Advance Variation of the French Defense (C02) ⎸Chess Openings
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
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The Advance French is a great weapon against 1.e6. Except for the exchange variation, it requires least learning of all the main theoretical lines.
Learn the basics of the French Defense, common variations & ideas for both sides in this introductory video: • Introduction to the Fr...
The Exchange French: • Exchange Variation of ...
The Tarrasch French: • Tarrasch Variation of ...
The Winawer Variation: • Winawer Variation of t...
The Rubinstein Variation: • Rubinstein Variation o...
The Steinitz Variation: • Steinitz Variation of ...
The advance variation is an easy option to start with against the French Defense because the aren’t that many options black could go for. If you are looking to simplify matters in your e4 repertoire, the Advance French should be the way to go.
The variations starts after the moves:
1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. e5 - advancing the pawn and gaining space in the center. Black really only has one move
… c5 - immediately crashing through white’s central structure and pushing his strongest pawn break.
4. c3 Nc6
5. Nf3 - at move 5 black gets to choose a variation, and he is the first side that decided which direction play is going to go in. There are three main moves for black:
5…Qb6 - the main line and the most aggressive option
5…Bd7 - the Euwe Variation
5…Nh6
Players whose games you should study: Alexander Grischuk, Fabiano Caruana, Alexey Shirov, Sergei Zhigalko, Evgeny Bareev, Baadur Jobava
Euwe Bd7 5:30
Nh6 10:06
Main line Qb6 c4 13:18 -> 14:57
Lputian Qb6 Nh6 17:38
I just want to say.. Thank you so much for taking your time out of your day and creating these in depth opening series! They are so amazing, you speak so well and its very easy to understand and make out what your saying. So thank you and please please keep it up!
Excellent explanation and very well paced. Thank you for the quality content and for petting the good boy!
Perfect pace, no Americanisms like "Hey, what's going on?" just straight into business. Great explanations, simple to follow and gentle delivery. Subscribed straight away! Thank you.
I think you're my youtuber now for all chess videos. Great explanation, pace, teaching. Thank you
I just discovered this channel yesterday and watched many of your videos on my favorite opening.. the French counter attack! Great videos thanks for your hard work.. subbed
Great vid on the Panov too! My choice against the CaroKann.
Thanks a lot! I'm glad you like the videos!
Played a tournament game with this opening and won thanks to the video, good stuff
22:10 timestampting this for myself, really needed someone to tell me this
I really like the french advance as black and it has given me many interesting games.
The quality of your videos is amazing! I learn a ton
6:30 I chuckle at the recommendation of Ng6. That's my standard move, and in my game reviews the engine never fails to flag it as an "inaccuracy". Good to see that my preferred move has good theory behind it.
Look at the black beautiful dog! 🐶 5:44
this and the exchange grünfeld are my two favorite openings, such beautiful ideas
Amazing video! Love to see same series for Nimzo-Indian Defense
such a great video, thank you
My new favorite chess channel
I thank the chess gods for you stepan!
Great explanation of French defense can you please explain queens gambit accepted and declined
so this video works instructively for both black and white, but i would love a series on the black side, similar to the caro kahn series. great video tho! i'm currently studying this opening for my black reportoire :)
Thanks for good explanation
I have been a huge fan of you content for like 2 years (when looking for scotch game theory) and been in love with it ever since. I'm kinda late with these coment, but just wanted to thank you for being my and many other people's teacher. Hope this message finds you well !!!
P.S Maybe reconsider the intro xD
Excellent presentation!
Thank you for your great videos!!! Wish you the best
14:40 6. Bd3 is the milner barry gambit where white intends to castle and sacrifice the d4 pawn. as far as i know, Be2 should not be played in that position
I would argue that white shouldn't be playing the Milner Barry gambit hehe. After black gets in a6 and doesn't get overly greedy with the e5 pawn, he ends up getting developed and has a clear pawn up.
Very good explained, Tx!
Very nice video as usual! :D Question: If the 4...Nc6 and 4...Qb6 moves transpose, why is 4...Nc6 = and 4...Qb6 +=? There's an annoying line white can use after 4...Nc6 that is 5.Be3 Qb6 6.Qd2. Playing 4...Qb6 prevents this. It's what I like to use :)
Also at 5:45 Who is that black fuzzy animal walking past in the background? :) Edit: Cute dog!! :)
I think Qb6 is slightly better for white if they don't transpose. In that case, black has "wasted" a developing move instead of playing Nc6. That's my thinking. I prefer Qb6 as well:)
Yeah, my dog gets restless from time to time haha.
So after 4...Qb6 what do you think is the right move for white?
5. Nf3 should always be played after Qb6 (5...Nc5 6. a3 is most common) 5...Bd7 6. a3/Be2
So then if 4...Qb6 5.Nf3, then follows 5...Nc6 and it's the same position as after 4...Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6. Therefore 4...Qb6 and 4...Nc6 must have the same evaluation.
