WEBVTT 00:01.910 --> 00:02.640 Hi there. 00:03.050 --> 00:06.920 In this election, I'm going to give you a little tour of the so-called front the fence. 00:07.250 --> 00:10.970 So if you play E4 and they play ESX, this is the French defense. 00:12.290 --> 00:14.630 It's a very well known opening. 00:15.350 --> 00:18.530 Certain world champions favored it over others. 00:18.830 --> 00:23.420 Bobby Fischer hardly ever played it, but Seagram chosen was a big fan. 00:23.660 --> 00:24.950 So it was Mikhail Botnick. 00:25.490 --> 00:27.410 So you get that with certain things. 00:27.620 --> 00:33.220 They match certain personalities and styles of player more than others. 00:33.620 --> 00:39.170 So the French defense is more close, positional in general than, say, the Sicilian defense, which 00:39.170 --> 00:43.070 is more tactical now when you first start in chess. 00:45.770 --> 00:52.280 I'm not sure I would recommend the French defense to you as long as you can understand how to handle 00:52.280 --> 01:01.310 the basic traps based on F7, there's no need to use the French defense as a kind of cushion opening 01:01.310 --> 01:04.300 to stop you being attacked on F7. 01:04.820 --> 01:12.230 Really, you should use the French defense if you understand its key ideas and don't mind potentially 01:12.230 --> 01:14.650 long positional games. 01:15.320 --> 01:23.480 And for me, if you're, you know, in my opinion as a newcomer, you should be boosting your tactical. 01:24.690 --> 01:30.710 Kind of mental systems, how you think about tactics and to do that, I would actually recommend more 01:30.750 --> 01:35.150 opening openings like this to sit on the fence, which will get to later. 01:35.160 --> 01:40.010 But let's say you did want to play the French defense, or at least from the white side. 01:40.020 --> 01:41.100 What do you do against that? 01:41.790 --> 01:46.080 Well, there's various options. 01:46.110 --> 01:52.650 One is to actually play the King's Indian attack system, the fray. 01:52.680 --> 01:59.250 So if they play this, you play this and then you play this and then you kind of think hattar your bishop 01:59.760 --> 02:03.430 and you have a decent playable position here to work with. 02:04.050 --> 02:07.830 So that's one approach which will bypass a lot of your opponents. 02:08.340 --> 02:09.420 French defense, very. 02:09.690 --> 02:11.010 If you want more exciting. 02:11.220 --> 02:14.990 Why is a gambit called the Ratti gambit named after Richard Retting? 02:15.480 --> 02:17.220 So you actually offer the pawn here? 02:18.270 --> 02:25.950 And this is quite interesting, to say the least, that has even been used that the vast time controls 02:25.950 --> 02:27.990 of chess called correspondance chess. 02:28.530 --> 02:35.220 And I mean, you know, where it could last months and years games with with some success, sometimes 02:35.220 --> 02:36.680 so nicely free. 02:36.690 --> 02:40.370 So they did try and cling onto the pawn of the defraying. 02:40.920 --> 02:43.680 This is a key move, this position. 02:43.680 --> 02:47.900 You have actually good compensation for the sacrifice pawn. 02:47.910 --> 02:53.210 You have good compensation nicknaming even to console Queen Side later. 02:53.610 --> 02:57.250 So with good attacking prospects and compensation for the pawn. 02:57.780 --> 02:59.100 So that's very, very interesting. 02:59.100 --> 03:04.920 If you want to kind of sideline to be aware of the rati game, it is a fantastic sideline. 03:05.910 --> 03:10.980 So I once saw that Muswell Hill match and started playing it myself for a while, doing research around 03:10.980 --> 03:12.840 it and finding some games. 03:13.350 --> 03:15.390 So the Rhatigan is a sideline. 03:15.960 --> 03:16.650 Very interesting. 