French Winawer
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7!? 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5
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| Via a minor transposition, we have reached a position occurring 27,241 times in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database |
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7.Nf3!?
Fischer tried this twice against Uhlmann, scoring +0=1-1, but otherwise played 7.a4!? Stockfish18 and Dragon1 like the mainline 7.Qg4, and also 7.h4!?
7...Nbc6
This is the commonest reply in Mega26.
8.Be2
There is no consensus about White's best continuation, but more popular are 8.Bd3!? and 8.h4!?
8...Qc7
The engines suggest 8...Qa5 or 8...h6!?
9.0-0 Bd7 10.a4 0-0
More common are 10...b6 and especially 10...f6!?
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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Black is slightly more developed, and has no pawn weaknesses, but White's centre-kingside space advantage and bishop-pair are probably more significant. The engines give White the upper hand.
11.Bf4!?
This seems to be a novelty. The logical follow-up to 10.a4 is 11.Ba3, when 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 seems good for White. The engines suggest 11...b6!? 12.dxc5, and now an apparent-novelty in 12...Rfc8!?, but continue to give White the upper hand.
11...b6
Probably not 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 Nb4?!, as the engines' 13.Qd2!? is strong.
12.Qd2 a6?!
This may be too slow, and seems weakening. The engines suggest 12...Na5 or 12...Rac8.
13.h4!?
This is the engines' top choice.
13...h5!?
This gives an odd impression, especially once White's reply is seen, but the engines are OK with it, although they prefer 13...Qd8!?, albeit reckoning that after 14.h5 h6 15.g4 White has a positionally won game.
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| How should White proceed? |
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14.Nh2
Even stronger, according to the engines, are 14.Ng5 and 14.Bd3, but the text is also winning.
14...g6?!
Possibly best is 14...cxd4 15.cxd4 Nf5!?, even though, after 16.Bxh5, the reply 16...Nfxd4 leaves White well on top after both 17.Bg4 and 17.Bd1!?, according to the engines.
15.Bh6
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| How should Black respond? |
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15...Nf5!?
This is Stockfish18's top choice, and for a long time Dragon1 agrees, although it comes to prefer giving up the exchange in another way, by 15...Kh7!? Allow both engines even longer, and they start fluctuating with moves such as 15...cxd4 and 15...Rfc8
16.Bxf8 Rxf8 17.Nf3
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| Black has no long-term compensation for the exchange, although in the short term the knight at f5 looks attractive |
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17...c4!?
This is the engines' top choice, narrowly ahead of 17...a5, the idea being to make it difficult for White to open files for the rooks.
18.Qg5 Qd8!? 19.Rfb1 Qxg5 20.hxg5 Rb8 21.Nh2 h4!? 22.Ng4 1-0
There is still quite a long way to go before White's advantage can be converted into a trivial win. But the engines reckon White's advantage is the equivalent of being at least a piece up, and, with queens off the board, it would take a most unlikely blunder for White not to win eventually.
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