The French is a complex opening and can lead to a wide variety of middlegames. The Winawer after 3...Bb4 is Black’s most proactive option, immediately weakening White’s pawn structure by doubling their c-pawns.
While Black gets to play against the weak square d4, White often gets attacking chances on the kingside and a space advantage. Structurally, this line can lead to closed positions after ...c4, or open and dynamic play by white’s structural exchange dxc5. “My game selection is aimed at explaining the most important plans of these strategically complex positions.” (Author GM Ivan Sokolov)
When Black replies to the double move of White’s king’s pawn with 1...e6 we have the French Defence. Its name goes back to a correspondence match between the cities of London and Paris in 1834, in which the French made successful use of the move 1...e6. In the 19th century the move was the most important alternative for Black to 1...e5 and even nowadays it still occupies third place in the ranking of the most popular replies to 1.e4 after the Sicilian and 1...e5.
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