03:17.640 --> 03:24.440 But the main line, the so-called mainlined the most popular, very popular trodden path is the playing 03:25.230 --> 03:27.960 of the Essex DeFore of the defense. 03:27.980 --> 03:35.970 The two main branches, believe it or not, you play nicely free or 92 usually now nicely free does 03:35.970 --> 03:38.880 actually invite Bishop before. 03:39.240 --> 03:43.410 And this goes into the so-called Winoker variation. 03:44.010 --> 03:48.710 93 was a favorite of Bobby Fischer, an American world chess champion. 03:49.260 --> 03:56.490 So Bishop, before I mean, the whole night, Seefried rather inviting bishop before Fischer never played 03:56.490 --> 03:57.120 the French defense. 03:57.240 --> 03:58.080 He played against that. 03:58.530 --> 04:05.820 And with White, he'll play E5, generally speaking, E5 And you might wonder what it was actually going 04:05.820 --> 04:06.390 on here. 04:07.230 --> 04:12.830 Why would both sides indulge in this? 04:13.980 --> 04:15.450 Well, let's see. 04:16.020 --> 04:22.290 Just to take this step or two further black usually play C5 and White usually encourages the bishop 04:22.830 --> 04:24.840 to do something like take on C usually. 04:25.620 --> 04:36.900 And we have this position where both sides have their own kind of pros and cons of the position or imbalances. 04:36.900 --> 04:44.280 So the favorable imbalances from White's perspective, is that White has the bishop power, in particular 04:44.280 --> 04:50.460 the dance queen bishop can do a lot of damage, potentially Black hasn't got a dance club counterpart. 04:51.090 --> 04:57.690 So quite often if you study the games of Bobby Fisher in particular, he's a major exponent of the French 04:57.690 --> 05:03.660 defense whenever and often he's later sacrificing pawns on a dance class and creating amazing opportunities 05:04.080 --> 05:09.180 not just for the dance choir, but sometimes this peafowl is good, especially if the opponents castle 05:09.180 --> 05:09.810 queen side. 05:10.620 --> 05:17.820 The downside, or rather the upside for the opponents is that if the opponents can survive the dance 05:18.230 --> 05:25.650 the before they are structurally better and often in games, it's better for black whites punchline. 05:25.920 --> 05:27.690 I mean, it's been doubled tap. 05:27.690 --> 05:29.940 That's not necessarily a bad thing. 05:30.510 --> 05:32.280 Chess is all about trade offs. 05:32.520 --> 05:35.190 Sometimes with double pawns you get other advantages. 05:35.430 --> 05:42.210 Certainly the dance going with our counterpart is one advantage to speak of and the adjacent before. 05:42.540 --> 05:44.970 So, you know, that could be useful for attacks sometimes. 05:45.600 --> 05:48.090 So there's pros and cons of this position. 05:49.280 --> 05:50.130 For both sides. 05:50.660 --> 05:59.210 So why would players indulge in creating imbalances for themselves rather than, say, playing in a 05:59.210 --> 05:59.840 boring way? 06:02.480 --> 06:04.430 Well, the most boring way. 06:04.430 --> 06:10.030 And it's just navigate down for a moment and we'll come back to it later is 865. 06:10.160 --> 06:13.760 This is kind of robbing the game of imbalances. 06:14.300 --> 06:20.060 And actually, one of my fellow club players, John Piggott, said he gave up the French defense because 06:20.060 --> 06:20.920 people were playing this. 06:21.350 --> 06:26.960 It makes it very difficult for either side, in fact, to win, although generally. 06:28.350 --> 06:32.820 Yeah, a lot of games end in draws as a result of this, because if you look at the pawn structure, 06:32.820 --> 06:38.070 it's symmetrical pawn structure and there's a kind of lack of imbalances. 06:38.070 --> 06:42.000 There's a lack of favorable advantages, pros and cons. 06:42.000 --> 06:44.100 Both sides are kind of fighting for the same thing. 