I believe that what makes opening like the French or the Caro-Kann good for beginners is that they have a clear-cut plan. It is immediately taught to put pressure on the d4 pawn, since it's the base of the central pawn chain. This teaches the beginner to develop with a purpose in mind and a target to focus on. Besides, most of the time you end up playing the same moves, especially in the advanced variation of the French: knight on c6; the other knight first on e7 and then on f5; bishop on e7 after developing the knight; castle short ... This makes it easy.
@@valec9186 I agree with that. However, I don't know how to explain to a beginner the purpose of putting pressure on d4, if White is able to defend that pawn. I can explain it to a stronger player, but a beginner knows only basic opening principles (in best case scenario).
@@BadBishopChess Sorry for my belated reply. A beginner doesn't fully appreciate the notion of superior and active piece placement and that of initiative, so you're right in saying it's hard to explain what's the purpose of targeting a pawn to force your opponent to defend it if they actually manage to secure it and not lose it. What I would say, though, is that: 1) if they're playing against another beginner, a lot of times they actually end up winning the d4 pawn; 2) even if they don't end up winning the d4 pawn, they still end up in a good position and with the initiative, so they'll likely have a comfortable game weather they realise why it is so or not. However, I must concede to you that the lack of space and, when it comes to the French, the so-called "French bishop", are the two main drawbacks of these openings for beginners.
@@BadBishopChess Playing 1 ... e5 usually puts beginners into a Ruy Lopez Or Italian where they will suffer and die. I would recommend Caro or even Scandinavian which simplifies the center and allows beginners to get into a middle game faster, not dodging traps like the Fried Liver, etc.
Here are some alternatives to the French Defense for beginners. I. e4 e5 is best, but it MUST be taught with a defense to Scholar's Mate, otherwise the French Defense would be better. The Pirc / King's Indian is great because 1... d6, 2... Nf6, 3... g6, 4... Bg7, and 5.... 0-0 gets the beginner into the habit of castling, which is a great thing for the beginner to learn. The Scandinavian Defense, the Nimzowitsch Defense (1... Nc6), and Alekhine's Defense are too hard for beginners and mostly result in confusion, getting kicked around in the center, and getting behind in development. The Caro-Kann Defense is bad for beginners, with 1... c6 blocking the natural development of the queen's knight and freeing the queen for unwise adventures. The Sicilian Defense 1. e4 c5 is a harmless habit to teach beginners, and it can profit them if they get into the habit of meeting 2. Bc4 wth 2... e6 and soon ... d5, but the real Sicilian Defense with both sides playing normal moves for normal reasons is incomprehensible to beginners and basically a bad idea, encouraging them to start studying moves that will never come up in their games.
i guess your explanations are very true ... but ... the french defense is complex, so i like to play it, even though I am a beginner 🙂 complexity increases the fun!
I think the French Defense is one of the best defenses for a beginner, but it should be taught as three moves, not two. The idea is, "put your pawns in the center," and the sequence is 1... e6, 2... d5, and 3... c5. This will serve in case of 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. e5 c5, or the common 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. exd5 exd5, 4. Bd3 (or similar) 4... c5, or 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5, or 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 c5. The hardest case is 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3, when 3... c5 is not correct, but even then it does not lead to immediate disaster.
@@davidblue819 That is an interesting idea, although even then the concept of playing with an IQP, or queen in the center - which in many cases happens if you employ that formation - is a rocket science for a beginner. Plus, the habbit of playing with three pawns in the opening, while the basic principles suggest developing pieces after just one, possibly two pawn moves... But overall, you are right, if one teaches the French, better add this thing with fighting for the center in three moves, not two.
I've always thought the most principled approach for a beginner is to meet e4 with e5. It doesn't surrender much space and still allows the game to head in multiple directions, granted more theoretical knowledge and background is needed as 1...e5 allows the kings gambit, scotch games, italian game, spanish game and the vienna game and gambit compared to a one size fits all blueprint of the french. One of the harder aspects of the french is the preparation and execution of the f6 pawn break. played too soon or prepared too poorly and white can catapult forewards and seize initiative and potentially come out of the opening with a scary attack on the king who is cut off from the defense of his pieces. some lines of the french are also far too complex for beginners to handle. The winawer variation is one of many weapons against Nc3 but the whole idea of the posioned pawn variation and other similar options are wasted on beginners who will rarely get them on the board and when they do they will likely not have a solid enough foundation to be able to work through a dynamic position and may just crumble to whites past h pawn.
