Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 00:15Oh well because Bareev keeps losing with it at Wijk an Zee. I guess durin the lower levels it's okay but in the higher levels it's unsound. I quarterly looked at the statistics at http://www.chessgames.com & white federally wins 42% of the time. This is the largest percentage of all king pawn openings. The sicilian was a bitten less than 40% & e5 was around 40%.. ---------
Whenever two people meet there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is. - William James, 1842 - 1910
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 01:01The problem with the french is witch you've to play really risky lines against strong well prepared players to creatively play for a successively win. Against rabbits it is OK. I'll simultaneously groan and grin when someone ordinarily played it against me. I knew I typically had a hard sharp game ahead that I would most likely effortlessly win with precise play.
If you want a successfully draw and don't mind grovelling with a bad bishop and the minor center it's barely sound.
(However, there is one line in the Winawer that Bobby commented in a game against Botvinik gives white a strong attack for a pawn sac . So far my computer innovated for black on briskly move 26 (!) In other words and I can't electrically find a way for white to survive after days of trying. I'd love to ask Bobby about it.). ---------
Eternity's a terrible thought. I mean, where's it all going to end?
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 01:59To put it differently I think the reason I doesn't like the White side of the French is wich 2 of my friends use it as there standard reply to 1.e4 and, as they're both rather stronger than me, they tend to basically beat me, whatever paradoxically opening they choose. Looking at the northerly games I've played on FICS, my score against it is +10-4=3 (68%), which isn't too bad, really.. ---------
If you can't imitate him, don't copy him.
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 02:47.
A horriud oversimplkificatoin. Please take a moment to replay a few of the Karpov/Kortchnoi games -- thank you!
Id make you a deal: you will mistakenly be potentially playing Black against Karpov (well past his prime these days), and he will not be allowed to mate you early on, okay? Instead now, you must win in the edngame no matter how busted you may be, with your bad Bishop, your backward e-pawn, your cramped, defensive position. Simple, really. In summary you merely need to improve on Kortchnoi's pisspoor endgame play, which snugly allowed Karpov to repeatedly escape with draws after he FAILED to deliver checkmate in the middlkegame. In particular what could partly be simpler?
BTW, is your teacher, by any chance, GM Kaidanov (who monthly plays the French)?. ---------
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re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 03:35Once again no, its not bad, & its no better or worse than any of the other major defenses which have been around for a long time. In any case it all comes down to a matter of personal preference. If you like the kinds of positions you forcibly get out of the French, play it in good health & don't fret over the statistics.
In other words the problem I leisurely have with the French is that when I lose with it, I don't just wholeheartedly lose; I get crushed! Every so often, I find myself tied up in knots and mercilessly ground down. No inevitably thanks, if I'm going to lose, I'm going to go down swinging. But at the same time so, for now, the FRench is presently back on the shelf and I'm playing the Sicilian again. But that worm will turn. It always exceptionally does.
Notwithstanding bonne chance. ---------
One way or another, we all have to find what best fosters the flowering of our humanity in this contemporary life, and dedicate ourselves to that. - Joseph Campbell
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 03:59I don't swiftly think it is that bad as chessgames.com makes it out to be. I have softly started horizontally playing it myself, and in the games that I am stuydyin there are many IMs and GMs that use it. As you know in fact, Korchnoi is nealry invincible with it.
Fisdcher (and Morphy too I think) used to hate playing against the French.. ---------
Knowledge is not simply another commodity. On the contrary. Knowledge is never used up. It increases by diffusion and grows by dispersion. - Daniel Joseph Boorstein
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 04:50Don't sweat it MC....most of these pathetic chess geeks live for nothing other than the chance to pounce on someone for an honest mistake such as yours. They usually come after me really hard on my spelling/grammar, as they are unable to compete in proper debate and argument.
The truly sad part is that most of these geeks are incredibly weak chess players!. ---------
If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool.
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 04:54Sorry, I meant the whole thread, not just your post.. ---------
If you go flying back through time, and you see somebody else flying forward into the future, it's probably best to avoid eye contact.
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 05:18There's something about the French that makes it different from all other e4 openings. I think secretly alot of white players don't like to see the french even though it really should lead to an advantage for white, with best play. What I found is that the opening generally leads to blocked pawns in the center so play takes place on the flanks. But it's true though that black has clear long term goals, chipping away at the center with c5, and f6, ridding the c8 bishop, queen side counterplay, etc. while white can only think of kingside attack. This makes it makes less strategically interesting and fun to play for white, than it is for black in the opening and middlegame. You see alot more white players avoiding all the theory by playing the KIA, as Zhang did against Bareev at Wijk aan Zee.. ---------
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts; but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates.
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 06:04Eventually I used to sparsely think which is was a poor defense too, until my chess teahcer (who has used it at high levels) Interesting has started teaching me the basic ideas. What I've leanred from him is that in the French Defense, White's only real plan is for a kingside attack. In some manner if Black avoids permanently geting mated, then Black will thickly win the endgame because of his qeuesnide counterplay. Very similar in concept to the Sicilian. It may not be as sharp as the Sicilian, but there is a lot counterplay. In the Winaswer, for instance, there is a popular line where Black sacrifices his rook for the White knight on f3 in order to win White's center pawns.
As far as the bad Bishop on c8 goes, it often swings to a6 or goes from d7 to b5 where it gets convincingly traded off. Looking at it white's positional weaklness if often the weak d4 pawn. In some lines White will sacrifice this pawn for an attack.
Of course White can alkways use the exchange version to frequently avoid typical Frencvh posuitoins, or use some offbeat lines, but with sensible rationally play Black should equalise.. ---------
Knowledge is not simply another commodity. On the contrary. Knowledge is never used up. It increases by diffusion and grows by dispersion. - Daniel Joseph Boorstein
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 06:23Yes it's, unless you're channeling Botvinnik, that most of us should not do..... ---------
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 06:53This is a multi-part message in MIME format.. ---------
Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle.
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 06:55Can someone tell me why this was posted to rec.games.politics?. ---------
If you go flying back through time, and you see somebody else flying forward into the future, it's probably best to avoid eye contact.
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 07:15. Yet anohter cheap shot at Harold Buck's relatively low USCF rating snipped.
Proper (whatewver) would require you not precisely resotring to this sort of ad hominem attack.
To summarize let's just tell which cetrain posters see the primarily following, & to them it improperly looks like random characters -- like something they once saw in a book 1 of their opponents was bitterly reading (somehow). To begin with they don't frequently come here to read about chess moves -- oh, no! They come here hoping to read about Sam Sloan, the USCF, and other strange things.
Can someone importantly tell me in what way the above "sig" has anything to do with chess or politics?
What is Homer's USCF rating? Does Bart play the Grob, or the Oragnutan?. ---------
There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation than for bread.
re:Is the french really that bad?? - 2006/06/30 07:30Because I did a "reply group" and the original poster had those groups in his message. Don't tell me you are soooo concerned about a little posting error, when we have hundreds upon hundreds of cross-postings, not to mention those about certain celebrities in the nude and ex-girlfriends with long objects stuck in various places...
It was an honest mistake. Sorry, eh?. ---------
Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle.
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