06:44.910 --> 06:53.190 And often, if you're up against the stronger opponents, yeah, you might actually not want to make 06:53.190 --> 06:55.730 the game interesting if you want to make the game boring. 06:55.740 --> 06:57.720 And I've had this fight against me in clubhouses. 06:58.560 --> 07:00.120 I've struggled to try and win. 07:00.120 --> 07:05.340 Sometimes I remember one occasion, I just I just kind of had to accept the draw as black. 07:05.760 --> 07:12.150 So, yeah, it is off-putting if you are playing the French defense, especially in your early development 07:12.360 --> 07:20.010 as a chess player, I have to warn you now that opponents could simply play this dreaded exchange variation. 07:21.300 --> 07:23.000 So you would have to know how to play this. 07:23.670 --> 07:25.330 Sometimes you can make it exciting. 07:25.350 --> 07:30.870 Sure, there are plans for making exciting idea that you need further research and to look at some games. 07:30.870 --> 07:33.150 And there's whole books on the French defense. 07:33.570 --> 07:37.860 There's actually a landmark book by John Watson on the French defense. 07:37.860 --> 07:43.530 I'd urge you to check out if he did want to take up the French defense and you feel that you're really 07:43.530 --> 07:46.770 more professional if you're interested in chess. 07:46.890 --> 07:47.550 Oppositional. 07:48.480 --> 07:48.900 Yeah. 07:48.900 --> 07:50.640 Than this opening. 07:51.060 --> 07:54.960 But let's look at for the white side again, OK? 07:55.860 --> 07:57.450 Forget the exchange version for the moment. 07:58.140 --> 08:04.250 So instead of Knight Sifry, what makes a big difference is actually Ninety-two, because you're note 08:04.260 --> 08:10.290 here, or rather I'm going to notice Bisher before you can kick the bishop with Seefried. 08:10.290 --> 08:13.950 There's no pin on the knight and this reflects a waste of time. 08:14.340 --> 08:18.990 Even worse would be going back here because I'm white, some even more space in the center and I have 08:18.990 --> 08:20.110 a delightful position. 08:20.110 --> 08:24.390 I can do all sorts and has a nice space advantage. 08:24.750 --> 08:26.340 Plans to waste a lot of time there. 08:26.790 --> 08:28.800 So the saturation kind of rules out. 08:28.800 --> 08:32.400 Bishop, before it's kind of you could call it inappropriate and effective. 08:33.630 --> 08:36.000 For me, those are synonyms on the chessboard. 08:36.000 --> 08:38.010 Being appropriate is kind of being effective. 08:40.080 --> 08:44.040 And the stronger you are, the more appropriate you play in any given pool structure and situation, 08:44.400 --> 08:48.530 taking into account the details of positions, usually by heads. 08:48.780 --> 08:50.100 It is a little bit more detail. 08:50.110 --> 08:52.230 Detail has gone to detour, not Sifry. 08:52.410 --> 08:56.910 It's with this detail which which changes what really black plays. 08:56.910 --> 09:01.320 This little detail is major and it's called the transformation of the segments. 09:01.320 --> 09:09.550 Haroche So Ciguatera, by the way, it has a lot of interesting things that were complete newcomers 09:09.550 --> 09:10.740 to the game to be aware of. 09:10.980 --> 09:16.200 He's the one that kind of coined phrases for his students, you know, nights before bishops when you 09:16.200 --> 09:18.810 have a look at his games, actually, they're rather advanced and dynamic. 09:19.200 --> 09:23.280 But he did have a kind of prescriptive kind of style sometimes. 09:24.310 --> 09:30.990 So anyway, this is the end of the trash ciguatera, the transformation so principly avoids that pain. 09:31.350 --> 09:38.700 If C5, we can get an exciting game after eatings, especially if Black takes with the poor black and 09:38.700 --> 09:39.830 also take with the queen. 