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Posted by houseofcook legalserv.com 6/16/2008 10:29:18 play online chess	Subject: French Defence, What do you play as White. Message: Hi there, A question for players who play the French defence as their main opening. What openings would you play as white ? I know this is dependant on the response by black. Is it a similar setup to the French, or totally unrelated? What was your thinking in choosing these setups ?
Posted by ionadowman legalserv.com 6/16/2008 13:38:35 play online chess	My own favorite... Message: ... for White is 3.Nc3, hoping for the Winawer (an opening I like as Black as well, which says something about this line): 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5. 3.Nc3 and if Black plays 3...Bb4 we have the Winawer line, leading to a good fighting game. Black can try instead the exchange on e4 (I have a consultation game going on Gameknot at the moment in which the opponents have played this). Or he can try 3...Nf6, an OK line, but one I dislike as Black. Playing the French OTB almost exclusively for several years, I found four opponents out of five favoured the Tarrasch, 3.Nd2, keeping the c-pawn free to advance. Not particularly committal, it's not easy for Black to get a hold on the ensuing game. I favoured the Guimard (3...Nc6) with considerable success, but blocking Black's c-pawn isn't everyone's cup o' java. Finally, there's the more committal Advance Variation: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 (3...c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 are often played. White can then continue with the "standard" 6.Be2, or try the more ambitious 6.Bd3, possibly heading for the violent Milner-Barry Gambit: 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7 8.0-0 Nxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.Nc3 Qxe5 11.Re1 ... An example is the game kikoursus vs ionadowman played in 2005. There may be other lines (I gather 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 is sometimes played), but these are the main ones. Cheers, Ion
Posted by kansaspatzer legalserv.com 6/16/2008 14:48:14 play online chess	Message: I think he's asking what openings French players play when they're White. But FWIW, I play 2.Qe2 when faced with the French.
Posted by chessisvanity legalserv.com 6/16/2008 22:34:55 play online chess	pffft... Message: Throw them off....I play the exchange. Why would I sit there and let a guy play his favorite opening? If i play 1.e4 and he plays 1...e6 I know he knows the French. So i play 2.d4...d5 3.exd5! Yes some say this might be drawish....but unless he is 2200 or better then i have the advantage. The same goes with the caro-kann. The exchange variation!!
Posted by houseofcook legalserv.com 6/16/2008 23:27:35 play online chess	French Defence,what do you play as white. Message: Thanks for the replies. It was interesting to find out what French players would play against the French. I appreciate the in depth reply from ionadowman, but I did mean what does a French player play as white, what would be your initial moves, would you start with 1.d4 or 1. e4 or something else ?
Posted by chessisvanity legalserv.com 6/16/2008 23:31:54 play online chess	... Message: well duh... A french player will have an advantage playing against the French so I imagine they play 1.e4 as white.
Posted by ionadowman legalserv.com 6/17/2008 00:44:42 play online chess	Sorry - Message: - Misunderstood you to mean what would I play if faced with the French. But you can infer that I was not afraid to face the French myself, so would open 1.e4 at least sometimes. But my stock opening as White, for even longer than the French was when I was Black, was the English Opening: 1.c4. 1.e4 was more of a "change" opening, just for the sake of variety. Some "English" players tend to stick with "pure" English positions, but I was more than happy to transpose into King's Indian Defences (from White's perspective), Sicilians Reversed or (surprisingly frequently) Maroczy Binds. Quite a few French defence player like the King's Indian Attack as White, but I never had much luck with it... Cheers, Ion
Posted by lighttotheright legalserv.com 6/18/2008 12:53:52 play online chess	Message: Ion, You and I apparently like the same openings with the same variations! That's spooky. Maybe we know some things others don't.:-O
Posted by ionadowman legalserv.com 6/18/2008 13:43:38 play online chess	... Message: Ken - I wonder what they can be?? :-/ Maybe we just like lines with a bit of fight in them? (I have to admit, though, my record with the English on GK hasn't been all that wonderful...) Cheers, Ion
Posted by premium_steve legalserv.com 7/07/2008 12:25:10 play online chess	Message: i'm a french player now (i used to play the alekhine and scandinavian), and i most often prefer 1.e4. it's true that as black i like to play fairly solidly with 1.e6 because i have found that most lines give me a position i am comfortable with - without much risk of being a lot worse out of the opening. as white i feel i can take more liberties in an open style game and look for some kind of attack. (that being said, i still fear open sicilians as white!) sometimes i'll give 1.d4 or 1.f4 a try, or maybe 1.g3.