It's true that the French is more complex for beginners than the classic e5 openings, but that's because with e5 Black is immediately put on the run and spends the next 8 moves defending White's attacking the center, and often tussling with trappy openings or gambit play. When I am playing White and my opponent plays e5, that's a big favor...now I get to decide how the game will begin. At the lower club level, White doesn't see the French a lot and often doesn't know what to do, esp past the first 3-4 moves. In my experience White usually plays the Advance, which is theoretically the easiest French for Black to play (not counting the Exchange, which is a total gift to Black). I would tell beginners learn the Advance first, then the Winawer (harder), and then the Tarrasch (more for theory, they will almost never see it). If they get super lucky and White plays the Exchange, just play chess, the opening is over :)
By the time openings are taught a beginner should have an understanding of basic strategic concepts. It doesn't take much time to space, piece activity and pawn structures to a beginner. All this must come before openings. Even 1. e4 e5 have all this underpinning it.
Hi! Thks for your work! I started Chess 3 weeks ago and i force myself to open with KIA At every game. It doesn’t work as in the YT videos 😅 But I want to do that during 1 year in order to understand the situations and to improve.
I may do one on KIA, same as this one on the French. Overall, I don't think KIA is best for beginners, but at least you don't get tricked in an early stage of the game. It helps you focus on other things beginners should focus on instead of memorizing opening moves :)
That's indeed another way to fight to regain space, but it should be well-timed. Otherwise it weakens your king, and may easily turn deadly for Black. For that reason Black first tries c5, exerting pressure on d4, and only after majority of white pieces focus on d4 (thus get passive), Black strikes against the top of the pawn chain - e5-pawn.
I think, that I as a beginner (1000 ELO) I can understand the first moves - after you explained it in the video 😊- but if any other move appears I'm just lost .... and I haven't got a clue or any idea on how to continue .... I wouldn't have liked the knight move that is proposed in the data bank, but I would have like the pawn move...thinking everything is nicely protected I could somehow develop my g-knight in two moves and the bishop to castle afterwards... but that wouldn't meet any idea of the French, right (of which I don't know anything)? ... So it would be great to get introduced to beginner friendly openings. An opening like that would involve for me logic moves, that I can conclude or some kind of move order, that is mostly independent of what my opponent plays and come out of the opening not much worse than white.... Thanks for the video and have a nice day!
@@petras0815 Thank you, Petra! I think you meant 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c6, and then to develop your kingside knight and bishop, and castle. First question I'd ask is: Do you think time is (very) important in chess? If your answer is positive, next question is: Then why would you need to play c6 and (over)protect the pawn (d5) which is not under any attack or pressure? It is common among beginners and intermediate level players to play aesthetically nice looking moves, but without real purpose. That habbit usually gets broken after playing many games against strong opponents who know how to exploit the free move given to them to seize the initiative and control game till its end. Thank you for participating in discussion! Feel free to add any question you may have! 🙂
@@BadBishopChess Well in my ELO range I am somehow dependent on the Opening Explorer to even get to a middle game that makes any sense. If there a several moves suggested and c5 would seem to aggressive to me, I would maybe try to advance more cautious (for my impression) ... sure I know that every tempi counts, but I think I would't realize that in that moment ... I know that later, when I'm discussing the logic behind my thinking, my gut feeling was mostly a bad adviser.... I think at the moment I often choose the safer move (in my thinking) instead of the best move... but I'm confident, that I'll get there 😊
Interesting. I've been playing nothing else than 1. ... e6 against 1. e4 since I began my chess "career" after having read my first (extremely stupid in hindsight) chess book (H. C. Opfermann: Schacheröffnungen meisterhaft gespielt) which propagated 1. ... e6 against 1. e4 and 1. d4), and this opening gave me confindence in black since 1978 as I stockpiled my opening knowledge with Rolf Schwarz' "Die Französische Verteidigung". I did not understand all the concepts then, but - my opponents did not either. So I almost everytime got very good positions. I think this opening fits a certain type of player (as I've been and as I am still, so I was lucky having made acquainted to this opening at a very young age) who likes to counterattack, who's not afraid of a cramped position at the kingside, and likes rigid pawn formations.