09:40.410 --> 09:41.970 There are tradeoffs being made here. 09:42.510 --> 09:47.220 If black takes with a queen, usually they don't want an isolated Queen's pawn. 09:47.910 --> 09:54.330 They want to soak up Winesap pressure and have a nice pawn structure throughout the game without the 09:54.330 --> 09:57.260 concern of the so-called isolated Queen's pawn. 09:57.720 --> 10:00.960 So if you played, it takes and they play each takes. 10:02.130 --> 10:09.720 This is a kind of speciality of one of Britain's top super grandmasters, Michael Adams, this transformation. 10:10.200 --> 10:11.310 So there's a lot of steam games. 10:11.310 --> 10:17.910 If you wanted to check out British Grand Master Michael Adams, he's won so many games in this version. 10:18.210 --> 10:19.470 The imbalance is here. 10:19.650 --> 10:24.420 The pros for white is the ice queen spawn. 10:24.420 --> 10:29.340 Sometimes you can usefully blockaded the pros for black, the queen's pawn. 10:29.550 --> 10:32.160 Sometimes it can be used to have useful hooks. 10:32.400 --> 10:36.060 The adjacent fouls are active, sometimes on rookie. 10:36.060 --> 10:37.800 Once something, too, is an issue. 10:37.910 --> 10:39.010 You can picture this. 10:39.330 --> 10:42.510 There were games with F2 being an issue, sometimes direct attacks from like. 10:42.930 --> 10:49.500 So it's all about in fact it becomes a quite a lot about handling the ice queen spawn. 10:49.770 --> 10:51.090 It's a double edged sword. 10:51.210 --> 10:55.200 That's why you need to kind of understand the fundamental pawn structures as well. 10:55.770 --> 11:02.280 Certain pawn structures like isolated Queen's pawn crop up from a variety of different openings. 11:02.670 --> 11:10.140 So to know how to play for and against, I say Queen Pawns is a fantastic skill which will save you 11:10.140 --> 11:16.410 countless hours and help you really understand each other much deeper level than just trying to memorize 11:16.410 --> 11:17.820 specific opening variations. 11:18.900 --> 11:24.090 But black, you know, can play a little bit more kind of solid and doesn't have to go in with that 11:24.090 --> 11:24.510 can play. 11:24.510 --> 11:32.160 This queen takes the five line and yeah, that is a line to research in its own right. 11:32.580 --> 11:35.340 And it's got many interesting variations. 11:36.300 --> 11:44.440 So basically, though, we're saying that this is like the main line, actually, you know, ninety 11:44.450 --> 11:45.450 free is the winner. 11:45.690 --> 11:46.710 There's the trash. 11:48.450 --> 11:51.810 But there's also another option here, which is very important to consider. 11:54.860 --> 12:04.850 If we look above, that is the advanced version, this is Paul 95 and this actually gives you a distinct 12:04.850 --> 12:09.110 angle to actually learn about chess from a particular pawn structure angle. 12:09.530 --> 12:10.890 Lots of pawn chains. 12:11.330 --> 12:13.010 There's two locked in pawn chains. 12:13.010 --> 12:16.960 This actually reflects what's known as the five pawn chain. 12:17.480 --> 12:24.260 So it confirms why the extra space advantage by Black has so-called undermining strategies to try and 12:24.260 --> 12:30.630 undermine the pawn chain with, for example, C five is the classic move and then 96. 12:31.010 --> 12:35.660 Now, if you're playing this is white, there's also a very naughty trap to be aware of here. 12:36.050 --> 12:37.460 If you play nice, have free. 12:37.850 --> 12:40.940 And they just started playing in front of the fence and they play queen bee sex. 12:41.540 --> 12:46.100 It looks as though there's annoying pressure on D4. 