I found a game I played in October that was really similar to that one, but I prefer my Bd7 over your Qd7. The b pawn is irrelevent as black will have a crushing attack and strong central control. Also, the queen is completely displaced after Rb8. Black might as well be playing with an extra Queen!
1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 Nc6 {e6 would have discouraged Qh5, which I was expecting him to play} 3.Qh5 e6 4.c3 Nf6 5.Qf3 Ne5 6.Qe2 Nxc4 7.Qxc4 d5 8.exd5 exd5 9.Qb5+ Bd7! {black gets more than enough compensation for the b pawn} 10.Qxb7 Bd6 {preparing to castle, Be7 blocks the e file and isn't as active} 11.d3 O-O 12.Bg5 Re8+ {screw the e pawn, I want the King} 13.Ne2 Qe7 14.Be3 Rab8 15.Qa6 {white's queen is now totally out of play} Ng4 16.O-O {this fails, but so does everything else} Bxh2+ 17.Kh1 Qh4 18.g3?? {this just speeds up his death} Bxg3+ 19.Kg2 Qh2+ 20.Kf3 Ne5# 0-1
Originally posted by YUG0slav I found a game I played in October that was really similar to that one, but I prefer my Bd7 over your Qd7. The b pawn is irrelevent as black will have a crushing attack and strong central control. Also, the queen is completely displaced after Rb8. Black might as well be playing with an extra Queen!
self annotated:
[Event "uchess"]
[Site "uchess.co ...[text shortened]... h1 Qh4 18.g3?? {this just speeds up his death} Bxg3+ 19.Kg2 Qh2+ 20.Kf3 Ne5# 0-1
Yeah Im not a big fan of bringing the queen out that early, the guy made 8 queen moves considering 3 tempi = 1 pawn, he gave up 3 pawns just in those dumb queen moves
In French as white I feel rather uncomfortable - dunno why, but its fact, because in OTB I have good results in French only agains weaker opponents. As black I`m playing French, but I` really dislike when someone turns to exchange in 3rd move, because in most cases such a positions are booooring.
The plan is eventually moving the knight from d2 to f3 while developing the g1-knight to e2.
The reason I like this is I usually have problems with my b1-knight in other variations. It feels awkard on c3 and I like being able to move the pawn there instead to support the center.
Having a pawn on c3 and the knights positioned like that is enough to not worry about the center.
I usually end up with the rather ugly bishops on b1 (after Bd3) and c1, but they serve as a powerful resource for a kingside attack.