I think Nikita Vitugov recommends Qb6 in his book French reloaded,🙄
Great lesson as usual, thank you sensei 🙏
Haha:D Cheers, Jake!
learnt a lot. thanks!
4:11 actually tge point of early queen b6 is to play bishop d7 bishop b5 to trade the bad french bishop
This is a perfect chess channel
Sir, I think it was an excellent video, but I think it was mostly based on white's bases so maybe more experience for black.I love ur video, they have a lot of detail.
Hello, is there a resource on the Advance French: Extended Bishop Swap Variation? Where black play 3. Bd7 and qb6 to try to trade off the French bishop quickly
That was a brilliant explanation. I always find the French annoying to play against. This will help me a lot.
It's funny that the most common reply after 2.e5 in the French is Nc3 but 4/5 of my opponents in the 1700 elo field plays the advanced. I also played the advanced when I had no basic knowledge of the opening besides the first two moves.
Love your videos!
Thanks. Excellent.
Also the main problem it’s the French bishop witch black have many plan to trade it. So many info is missing but I still enjoyed the video even from a Caro-kann player.
As black if you start with Qb6 it’s not to transpose playing Nc6 next but to trade the bad French bishop with Bd7 and Bb5
or you are avoiding the line with Ge3 and Hd2
Sveshnikov is a master of this variation against black
Learning the French advance in 22 minutes …gasp!
14:30 I have fell for that atleast 3 times it's just sad.
Nice video but as an improvement I would prefer to watch the video from blacks perspective just so that visually it is easier to replicate the ideas in my own game and to see what is heppeneing
same here plz
Thank you sir
Great content. But next time please turn on the light! Thanks
Good job!
most of the moves here are directly taken and copy pasted form lichess data base
Hello Stjepan. I disagree with you on your opinions about 5...Bd7 - the Euwe Variation and I recommend you (and everyone else) to check out Simon "GingerGM" Williams' book, "Attacking Chess - The French. A Dynamic Repertoire for Black". In his book, Simon recommends the Euwe variation for the Advance French and always goes for an attack on the enemy king! Black has a lot of attacking chances in this opening because he can close down queenside with ...c4, castle queenside and slowly build up and attack with ...f5, ...f6, ...h6, ...g5, ...Be8. Its tough for White to get an attack going on the queenside and White almost exclusively castles kingside in those variations. It was an eye-opener for me, I thought French was a boring, defensive opening (especially the Euwe Variation) but that book changed the way I look at things. Cheers and good luck on your journey to GM!
10:27 why don't you take the knight at h6 with the bishop? Stockfish says it's +0.6 instead of 0.0 when Bd3 is played.
According to wiki:
5... Nh6 has recently become a popular alternative; the idea is that 6.Bxh6 gxh6 gains Black a semi-open g-file to attack the White king, or Black can play ...Bg7 to support ...f6 to attack White's pawn on e5. If White doesn't take the knight, it will move to f5 to pressure d4, or (after ...f6) to f7 to pressure e5.
Oops. He answers this question @12:39.
4:08 Why Nf3 then a3? I usually play a3 then Nf3. 4:08
Great video! Only problem for me is that at my level my knight pretty consistently gets taken by the dark-squared bishop on G6 and I'm not sure what to play from there
you can capture with the h pawn and have a semi open h file for your rook. if you want to castle you can castle queen side.
i had the same prob and what i do is CxD4 instead and then u can rout ur knight via e7
"Never use a computer to work on your openings..." Uh, oh.
Generally, the problem isn’t that computers are wrong, because they really aren’t, it’s just that the computer comes up with answers that you cannot explain, meaning you’ll be playing someone else’s game without knowing the ideas.
@@eccky1897 what happens if you also take notes of several moves instead of only one in a variation so you can kinda get the idea of that first move?
@@LogicA002 that's still a hard job on getting any idea on why these moves work or what the idea is behind them. I rather listen to a guy explain the ideas to me so I understand the concepts rather than memorizing positions.
What about Bb4 on move 3?
Hi. Thanks for the video. Now there is one question that I have about this and similar openings where one side pushes a pawn into the opponent's half of the board to 'gain space'. After the third move by white, I can sit and stare at the position until Hell freezes over but I just can't see WHERE the extra space is that white now has at his disposal!! He can't occupy d6 or f6 as they are covered by blacks pawns. True, he takes e5 away from black, but gives e4 to him!! So where EXACTLY is this 'extra space'?
The simplest explanation is that the "idea behind" white's space advantage is that it hampers the development of black's g8 Knight from going to Nf6, the usual square of development. But you are right, this advanced pawn is both an asset and a liability in that white's c4 pawn requires constant surveillance. I used to play this advanced variation of the French for a long time and the d4 pawn always gave me trouble. Also, Aron Nimzowitsch explained this move in his book My System. If you read the chapter on pawn chains, this might give you a better explanation of the idea behind this move, at least from Nimzowitsch's point of view. Hope this helps. Peace.
Beginners hate to play against the French because as you describe, you have a supposed space advantage but no clear signs how to make use of it.