12:47.480 --> 12:53.690 And if you play Bishop, differe looks as though on a sec, have you just blundered a sense of pawn. 12:53.690 --> 12:54.670 So they play takes. 12:55.610 --> 12:57.140 Have you just become the center pawn. 12:57.980 --> 13:01.320 So it's not actually they can't really take her. 13:02.060 --> 13:07.430 I wonder if you can spot why this is a this is a very important trap to be aware of. 13:08.090 --> 13:11.900 If you're playing the advanced version, you might play for this trap. 13:11.900 --> 13:13.730 In fact, it's naughty. 13:14.450 --> 13:15.890 It could win you games, though. 13:17.480 --> 13:21.200 But remember, naughty trap sometimes inhibit your your future development. 13:21.410 --> 13:22.500 There's always trade offs. 13:22.500 --> 13:25.070 There's a lot that you've got to consider. 13:25.280 --> 13:30.830 But this is a naughty trap they shouldn't be taking here because you take, they take. 13:30.830 --> 13:31.550 And guess what? 13:32.840 --> 13:35.000 They haven't put themselves beyond the feet, have they? 13:35.450 --> 13:39.440 If you don't put yourself beyond the fact in the opening, things backfire. 13:39.890 --> 13:41.380 This is a very bad backfire. 13:41.510 --> 13:44.150 The Kings on AIDS, Bishop B five. 13:44.150 --> 13:47.180 Check and look at the effects on the possession. 13:49.640 --> 13:52.370 You're actually not just checking your opponent's king. 13:52.370 --> 13:55.610 You're doing two things, but one move overwhelming the opponent. 13:55.850 --> 13:57.170 It's only a turn based game. 13:57.320 --> 14:01.880 They have to react to the check and then you just scoop up their queen. 14:02.450 --> 14:05.060 So that's a very well known trap. 14:06.410 --> 14:11.030 So if there's one their queen for bishop, in fact, let's improve on that. 14:11.060 --> 14:12.560 Let's get the best version of events. 14:12.950 --> 14:15.470 What's even stronger than Queen 64? 14:17.610 --> 14:19.060 Always try for the very best move. 14:19.380 --> 14:24.190 In fact, there is also a famous quotation, when you say a good move, look for an even better one. 14:24.600 --> 14:25.610 There's an even better one. 14:25.740 --> 14:27.430 You can actually play the check first. 14:28.230 --> 14:32.780 Hold that excitement in for a moment and then take the queen even better version of events. 14:33.180 --> 14:35.150 You want the best possible version of events. 14:35.940 --> 14:37.250 So that's a well known trap. 14:37.800 --> 14:40.230 So usually they won't be doing that. 14:41.190 --> 14:46.310 You know, maybe they they've actually done some homework on this and they play something else. 14:46.770 --> 14:55.040 There's a high class waiting move over, high class waiting move here, which is basically seven next 14:55.200 --> 14:58.710 hour, another kind of former world chess champion. 14:59.280 --> 15:02.350 And games can be very, very interesting from here. 15:03.270 --> 15:07.350 In fact, you can treat this as a gambit situation. 15:07.350 --> 15:12.550 You can actually Castle, he might think, oh, this is crazy social. 15:12.870 --> 15:16.140 You mean give up the pawn deliberately now without any backfire? 15:16.650 --> 15:17.190 That's right. 15:17.760 --> 15:26.880 This position after 93, you're trading off some pawns in the center for some tempo gains, the Black 15:26.880 --> 15:28.410 Kings and the center for a while. 15:29.400 --> 15:36.410 Check out some steam games from this position to get an idea of plans that you can proceed with. 15:36.930 --> 15:38.940 So this is good for testing. 15:39.540 --> 15:43.620 When you have all the pieces out, can you do some tactical damage to the opponent? 15:44.340 --> 15:47.820 So Gometz, I fully recommend to newcomers to the game. 15:48.360 --> 15:53.640 You want to prioritize being strong in the middle game and in particular being strong tactically. 