Best response to 1.e4

Who else plays the French? Any favorite variations? MacCutcheon? Classical? Winawer? Rubinstein?

Originally posted by Wulebgr
Who else plays the French? Any favorite variations? MacCutcheon? Classical? Winawer? Rubinstein?

I play Tarrash against French, avoiding the Winawer and it's wild variations.

I'm currently experimenting with the winawer declined (aka the Armenian variation). The tarrasch can give me fits if played properly but the winawer is great fun (exchange and advance are not problematic).

I prefer Winawer against weaker opposition and Tarrasch against
stronger opponents.
On a side note, I find French quite boring and would always prefer
a Sicilian game or even my old favourite, the Petrov?!?

Originally posted by cludi
I prefer Winawer against weaker opposition and Tarrasch against
stronger opponents.
On a side note, I find French quite boring and would always prefer
a Sicilian game or even my old favourite, the Petrov?!?

You find this to be boring???

Capron,M (1909) - Knudsen,J (2350) [C00]
2006 Iowa Email Correspondence Prelims, 01.01.2006

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Qg4 Ne7 6.dxc5 Nbc6 7.Bd2 0-0 8.Bd3 Bxc5 9.0-0-0 Nxe5 10.Bxh7+ Kxh7 11.Qh5+ Kg8 12.Qxe5 f6 13.Qe2 b5 14.Be3 Bxe3+ 15.Qxe3 b4 16.Nce2 a5 17.f4 Nf5 18.Qf3 Qb6 19.g4 Ne3 20.Rd3 d4 21.Nxd4 Nxc2 22.Nxc2 Bb7 23.Qe3 Qxe3+ 24.Rxe3 Bxh1 25.Rxe6 Bd5 26.Re3 Bxa2 27.b3 a4 28.Kb2 Bxb3 29.Nxb4 Rfe8 30.Rxe8+ Rxe8 31.Nf3 Re4 0-1

I was a classical man but lately have been experimenting with the winawer and 7... 0-0 instead of Qc7.

Originally posted by Tengu
I was a classical man but lately have been experimenting with the winawer and 7... 0-0 instead of Qc7.

I'm relatively new to it, but I love the French. Here's a game where I used 7...0-0 instead of Qc7:

Game 1940022

Until White's major blunder at the end, I still think I had the game won (even though I was down material).


What do you guys like for French defense books?

Originally posted by pinkthunder
I'm relatively new to it, but I love the French. Here's a game where I used 7...0-0 instead of Qc7:

Game 1940022

Until White's major blunder at the end, I still think I had the game won (even though I was down material).


What do you guys like for French defense books?

Interesting game. Clearly the blunder was bad, but I don't think you needed to go into all the knight moves.
23... Ne5?
Better was 23... d3 or even Qb1+ followed by Bc1 then d3.

After 23.... Ne5 the best he had was to waltz his king over to g2.

1...c5

Second choice

1...e5

Originally posted by RahimK
1...c5

Second choice

1...e5

When did you become a troll?

Originally posted by zebano
When did you become a troll?

Best response to 1.e4

Wasn't that the question?

I gave my answer.

Well, I for one like 1. e4 d5
It's usually unexpected by the opponent.

If white doesn't play 2. exd5, loses space in center.

If the game continues 2. exd5 Qxd5, I would have developed my queen much too early. Against a strong opponent, that's a bit of trouble.

Originally posted by RahimK
Best response to 1.e4

Wasn't that the question?

I gave my answer.

The questions are in the first post. The title is a declaration of topic, which might be taken as a statement of fact.

Originally posted by Sicilian Smaug
Claiming the yellow timeout skull could be considered the best response to e4.

or perhaps the garbage can.