Do you play 1.e4 e6?

1.e4 e6


What the heck is the above? For those not in the know and new to chess, you will not understand it. Actually, it is a chess opening. 1. e4 and 1.d4 are the two most common chess opening moves. This fact is normally known by chess players both amateurs and pro.

Actually, GiLoCatur is not really aware that the above chess opening is one of his favourites especially in the yersteryears. Looking back the previous games (which GiLoCatur recorded), GiLoCatur used it several times when playing black.

This chess opening used by black is named the French Defense. Its ECO or Encyclopedia of Chess Openings code is C00-C19. In the recent Lim Chong Memorial chess tournament held at DATCC, GiLoCatur used the French Defense when playing against Gilachess in the fourth round. Yup, it was one of the battle of bloggers for GiLoCatur.

In the game, as GiLoCatur recall, we played 1.e4 e6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Bd7 4.d4 Be7 (only Gilachess can verify it since he recorded our game). After the game, Gilachess pointed out that GiLoCatur should had played 2. .. d5. GiLoCatur told him that GiLoCatur would like to experiment. (psssst ... actually, GiLoCatur forgot about the best line or variation ha ha ha ...)

By 2.c4 move, according to the statistics from chessgames.com's chess opening explorer as below picture (how lucky the children of these days where they can study chess easily using the internet), Gilachess joined 272 games. 2.d4 is the most common move with more than 29,000 games in the chessgames.com database.    

Do you know who are among the top chess players prefer or love to use this opening? Mikhail Chigorin and Victor Korchnoi are two of them. Click here and here for the famous and notable games of the French Defense opening played by Capablanca and Bobby Fischer.

Even though, some top chess players like French Defense, considered as an old opening, some do not.  Steinitz is one of them. He said that it's the dullest of all openings. Richard Reti, on the other hand, advised beginners not to use it as well as Queen's Gambit, which is unfortunately also another GiLoCatur's favourite opening. :(

Below are three games that GiLoCatur used the French Defense. The first game is a classic or standard game while the other two are rapid games.


Mervyn Nyam - Saleh Abd Latif [C00]
Sarawak Chess Open (7.29), 02.11.2008

1.e4 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 b6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bf4 Bb4 6.Qd2 Bxc3 7.Qxc3 0-0 8.Bxc7 Qe7 9.Bf4 Nxe4 10.Qf3 d5 11.Be5 Nc6 12.c4 f6 13.Bf4 Nxd4 14.Qd3 Qb4+ 15.Bd2 Qxb2 16.Rd1 Nc2+ 17.Ke2 Ba6 18.Qb3 Bxc4+ 19.Qxc4 dxc4 20.f3 Nd4+ 21.Ke1 Nxd2 22.Rxd2 Nc2+ 23.Rxc2 Qxc2 24.Ne2 Rad8 0-1


Emir Rusyaidi - Saleh Abd Latif [C00]
DATCC Renegade (3.22), 30.01.2011

1.e4 e6 2.d4 Bb4+ 3.c3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 0-0 6.0-0 b6 7.Re1 d6 8.Bf4 Re8 9.Nbd2 a6 10.e5 dxe5 11.Nxe5 Bd6 12.Ndf3 Bb7 13.Qd2 Bxf3 14.Nxf3 Bxf4 15.Qxf4 Nd5 16.Qg3 Nc6 17.Ne5 Nxe5 18.Rxe5 Qd6 19.Rae1 b5 20.Qh4 h6 21.R5e4 Qe7 22.Qg4 Nf6 23.Qf3 Nxe4 24.Bxe4 Rad8 25.Bc6 Rf8 26.h3 f6 27.Qe3 Qd6 28.Be4 e5 29.Rd1 exd4 30.Rxd4 1-0


Lim Way Ian - Saleh Abd Latif [C00]
DATCC Renegade (5.39), 30.01.2011

1.e4 e6 2.d3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.c3 Be7 5.Ng5 h6 6.Nh3 0-0 7.Nd2 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Nf3 b6 10.Bxh6 gxh6 11.g4 Bb7 12.g5 Bxg5 13.Rg1 f6 14.d4 Kh8 15.c4 Ne7 16.Bd3 Bxf3 17.Qd2 Bxd2+ 18.Kxd2 Qxd4 19.a4 Qxb2+ 20.Ke3 Bc6 21.Nf4 Rg8 22.Rgf1 Qe5+ 23.Be4 Qxe4+ 24.Kd2 Qxf4+ 25.Kd1 Rd8+ 0-1


Based on the above three games, it is obvious that GiLoCatur used to play 2. .. Nf6. GiLoCatur experimented badly against Gilachess because he has much better knowledge of chess openings than GiLoCatur's three other opponents. Watch out to all GiLoCatur's opponents in the coming UniKL chess tournament. GiLoCatur plans to use the French Defense when playing black. he he he ...

Believe it or not, GiLoCatur found a site that is dedicated to the French Defense opening here. So, go to the website and study it thoroughly whether you use it or not. GiLoCatur will, won't you?

source : here, here, here