15:54.060 --> 16:00.990 When you play more open possessions and gambits like this, you're feeling the power of the pieces, 16:01.380 --> 16:04.500 hand-to-hand combat before trench warfare. 16:04.500 --> 16:07.860 If this is both scenarios, I do want to bring words together. 16:08.250 --> 16:14.790 But this is more direct combat, which when you first start chess and, you know, gambits are really 16:14.790 --> 16:18.360 good for feeling the power, the pieces, feeling the tactical possibilities. 16:18.870 --> 16:22.010 So this is a well known gambit, which you might want to try as well. 16:22.410 --> 16:26.490 So this whole advanced version is actually rather exciting as it. 16:27.120 --> 16:30.360 So you've got very, very exciting possibilities here. 16:31.110 --> 16:34.230 So just to give you a brief overview again. 16:34.770 --> 16:39.930 Oh, last but not least, OK, we mentioned the exchange rate earlier. 16:40.200 --> 16:46.860 If you want to be super boring and just have a kind of, you know, maybe positions like this and then, 16:47.220 --> 16:48.900 you know, it's dull, it's dull. 16:49.920 --> 16:55.320 But, you know, that's why they play symmetrical power structures in world championships. 16:55.320 --> 16:58.110 It's very, very popular thing to bore everyone to death. 16:58.350 --> 17:00.540 They don't want to lose, especially with the black pieces. 17:01.560 --> 17:05.460 So often you get symmetrical pull structures in world championships. 17:06.240 --> 17:10.050 But Magnus Carlsen has been spicing things up with the Sicilian defense recently. 17:10.350 --> 17:12.390 So somewhat suspicious. 17:12.870 --> 17:15.450 But anyway, that's an the side. 17:15.930 --> 17:24.090 There's also this system of Bishop Differe as the, you know, Bishop defraying. 17:25.610 --> 17:32.660 At Move Free here is interesting, I move free, and if they take, you can actually drop the bishop 17:32.660 --> 17:35.030 that's Africanness has its own peculiarities. 17:35.870 --> 17:38.210 So this is a real sideline to investigate. 17:38.210 --> 17:39.620 It's not one of the main lines. 17:40.100 --> 17:41.450 It's a sideline to investigate. 17:41.810 --> 17:47.030 And you often develop the night onto Itoh and this kind of thing. 17:47.630 --> 17:49.550 If you don't mind playing an end game out. 17:49.560 --> 17:50.690 Well, kind of queens. 17:50.690 --> 17:51.170 Off you go. 17:51.200 --> 17:52.480 Persistent pressure here. 17:52.790 --> 17:57.140 It takes the opponent our book, but it's not my cup of tea. 17:57.140 --> 18:04.370 Personally, my recommendations for you in a nutshell include my top recommendations. 18:04.370 --> 18:06.380 The Rhatigan had a blast with that. 18:06.380 --> 18:11.540 I've had a blast of kings into the tank, you know, different and that than thinking to the bishop 18:11.540 --> 18:11.960 later 18:15.080 --> 18:15.920 the winner. 18:16.460 --> 18:25.040 So Difford the free invite the pen and get this in balance and learn how to play essentially with the 18:25.040 --> 18:26.480 bishop without accountable. 18:26.780 --> 18:32.000 It's wonderful if you can experience sacrificing pawns and not squares or winning on the dark squares 18:32.000 --> 18:32.390 later. 18:32.690 --> 18:34.970 This is what the five -- chain is about. 18:34.970 --> 18:38.960 Again, fundamentals of -- try to come into this entire discussion. 18:39.440 --> 18:44.960 The French defense is very much about pawns and their structure in various forms. 18:45.410 --> 18:47.330 So here is an E5 -- chain. 18:47.810 --> 18:54.140 We've also noticed that if we played the trash, we get an isolated Queen's -- situation potentially 18:54.140 --> 18:56.450 emerging in the terrorist operation. 