4), it looks like this: 1. e4 e6 2. c4 d5 3. cxd5 exd5 4. Qb3 dxe4 5. Bc4:

By lining up a queen-bishop battery at Black’s weak f7 pawn, you immediately put Black on the defensive. While objectively it might look dubious, there are so many traps to follow that Black must be extremely careful not to lose a piece or the entire game very quickly!

This gambit can work extremely well in blitz and bullet games where your opponent will need sufficient time to find the right moves to avoid an early checkmate. By opening up the board and attacking, you create a very different game from what most French Defense players were shooting for!

Conclusion

The French Defense is a solid, yet dynamic opening that offers a certain 'je ne sais quoi' for everyone! While the dense theory makes it less suitable for beginners, intermediate to advanced chess players can enjoy both ultra-solid and sharp, tricky lines, as their playing style dictates.

Learning the French Defense can also help you learn how to best counter it when playing with the white pieces. To circumvent mountains of theory, however, you may be better off surprising Black with a rare variation such as the Chigorin Variation or Steiner Variation.