Best answer I can give is that you'll have to recognize that you'll have to take a next step in your development learning how to attack.
The first step to attacking is to identify your opponent's weaknesses which include the g7 pawn (which can even be sacrificed in the French Poisoned Pawn line in the Winawer French). If you can develop an attack on that pawn, it usually leads to the King moving to f8 or the pawn advancing to g6 which yields all sorts of weak squares which be occupied or provide avenues for further attack.
You also need to decide if you will try a little or big pawn roller attack against f5 and possibly to f6, possibly reinforced by an advance of the g pawn as well.
Another way to attack is to advance the h pawn until Black has to respond with his own pawn to h6 or h5.
But keep in mind that if you decide on a pawn roller attack you'll be committed to that and can't attack with pieces only because if you advance pawns, they can get in the way of piece activity.
If you can build your attacking skills, you might even enjoy attacking a French Defense when earlier in your career you'd be puzzled what to do with the supposed advantage in space.
why a3 in 4:10
Hello I have 1000 elo in chess.com the problem is there is no perfect lines in my games. What should I do if my enemy doesnt play according to the main line?
At that rating, learn the basic endings rook vs king, rook and pawn vs rook etc and solve tactics puzzles daily.
Learn tactics, middlegame understanding and positional. That was once my concern too that's why I lack opening theory in my game but now since I climbed up, now learning some openings
im late to this but I use lichess analysis board to see for myself what the best moves are in response to different things
at 14:21 why doesn't black advance his pawn to c4, threatening the bishop?
You lock your position and it's not recommended except if white weakened pawn structure as when he played a3
The Uber attack, lyft variation
At 10:20, why not take the knight immideately at h3 and doubling black's pawns? Is it to save the dark square bishop for later?
Also, loving your opening series!
This has some weaknesses, for example: all whites pawns are on dark squares and you’ve given up the dark squared bishop. This creates targets, especially for the queen to create a double attack on the b and d pawns! It also opens up the g file for the rook to attack the kingside (white does not want to castle queenside in the french)
Please show some game of your in French Advance Varition
If on move five of the Paulson attack, white playes Bd3 instead of Be2, what is black's best continuation? Thank you!
U pritect the knight with the bishop, cüz if u take the free pawn then white sacrifices the bishop.as a brilliant move and picks up ur Queen, sad that this is 3 years old .D
Very good video. I wish you would've shown the Nimzovich variation too, instead of ruling it out as "bad", which I doubt it is.
Whats thw point of Qd7 in 2:22?
As a french player the Lputian variation was so incredibly frustating to watch unfold... Why would you allow b4 and let your whole fort get ruined like that?!
I always lose that d4 pawn against French defence....
Yep and I keep taking them. Good start when you are playing Black. I can't tell you how many times White trades off their good bishop for my bad one also. That is why I keep playing e6!!
In the Nh6 lines why not play Ne7 which also prepares Nf5 and is more flexible as the knight can also go on g6?
white wants to play Na3-Nc2. after Nh6 if white plays Na3, then Bb4+ and Bxa3 are both strong. if you played Nge7, then you're blocking your bishop and white can happily play Na3 without any down sides.
Pozdrav Stjepane, pratim već duže tvoj rad i eto da te pohvalim. Ovim putem bi te pitao dva pitanja. Primjetio sam na par videa lijep set iza tebe, zanima me koji set koristiš, te gdje mogu kupiti knjigu francuska obrana od Kovačevića?
Pozdrav Mario! Set koji koristim je Rejkjavik garnitura kupljena u House of Staunton. Ne znam koliko tocno kosta jer su mi to moji kupili kada sam diplomirao:) A što se tiče Kovačevićeve knjige, eto je za 40 kuna:) www.superknjizara.hr/?page=knjiga&id_knjiga=100017748
@@HangingPawns Nazalost nemaju vise knjigu. Hvala na trudu.
@@mariozigulic7701 Hmm. Sori, nisam vidio. Pitat ću u antikvarijatima gdje nabavljam svoju literaturu. Javim ovdje ako nađem!
@@HangingPawns hvala ti :D
Odlican set btw, steta sto je shiping iz Amerike previse novaca.
@@mariozigulic7701 Da skup je jako. Ali pogledaj www.noj.si/?lang=sl . tu sam našao odlične setove, a možes otići pokupiti tamo:D
Wouldn't white not be able to momentarily pin black's knight on c6 with his bishop and exchange it so to remove an attacker on the d4 pawn? I tend to struggle against that move, that's why I've started to play the queen first and only after that the knight. What's your advice when that pin takes place?
Hi Herman
You should understand White's Kings bishop is far superior to his Queens bishop and if he does exchange his Kings bishop, Black has far less to worry about.
Trying to focus.... but your dog keeps walking around in a circle!
It would have been better if the board was presented from the Black's perspective.
I like your accent ;)
Do a video with your dog!
Haha. He's living at my parents. I would otherwise:)
a5 inacurice
DOGY
bb5
How come when I’m using French everyone use white?
too many adds very bad