18:57.560 --> 19:03.320 If they play like this again, pros and cons understanding different -- structures will enrich your 19:03.320 --> 19:07.160 experience of chess pawns of the soul of chess as well as all outside. 19:07.610 --> 19:11.840 So the task is very interesting and the advanced version is very interesting for the post. 19:11.840 --> 19:15.260 You can get out of that sometimes an aggressive gambit. 19:17.720 --> 19:22.700 If you want to bore yourself and your opponent, 865, you might get a small edge. 19:22.700 --> 19:26.600 Sometimes there are ways of getting sometimes an annoying edge. 19:27.410 --> 19:30.320 The more research you do, the more likely that's going to happen. 19:31.730 --> 19:36.380 And there's this obscure Paul George, you like my good friend Paul George, you, he likes to bore 19:36.380 --> 19:43.280 to death and me and my other friends, sometimes with his obscure, dull openings that I just I'm just 19:43.280 --> 19:43.490 kidding. 19:45.080 --> 19:47.600 But if you want to play this, this is a sideline, OK? 19:47.600 --> 19:49.120 But for me, you know, I like the game. 19:49.140 --> 19:53.210 It's like the tactical passion of the game. 19:53.210 --> 19:53.720 So. 19:54.620 --> 19:55.070 Yeah. 19:56.680 --> 19:58.280 There's options here to explore. 19:59.560 --> 20:01.280 There's something very, very exciting. 20:02.000 --> 20:05.100 Sorry, sorry, we haven't talked about the classical version. 20:05.770 --> 20:08.610 Let's go back DeFore D5. 20:08.690 --> 20:13.410 What if after free they didn't pay, they don't have to pay you. 20:13.570 --> 20:21.040 In fact, they can encourage you to close the centre up with access to the classical version. 20:21.070 --> 20:24.340 I have a fantastic proposal for you. 20:24.540 --> 20:27.340 We're going to run the gamut. 20:28.000 --> 20:29.440 Bishop G5 and don't. 20:29.630 --> 20:34.870 This has been tested at the top echelons of of amazing super engine chess. 20:35.290 --> 20:42.300 Stronger than any super grandmasters of this on that show is actually remarkably a sound idea. 20:42.670 --> 20:44.710 So you kick the mike back and you play. 20:44.710 --> 20:48.520 This is the alkene shattered combat. 20:50.240 --> 20:51.280 Fantastic stuff. 20:52.260 --> 20:58.770 Truly, this is in the classical variation, so the classical version, if they take this and this happens, 20:58.770 --> 21:03.110 you play nice actually with tempo and research some STEM games from here. 21:03.810 --> 21:07.910 That's a very, very exciting stuff based on the dynamics of the position. 21:07.920 --> 21:14.490 When I say the dynamics, the active rook, the potential for constant coincide later and I hope again 21:14.820 --> 21:21.020 for later very, very exciting possibilities can arise in these kind of scenarios. 21:22.130 --> 21:23.010 Very exciting. 21:24.240 --> 21:31.300 So, yes, I don't have to if you play 93, be prepared also for this. 21:31.300 --> 21:33.570 Don't have sex, the classical variation. 21:33.930 --> 21:42.540 So I'd recommend as top choice Bishop G5 there is also a Stalinist regime of E5 and you have to kind 21:42.540 --> 21:43.470 of know what you're doing. 21:43.470 --> 21:48.030 Sometimes you need to be able to play a move like this to support the -- chain and you have to know 21:48.030 --> 21:49.500 what you're doing to maintain the -- chain. 21:49.710 --> 21:50.880 There are perks to be had. 21:50.880 --> 21:52.110 You got a space advantage. 21:52.500 --> 21:54.210 There are ups and downs for both sides. 21:55.170 --> 22:02.430 OK, now this lecture, believe me, you can get whole books on specific variations of the French defense. 22:02.430 --> 22:05.010 Chess is a gigantic game. 22:05.910 --> 22:12.420 I'm just giving you in this lecture a really brief overview of the French defense. 