Fascinated by the French Winawer

The Winawer Variation in just 60 minutes - that can only work by reducing it to a clear repertoire for Black and, where possible, general recommendations rather than variations. Alexei Shirov was surprised at how quickly he managed to make of the French Winawer an opening he himself could play. And now he will let you share in his conclusions. In his first video clip the author starts by concentrating on 4.a3, a move which in his view he found surprisingly strong. Then he turns to the position after 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7. Positional variations such as 7.Nf3 and 7.h4 are dealt with relatively quickly because in them the understanding of plans is more important than the study of variations. Then he turns to the critical 7.Qg4! and of course Shirov does not shrink from the adventurous 7...cxd4!. His conclusion on it: it may not be 100% objectively speaking, but it leads to fascinating positions and that is what we play chess for.