Learning the French Defence from the Black side
I needed a defence to 1.e4 that was not the open games I have played with reversed colours for years, and I chose the French because the structure is clear and because I had read that it suits players who prefer to understand plans over memorising lines. Two months in, after about forty online games and three at the club, here is what I have learned about learning it.
The pawn chain is the whole opening. After 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 and whatever White does on move three, Black ends up with pawns on d5 and e6 against White’s d4 and e5 more often than not, and everything flows from attacking the base of that chain with c5 and, later, f6. My light-squared bishop is locked in behind my own pawns and will be bad for a long time. I knew this in theory. In practice it took about fifteen games to stop feeling cramped and start seeing the counterplay against d4 as the point of the position rather than a consolation.
Things that went wrong early and often: I played c5 too late and got squashed; I castled kingside into an attack in the lines where White’s pieces all point at h7; I exchanged knights on d4 too early and released all the pressure. In five of the first ten games I lost without ever getting my queenside play going.
Things that improved by game thirty: I started playing Qb6 early to pressure b2 and d4 together, which solves two problems at once and gives White something to think about. I learned that against the advance variation the queen’s knight belongs on c6 and the king’s knight often goes to f5 via h6, where it hits d4 and e3. I learned to delay castling until I knew which side was safer. My results against the exchange variation, where White takes on d5 and the position is symmetrical and dull, are poor and I have no plan there yet beyond developing normally.
Score so far in rated games: roughly 45 per cent, down from 50 with my old defence, which I think is acceptable for a new opening at two months. More importantly, I understand what I am doing in these positions in a way I never did in the open games, where I was mostly remembering. I am going to keep going and revisit this in six months.