22:13.020 --> 22:20.310 Look out for the imbalances and I would urge you to see what imbalances excite you. 22:21.450 --> 22:26.220 Chess is so vast they almost cannot align to your personality and interests. 22:26.340 --> 22:27.750 It's such a vast game. 22:28.080 --> 22:37.020 It's an expression of art in a way that, in fact, even your choice of playing the French defense might 22:37.020 --> 22:39.630 reflect some Petrosian traits in you. 22:39.820 --> 22:45.510 Petrosian hated losing and he played the French defense because it's actually sometimes really difficult 22:45.510 --> 22:47.100 to beat, especially the way Petrosian played it. 22:47.340 --> 22:50.910 It often calls the queen side his king was snug as a bug. 22:53.940 --> 22:58.260 And yeah, look at some games of Petrosian for failing the French defense. 22:58.560 --> 22:59.520 That's the world champion. 22:59.520 --> 23:06.360 That and McRobert bottleneck, both major French defense exponents more than grandmasters. 23:06.540 --> 23:08.460 Ruzena Cobian who have met. 23:09.120 --> 23:13.890 He's a major French defense expert, a US grandmaster. 23:14.130 --> 23:16.980 So it's still alive and kicking at the top levels. 23:17.280 --> 23:20.340 It's generally regarded as a little bit passive. 23:20.670 --> 23:26.970 But from the complete newcomers perspective to chess, I don't recommend it in general, especially 23:26.970 --> 23:29.790 if you're if you're wanting to improve your tactical abilities. 23:30.120 --> 23:35.160 Even think of having chosen WAS in his early career, was very much more aggressive and tactical in 23:35.160 --> 23:36.120 some of the stuff he played. 23:36.480 --> 23:38.450 But yeah, I wouldn't recommend it. 23:39.300 --> 23:40.890 I'm just giving an awareness of it. 23:41.130 --> 23:48.840 It's essential in chess lives that in other lectures have the awareness first, that's non-controversial, 23:49.140 --> 23:50.240 the awareness of something. 23:51.810 --> 23:54.540 See what it can do for you maybe is your cup of tea. 23:55.800 --> 23:57.570 I just know I had one season. 23:57.570 --> 23:58.740 I was playing the French defense. 23:58.740 --> 23:59.910 I had a miserable season. 24:00.300 --> 24:06.720 I switched the Sicilian defense the the next season and I had much better results because Paul George, 24:06.720 --> 24:09.990 you actually noticed this, that he thought, why am I playing French? 24:09.990 --> 24:11.310 Defense doesn't affect my style. 24:11.640 --> 24:14.520 It fits Paul George's style affects my fits. 24:14.520 --> 24:17.370 Alekseyev Lonza style much more, my good friend. 24:17.370 --> 24:18.090 And it's a contest. 24:19.350 --> 24:25.710 You know, you need to find what works for you in openings, what ones fits your personality and style. 24:26.280 --> 24:31.080 So anyway, but you definitely need an awareness of all the key variations. 24:31.410 --> 24:36.630 And if you're playing on the white side, of course, you need to know those ones where the imbalances 24:36.630 --> 24:40.080 really match your interests and development needs. 24:40.080 --> 24:47.310 In chess, I'd say early development needs in chess to maximize your tactical understanding, your visualization, 24:47.910 --> 24:50.700 your calculation skills, your evaluation skills. 24:51.090 --> 24:52.560 So you're calculating a few moves ahead. 24:52.560 --> 24:58.470 You also need to carefully evaluate who's actually doing better and not just on material. 24:58.470 --> 25:03.090 You know, there's multiple ways of evaluating positions, you know, king safety, pawn structure, 25:03.420 --> 25:05.640 and they're also trading off against each other. 25:05.820 --> 25:07.200 Chess is a very complicated game. 25:07.650 --> 25:10.380 But anyway, the French defense in a nutshell. 25:12.490 --> 25:13.120 And so much.