The French, as is quite well known, is named after a correspondence game between chess clubs in London and Paris.
That was in 1834, when national postal systems were in their infancy, and international mail even more so.
But by then 1...e6 in reply to 1.e4 had been known for more than 200 years, first being published, it seems, in manuscripts of the Italian master Gioachino Greco.
Here is the earliest game in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database
Greco - ??*
Rome (?) 1620
French Advance
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5
I find it interesting that in the first known French Defence, whether a genuine game or not, White should 'play' the Advance Variation (my guess would have been for 3.exd5). The move e5, either here or later, is thematic in that White seeks to take advantage of Black ceding space in the centre and thus on the kingside. It is also quite committal: White is more-or-less obliged to follow up with a kingside attack as otherwise the move e5 will likely prove a tempo expended for no good reason.
3...c5
Attacking the base of White's pawn-chain is second-nature to modern players, but Joseph Blackburne experimented in 1885 with attacking the head of the pawn-chain with 3...f6!?, drawing with Max Weiss and George Mackenzie.
4.c3 cxd4!?
This is generally regarded today as premature, not least because it allows White to clear the c3 square for the white queen's knight. However it has appeared in computer games and was played in 1981 by Bulgarian international master, and future grandmaster, Krum Georgiev (but the game was agreed drawn in 10 moves, so perhaps the players were peacefully inclined from the start).
5.cxd4 Bb4+
Patzer sees check, patzer plays check (or, probably in this case, is made to play a check by the game's composer). Strong players who have reached the position after 5.cxd4 by transposition, eg Francisco Vallejo Pons and Ruifeng Li, have generally preferred 5...Nc6. In their cases the games - one by Pons, two by Li - went 1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 d5 5.e5. All three games were won by Black.
6.Nc3 Bxc3+!?
Black gives up his good bishop to saddle White with a backward pawn on a half-open file. But the pawn on c3 will support White's centre and should not be difficult to defend.
7.bxc3 Nc6 8.Bd3
8.Qg4 is at least as strong.
8...Nge7 9.f4
9.Ne2 was played by a 2265 in a Hungarian game in 1994. The text is often played by White in this type of pawn-structure.
9...Nf5 10.Nf3
 |
| How should Black proceed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
10...0-0?
Black's play has been reasonable up to this point. The analysis engines Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01 reckon White only has a slight edge after 10...Na5, targeting the c4 square. The text, although plausible at first glance, is an example of "castling into it."
11.g4 Nh4 12.0-0 Nxf3+
The best alternative the engines can come up with is 12...f5 13.exf6 Nxf3+ 14.Qxf3 gxf6, but reckon White has a winning attack after 15.Qh3.
13.Qxf3 Bd7?!
Black had to gain some breathing room on the kingside, eg 13...f5 14.exf6 Qxf6, but White keeps a large advantage.
14.Qh3 g6 15.f5 exf5 16.gxf5 gxf5 17.Rxf5!?
Objectively not best, according to the engines, but it leads to an instructive finish.
17...Bxf5
The engines give best play as 17...Kh8 18.Kh1 Ne7 19.Bg5 f6 20.Bxf6+ Rxf6 21.exf6 Bxf5 22.Bxf5 Nxf5 23.Qxf5, when White is only a pawn up but is completely winning.
18.Bxf5 1-0
*Many of Greco's recorded 'games' are thought to have been composed by him for instructional purposes rather than being genuine over-the-board encounters, and that is probably the case with this example.
(To be continued)
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