Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e6/2. d4/2...d5/3. e5

Advance French C02 French defence 3. e5 · Advance variation White advances their e-pawn. They gain some space and prevent Black from developing their king's knight to its most natural square f6. Because Black's position is somewhat cramped at the moment, they usually decide to undermine White's pawn chain, which hinders Black from developing the pieces of their kingside to good squares. This is typically done by attacking the base of White's pawn chain―d4―by playing 3...c5. The c5 pawn break is critical. 3. Nc6?, which prevents Black from moving the c-pawn, affords White an easy game. A couple of other sidelines have been tried to resolve the problem of Black's queenside "French bishop", which is difficult to develop actively as Black's e6 pawn does not look to be going anywhere. 3...b6, intending ...Bb7 and hoping that they will be able to one day open the long diagonal by freeing their d5 pawn, or ...Ba6 to trade their "bad" bishop for White's "good" one. 3...Bd7, called the Extended bishop swap, where Black would like to trade off bishops, eg. 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 Bb5 6. O-O Bxd3 7. Qxd3. Theory table 3...c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Be2 Nge7 7. Na3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nf5 9. Nc2 Qb6 10. O-O Rc8 Advance variation 3. ... ... 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bd3 cxd4 6. O-O Nimzowitsch system 3. ... ... 4. dxc5 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bxc5 6. Bd3 f6 7. Qe2 fxe5 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. Qxe5 Nf6 Steinitz variation - 3. ... ... 4. Qg4? cxd4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bd3 Qc7?! 7. Bf4 Nge7 8. O-O Ng6 Nimzowitsch attack - 3...b6 4. c3 Qd7 5. Nf3 Ba6 6. Bxa6 Nxa6 + 3...Bd7 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 Bb5 6. O-O Bxd3 7. Qxd3. Extended bishop swap + 3. ... ... 4. ... c5 5. c3 Qb6 Wade variation(by transposition) References See also French Defence