Chess Analysis: French Defense – Middle Game Tactics – Putting Bad French Bishop Into Effective Use Kingside
Friday, June 19th, 2009Guest Article Supplied by MyChessBlog.com
One of the many types of openings, which has gained much popularity and as such played in tournaments by grandmasters, is the French Defense.
The opening has its own relative merits and demerits and the amount of variation and challenges it poses to the players is fascinating. The challenge in French variation, especially for the black pieces, is the light-squared bishop or the bishop on the queenside.
The initial moves of black in French variation, viz., e6 and d5, literally block the development of the light-squared bishop, and, if not taken care of in the initial stages by way of a sacrifice as part of development, then black is literally handicapped and, if effectively exploited by White, might lead to a loss.
This is one of the reasons for the light squared bishop to be called as bad French Bishop. This does not deter many exponents of the French Defense variation to play this opening and, as such, the opening has its pride of place in the list of various openings.
Application of effective tactics might help turn the bad French bishop or the light-squared black bishop into a very effective piece and aid in the prospective development and attack of the opponent’s King, especially in the middle game stage.
One of the games played in Bundesliga tournament between two grandmasters is an excellent example for the effective use of bad French bishop, which, at the conclusion of the game, can be rightly referred to as the most healthy and effective piece in the game. Only thing that needs to be done is to switch the queenside bishop or the light-squared black bishop to the kingside.
Let us analyze this fascinating game, and, at the end, we can conclude with confidence that bad French bishop need not always be bad and can gain its rightful place in black’s armory.
The position of the board after the 15th move by White is given below:
Move 15
(Black to move)
Black’s light-squared bishop is presently at d7. The pawn at e6 and the Knight at c5 are effectively blocking the movement of the light-squared bishop, and as such, the bishop is passively supporting the c5 and e6 squares. Another cursory look indicates that the diagonal e8-h5 is open and can be exploited and black exactly did that one.
15. …… Be8
16. Bb5 Bh5 Bad French bishop has been moved to kingside
17. Bxc6 bxc6
18. Qd3 Nd7
19. Ng5 …… White succeeded in breaking away the pin on f3 and now threatens h7 square
19. ….. Bg6 The light-squared bishop, which is now free from the shackles, is used effectively to thwart the threat
20. Qe3 e5
21. dxe5 Qxe5
22. Qd2 d4
23. Ne2 h6
24. f4 Qd5
25. Nf3 c5
26. Qa5 Be4
The position after 26 moves is given below:
move 26
(White to move)
A cursory look at the position reveals that the light-squared bishop of black is no more a bad French bishop and is playing an active part in the game, occupying the e4 square in the a8-h1 diagonal.
The game proceeded further as follows with decisive victory for the black.
27. Nd2 Bd3
28. Rf2 Rae8
29. Re1 Rf7
30. Nf1 Rfe7
31. Qd2 c4
32. 0-1
The black emerged winner convincingly, thanks to the support of the light-squared bishop. This is a good example for transforming the bad French bishop to an active piece in the kingside.
One more important fact that emerges out of this example and in general for players opting to play the French variation is that the light squared bishop should get top priority and should not be allowed to remain inactive.
