The French Defence is a chess opening. It is characterised by the moves
- 1. e4 e6.
The French has a reputation for solidity and resilience, though it can result in a somewhat cramped game for Black in the early stages. Black often gains counterattacking possibilities on the queenside while White tends to concentrate on the kingside.
Read more about French Defence: Basics, General Themes, Main Line: 3 Nc3 (Paulsen Variation, ECO: C10), Exchange Variation: 3.exd5 Exd5, Advance Variation: 3 E5, Tarrasch Variation: 3 Nd2, Early Deviations For White, Early Deviations For Black, History, ECO Codes
Famous quotes containing the words french and/or defence:
“In comparison to the French Revolution, the American Revolution has come to seem a parochial and rather dull event. This, despite the fact that the American Revolution was successful—realizing the purposes of the revolutionaries and establishing a durable political regime—while the French Revolution was a resounding failure, devouring its own children and leading to an imperial despotism, followed by an eventual restoration of the monarchy.”
—Irving Kristol (b. 1920)
“What cannot stand must fall; and the measure of our sincerity and therefore of the respect of men, is the amount of health and wealth we will hazard in the defence of our right. An old farmer, my neighbor across the fence, when I ask him if he is not going to town-meeting, says: “No, ‘t is no use balloting, for it will not stay; but what you do with the gun will stay so.””
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)