Posted by markb56 legalserv.com 7/13/2008 15:44:40 play online chess	Maginot Line / Hitler Gambit Message: If I were playing white against the French I would try to try to get black to play the Maginot Line after which it's an easy matter to maneuver your pieces around the flank. However, white must be careful and avoid the now refuted Hitler Gambit, because if white gets too bold he will find himself fighting on two different fronts.
Posted by kansaspatzer legalserv.com 7/13/2008 17:19:33 play online chess	Message: I just recently switched to the French and I normally play e4, although there are certain opponents I'll play d4 against. I must admit I'm not all that booked up against the Sicilian but playing lots of Gameknot games using the opening DB helps when you get OTB, IMO.
Posted by wulebgr legalserv.com 7/25/2008 12:03:17 play online chess	As I French player, Message: I understand the futility of 1.e4. I play 1.g3, 1.d4, 1.c4, and 1.Nf3, reserving 1.e4 for weaker opponents and blitz.
Posted by kansaspatzer legalserv.com 7/26/2008 22:27:47 play online chess	Message: So what is the Hitler gambit? The only Google hit for it is this page...
Posted by jstevens1 legalserv.com 7/26/2008 23:49:54 play online chess	Expert Draw! Message: Hi everyone! Just to let you know that there is a game on the Public Annotations where I had the black pieces and played against The Tarrasch. The game is called Expert Draw because at the time my opponent was 832 points north of my rating. Despite a 2 pawn deficit I managed to draw it. This was a big result because it is still the only time I have managed to draw against an Expert. Ionadowman has already commented on the game but if any of you have anything to add please feel free to do so. Hope you have all enjoyed your weekend. Cheers and bye for now. Joanne
Posted by savage4731 legalserv.com 7/29/2008 01:22:30 play online chess	Kansaspatzer Message: That's because the correct way for black to play is just to resign as soon as possible.
Chess news: World Chess Cup Offers an Opening for Players With Ambitions -- The top 30 chess players in the world can earn good livings. But it is considerably more difficult for the players ranked just below them. Their appearance fees are lower, and they rarely are invited to the chess tournaments that offer the best prize money. For these players, the World Chess Cup now being held in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, is a great opportunity. With a field of 128 and prize money totaling $1.6 million — with $120,000 going to the winner — the tournament is giving some second-tier players a chance to compete against the chess elite, and perhaps to join them. The winner also will be seeded into the candidates’ matches for the world chess ... World Chess Cup Is Down to Great Eight -- The World Chess Cup, an important part of the system to select a challenger for the world chess championship, moved into the fifth round Wednesday as the field was reduced to 8. Upsets marked some of the earlier matches, but form held in the fourth round, as the final underdogs were dismissed. The remaining ches players are Boris Gelfand of Israel, the No. 1 seed and the oldest remaining player at 41; Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, No. 2; Peter Svidler of Russia, No. 3; Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, No. 7; Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia, No. 9; Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, No. 12, (at 19, the youngest remaining player); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, ... Defence, part 3: How can white avoid checkmate? -- Kramnik-Carlsen, Moscow 2007. Black threatens … Qh3 mate. How can White defend? Former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik and 19-year-old Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen will be the favourites to win the London Chess Classic, which runs from 8-15 December at the Olympia Exhibition Centre. Kramnik has just triumphed at the Tal Memorial, while Carlsen has been training with Garry Kasparov and is now No 1 on the world rating list. The top four English chess players – Short, Adams, Howell and McShane – will face a stern test. Visitors are welcome: there will be live commentary and side events to play in. In this encounter Kramnik and Carlsen ...