French Defence
C00 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5
A solid centre, at the cost of one difficult bishop.
Analysing from a photo?
This page needs a FEN or a board you set up by hand. The app reads a position straight from a photograph of a real board or a screenshot, and keeps your saved positions between sessions.
The idea
Black supports d5 with a pawn on e6 rather than a piece, giving a firm centre that will not be blown open. The price is the light-squared bishop, locked behind its own pawn chain and awkward to develop for the whole game. The French is largely an argument about whether that bishop can be freed before its absence tells.
Typical plans
- As Black, break with c5 against the pawn chain, aiming at the base on d4.
- As Black, solve the bishop with b6 and Ba6, or with the manoeuvre Bd7-e8-h5.
- As White in the Advance, hold the chain with c3 and support d4 with pieces, then attack on the kingside where Black has less space.
What goes wrong
- Playing f6 too early as Black, which opens lines toward your own king.
- Letting White establish a bind with a space advantage and no counterplay for Black.
- As White, exchanging too much in the Exchange Variation and reaching a symmetrical position with no advantage.
Using the board above
The board starts at the position after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5. Play the continuation you normally meet, then ask the engine what it would do. That is more useful than reading a line, because it answers the question you actually have, which is what happens in the position you keep reaching.
One caution worth carrying into it: an engine evaluates an opening on the assumption that both sides then play perfectly. A line rated a tenth of a pawn better whose middlegames you have never played is worth less to you than a line rated slightly worse that produces positions you understand. More on that here.