Even the great Paul Morphy, who was head-and-shoulders above his contemporaries in terms of talent, struggled against the French.
He treated the defence as an open game by employing the Exchange Variation, which is what I played in my weekend county game.
That ended in a draw, which will not surprise those who regard the French Exchange as inherently drawish.
It got me thinking about what would be my best bet against the French.
Looking at my database of my games, I see I have had the position after 1.e4 e6 with white 240 times, scoring, +87=66-87.
Clearly 50% with white over such a (relatively) large sample size is not good.
Breaking those numbers down, I find I have tried five continuations at move two: d4, d3, Qe2, Nc3 and c4.
Commonest has been 2.d4, reaching a position I have played 189 times with white, scoring +69=53-67, or 51%, and in those games I performed on average 15 elo below my rating.
I have played 2.d3 53 times, scoring +18=13-22, or 46%, although in those games I performed on average eight elo above my rating.
I have played 2.Qe2 four times, scoring +2=0-2, performing on average 96 elo below my rating.
I have only played 2.Nc3 and 2.c4 once each, which makes their outings even less statistically significant than 2.Qe2.
The five moves add up to 248 games, the apparent discrepancy over the 240 occurrences of 1.e4 e6 being due to some games starting 1.d4 e6 2.e4.
Looking a little deeper into the position after 1.e4 e6 2.d4, I find eight games continued with a move other than 2...d5, although that apparently did not disturb me as my score against 2...c5, 2...b6, 2...d6 and 2...a6 is +7=1-0.
I have had the position after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 180 times with white, employing five continuations: 3.Nc3, 3.exd5, 3.Bd3, 3.Be3 and 3.c4.
The position after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 has occurred, including transpositions, 128 times with white. My disappointing score of +40=36-52 is 45%, and I performed on average 52 elo below my rating.
These numbers suggest 3.Nc3 does not suit me.
The position after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 has occurred 42 times with white. My score of +16=14-12 is a respectable 55%, although I performed on average only five elo above my rating.
The position after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3 has occurred 19 times with white. My score of +8=3-8 saw me perform on average 61 elo below my rating.
I have played 3.Be3 twice, scoring +0=1-1, and 3.c4 once, scoring a draw - both numbers having no statistical significance.
CONCLUSION: like many 1.e4 players (not that I exclusively start 1.e4), my results against the French have been disappointing.
However this survey suggests, unless I come up with something new (for me), I should stick with the Exchange Variation, or possibly play the King's Indian Attack (2.d3).
I doubt if either continuation has French Defence players quaking in their boots ...
Have you looked at the results a few moves further in each variation? Many years ago, I found that in the line 1. e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3. Nd2, selecting 3. ... Nf6 was scoring far below other options. I subsequently opted for more obscure lines, such as 3. ... Be7, 3. ...b6, 3. ... a6 and did much better. My grading was around 140 to 150 at that time.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point. I should look into it in greater detail.
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