How to Play the French Advance Variation Chess Opening

The French has been played by almost all of the top chess players at one point or another. It is a viable answer to 1. e4, and while there are a couple things to watch out for, it is a reasonably solid opening in which black can play for a few tricks of his own. While there are many variations of the French, and it is white’s choice as to which way the game goes most of the time, the advance variation is most common.

Things You'll Need

• Chessboard or PC chess game

Instructions

1. 

   Play e6 when white plays e4. This is to prepare for d5 when white grabs the whole center with pawns.

2. 

   Play d5 when white plays d4. At this point, white has the choice of taking (another variation) or advancing. For our purposes, we'll have white advance the pawn to d5.

3. 

   Play c5 when white plays pawn to d5. The idea behind c5 is to attack white's center. After exchanges, many times black's white bishop gets into the game in an effective manner.

Tips & Warnings

• Watch out for the bishop sacrifice on h7after black has castled--it's the most common mating theme in the French Defense.

• The white bishop is problematic in the French Defense. It can remain useless for most of the game.