Same with me, I have had the French Defense as one of my main weapons with Black since I started playing chess. For a long time, it was my only opening. With experience and many lost games, one discovers where the mistakes and misunderstandings are, but overall, it is quite difficult, and there are far more suitable openings for beginners. I agree that it depends on your opponent's moves. Sometimes the French confuses White at the beginner level, and Black gets on top.
@@BadBishopChess I'd like to add that (at least for me it is a fact) adapting the french at an early age easily can lead to being caught in it. Playing against anything else than 1. e4/playing with white - this almost feels like playing some other kind of game. Slowly but surely leaving that comfort zone has become unthinkable (compare also Wolfgang Uhlmann: Ein Leben lang Französisch ("winning with the french", litterally translates into "The french throughout one's life").
When I was a beginner I would attend a youth tournament, my friends and I would confidently tell each other "I play the Scandinavian" or "I play the Alekhine Defense" while we only knew 3 moves and that was it lol. We didn't have the books available at the time. I'm no beginner anymore and I still feel like the French defense is too complex :D
There are just more and more things to discover. It was probably one of my first openings. I saw it from my first (quite good) coach, an International Master, who then told me not to play it. He never explained why I shouldn't, so I decided not to listen. :) Now I think I get it.
i saw the article on lichess came here to say that using notation is probably not going to help beginners understand the concepts since if they could visualize moves in their head just from inline notation, they wouldn't be beginners and not require the article in the first place pictures would have helped, it's nice you have the video, however, but too little too late, poor execution
The video is literally showing almost everything that the author is talking about, which I haven't seen anybody online doing. An idea with the text and notation is there to cover what is left missed in the video and in the main script, and if a student wants to read the notation, they can pause the video at any time and visualize on the board. By the way, I ask my beginner level students to visualize moves during the whole session of 60 minutes, and they are fully capable. Overall, can't agree with you at all that this is "poorly executed", but I appreciate you writing a comment👏
![Solid & Powerful Chess Opening For Black Against 1.e4 [Tricks & Traps]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/f0FIJePXmgk/mqdefault.jpg)
I believe that what makes opening like the French or the Caro-Kann good for beginners is that they have a clear-cut plan. It is immediately taught to put pressure on the d4 pawn, since it's the base of the central pawn chain. This teaches the beginner to develop with a purpose in mind and a target to focus on. Besides, most of the time you end up playing the same moves, especially in the advanced variation of the French: knight on c6; the other knight first on e7 and then on f5; bishop on e7 after developing the knight; castle short ... This makes it easy.
@@valec9186 I agree with that. However, I don't know how to explain to a beginner the purpose of putting pressure on d4, if White is able to defend that pawn. I can explain it to a stronger player, but a beginner knows only basic opening principles (in best case scenario).
@@BadBishopChess Sorry for my belated reply. A beginner doesn't fully appreciate the notion of superior and active piece placement and that of initiative, so you're right in saying it's hard to explain what's the purpose of targeting a pawn to force your opponent to defend it if they actually manage to secure it and not lose it. What I would say, though, is that: 1) if they're playing against another beginner, a lot of times they actually end up winning the d4 pawn; 2) even if they don't end up winning the d4 pawn, they still end up in a good position and with the initiative, so they'll likely have a comfortable game weather they realise why it is so or not. However, I must concede to you that the lack of space and, when it comes to the French, the so-called "French bishop", are the two main drawbacks of these openings for beginners.
No, for a beginner, 1.......e5 and develop a piece in each move. No French, no Gurgenidze, no Czech Pirc, etc.
I would sign off on every word you said!
@@BadBishopChess Playing 1 ... e5 usually puts beginners into a Ruy Lopez Or Italian where they will suffer and die. I would recommend Caro or even Scandinavian which simplifies the center and allows beginners to get into a middle game faster, not dodging traps like the Fried Liver, etc.
Here are some alternatives to the French Defense for beginners. I. e4 e5 is best, but it MUST be taught with a defense to Scholar's Mate, otherwise the French Defense would be better. The Pirc / King's Indian is great because 1... d6, 2... Nf6, 3... g6, 4... Bg7, and 5.... 0-0 gets the beginner into the habit of castling, which is a great thing for the beginner to learn. The Scandinavian Defense, the Nimzowitsch Defense (1... Nc6), and Alekhine's Defense are too hard for beginners and mostly result in confusion, getting kicked around in the center, and getting behind in development. The Caro-Kann Defense is bad for beginners, with 1... c6 blocking the natural development of the queen's knight and freeing the queen for unwise adventures. The Sicilian Defense 1. e4 c5 is a harmless habit to teach beginners, and it can profit them if they get into the habit of meeting 2. Bc4 wth 2... e6 and soon ... d5, but the real Sicilian Defense with both sides playing normal moves for normal reasons is incomprehensible to beginners and basically a bad idea, encouraging them to start studying moves that will never come up in their games.
Pirc is good for 1400 and up but not beginners, since it's too passive and White gets a big lock on the center early in the game.
i guess your explanations are very true ... but ... the french defense is complex, so i like to play it, even though I am a beginner 🙂 complexity increases the fun!
I think the French Defense is one of the best defenses for a beginner, but it should be taught as three moves, not two. The idea is, "put your pawns in the center," and the sequence is 1... e6, 2... d5, and 3... c5. This will serve in case of 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. e5 c5, or the common 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. exd5 exd5, 4. Bd3 (or similar) 4... c5, or 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5, or 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 c5. The hardest case is 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3, when 3... c5 is not correct, but even then it does not lead to immediate disaster.
@@davidblue819 That is an interesting idea, although even then the concept of playing with an IQP, or queen in the center - which in many cases happens if you employ that formation - is a rocket science for a beginner. Plus, the habbit of playing with three pawns in the opening, while the basic principles suggest developing pieces after just one, possibly two pawn moves... But overall, you are right, if one teaches the French, better add this thing with fighting for the center in three moves, not two.
I've always thought the most principled approach for a beginner is to meet e4 with e5. It doesn't surrender much space and still allows the game to head in multiple directions, granted more theoretical knowledge and background is needed as 1...e5 allows the kings gambit, scotch games, italian game, spanish game and the vienna game and gambit compared to a one size fits all blueprint of the french.
One of the harder aspects of the french is the preparation and execution of the f6 pawn break. played too soon or prepared too poorly and white can catapult forewards and seize initiative and potentially come out of the opening with a scary attack on the king who is cut off from the defense of his pieces.
some lines of the french are also far too complex for beginners to handle. The winawer variation is one of many weapons against Nc3 but the whole idea of the posioned pawn variation and other similar options are wasted on beginners who will rarely get them on the board and when they do they will likely not have a solid enough foundation to be able to work through a dynamic position and may just crumble to whites past h pawn.
It's true that the French is more complex for beginners than the classic e5 openings, but that's because with e5 Black is immediately put on the run and spends the next 8 moves defending White's attacking the center, and often tussling with trappy openings or gambit play. When I am playing White and my opponent plays e5, that's a big favor...now I get to decide how the game will begin. At the lower club level, White doesn't see the French a lot and often doesn't know what to do, esp past the first 3-4 moves. In my experience White usually plays the Advance, which is theoretically the easiest French for Black to play (not counting the Exchange, which is a total gift to Black). I would tell beginners learn the Advance first, then the Winawer (harder), and then the Tarrasch (more for theory, they will almost never see it). If they get super lucky and White plays the Exchange, just play chess, the opening is over :)
By the time openings are taught a beginner should have an understanding of basic strategic concepts. It doesn't take much time to space, piece activity and pawn structures to a beginner. All this must come before openings. Even 1. e4 e5 have all this underpinning it.
Hi! Thks for your work!
I started Chess 3 weeks ago and i force myself to open with KIA At every game. It doesn’t work as in the YT videos 😅
But I want to do that during 1 year in order to understand the situations and to improve.
I may do one on KIA, same as this one on the French. Overall, I don't think KIA is best for beginners, but at least you don't get tricked in an early stage of the game. It helps you focus on other things beginners should focus on instead of memorizing opening moves :)
@@BadBishopChessthks a lot !
I agree with this video. As a beginner, I would also ask, why not play ...f6 instead of ...c5?
That's indeed another way to fight to regain space, but it should be well-timed. Otherwise it weakens your king, and may easily turn deadly for Black. For that reason Black first tries c5, exerting pressure on d4, and only after majority of white pieces focus on d4 (thus get passive), Black strikes against the top of the pawn chain - e5-pawn.
I think, that I as a beginner (1000 ELO) I can understand the first moves - after you explained it in the video 😊- but if any other move appears I'm just lost .... and I haven't got a clue or any idea on how to continue .... I wouldn't have liked the knight move that is proposed in the data bank, but I would have like the pawn move...thinking everything is nicely protected I could somehow develop my g-knight in two moves and the bishop to castle afterwards... but that wouldn't meet any idea of the French, right (of which I don't know anything)? ... So it would be great to get introduced to beginner friendly openings. An opening like that would involve for me logic moves, that I can conclude or some kind of move order, that is mostly independent of what my opponent plays and come out of the opening not much worse than white.... Thanks for the video and have a nice day!
@@petras0815 Thank you, Petra! I think you meant 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c6, and then to develop your kingside knight and bishop, and castle. First question I'd ask is: Do you think time is (very) important in chess? If your answer is positive, next question is: Then why would you need to play c6 and (over)protect the pawn (d5) which is not under any attack or pressure?
It is common among beginners and intermediate level players to play aesthetically nice looking moves, but without real purpose. That habbit usually gets broken after playing many games against strong opponents who know how to exploit the free move given to them to seize the initiative and control game till its end.
Thank you for participating in discussion! Feel free to add any question you may have! 🙂
@@BadBishopChess Well in my ELO range I am somehow dependent on the Opening Explorer to even get to a middle game that makes any sense. If there a several moves suggested and c5 would seem to aggressive to me, I would maybe try to advance more cautious (for my impression) ... sure I know that every tempi counts, but I think I would't realize that in that moment ... I know that later, when I'm discussing the logic behind my thinking, my gut feeling was mostly a bad adviser.... I think at the moment I often choose the safer move (in my thinking) instead of the best move... but I'm confident, that I'll get there 😊
Interesting. I've been playing nothing else than 1. ... e6 against 1. e4 since I began my chess "career" after having read my first (extremely stupid in hindsight) chess book (H. C. Opfermann: Schacheröffnungen meisterhaft gespielt) which propagated 1. ... e6 against 1. e4 and 1. d4), and this opening gave me confindence in black since 1978 as I stockpiled my opening knowledge with Rolf Schwarz' "Die Französische Verteidigung". I did not understand all the concepts then, but - my opponents did not either. So I almost everytime got very good positions. I think this opening fits a certain type of player (as I've been and as I am still, so I was lucky having made acquainted to this opening at a very young age) who likes to counterattack, who's not afraid of a cramped position at the kingside, and likes rigid pawn formations.
Same with me, I have had the French Defense as one of my main weapons with Black since I started playing chess. For a long time, it was my only opening. With experience and many lost games, one discovers where the mistakes and misunderstandings are, but overall, it is quite difficult, and there are far more suitable openings for beginners.
I agree that it depends on your opponent's moves. Sometimes the French confuses White at the beginner level, and Black gets on top.
@@BadBishopChess I'd like to add that (at least for me it is a fact) adapting the french at an early age easily can lead to being caught in it. Playing against anything else than 1. e4/playing with white - this almost feels like playing some other kind of game. Slowly but surely leaving that comfort zone has become unthinkable (compare also Wolfgang Uhlmann: Ein Leben lang Französisch ("winning with the french", litterally translates into "The french throughout one's life").
When I was a beginner I would attend a youth tournament, my friends and I would confidently tell each other "I play the Scandinavian" or "I play the Alekhine Defense" while we only knew 3 moves and that was it lol. We didn't have the books available at the time. I'm no beginner anymore and I still feel like the French defense is too complex :D
There are just more and more things to discover. It was probably one of my first openings. I saw it from my first (quite good) coach, an International Master, who then told me not to play it. He never explained why I shouldn't, so I decided not to listen. :) Now I think I get it.
i saw the article on lichess
came here to say that using notation is probably not going to help beginners understand the concepts since if they could visualize moves in their head just from inline notation, they wouldn't be beginners and not require the article in the first place
pictures would have helped, it's nice you have the video, however, but too little too late, poor execution
The video is literally showing almost everything that the author is talking about, which I haven't seen anybody online doing. An idea with the text and notation is there to cover what is left missed in the video and in the main script, and if a student wants to read the notation, they can pause the video at any time and visualize on the board.
By the way, I ask my beginner level students to visualize moves during the whole session of 60 minutes, and they are fully capable.
Overall, can't agree with you at all that this is "poorly executed", but I appreciate you writing a comment👏