Understanding the French A Fighting Repertoire for Improvers PGN Only Oct 10, 2025 Chessable

Learn Lifelong Chess Skills
with This Original French Repertoire

We know the French Defense as one of chess’ great classic openings, shaped by legends like Nimzowitsch and Rubinstein and played by modern stars like Radjabov and Ding.

Truly understanding an opening with such a rich history can be heavy work if you take the mainline approach.

But the good thing about the French is: you can make it your own, and train to understand your French better than anyone else.

This repertoire gives you an unusual, fighting French Defense that starts from solid, principled foundations, then deviates into unfamiliar territory. You’ll reach tactically and positionally rich positions — ideal for playing for a win with Black.

What matters more than memorizing theoretical lines here is understanding these types of positions and knowing how to handle them.

With this French Defense course, you won’t just deepen your opening skills. You’ll build lasting chess skills for handling the following dynamic themes:

🚀 Surprises & Seizing the Initiative

In most lines you’ll begin solidly, then pivot to uncommon continuations that surprise your opponent. They steer you into unfamiliar positions where active play and seizing the initiative are essential.

The following example against the Steinitz Variation captures that spirit perfectly:

The rare idea …Rb8!? may look slow at first, but in fact it is a venomous surprise weapon that prepares an expansion on the queenside. You’ll usually get a strong attack, especially if White castles long.

🧨 Material Sacrifices

The piece sacrifice in the previous line isn’t an exception: you’ll frequently part with a pawn, occasionally with an exchange, and even a queen sac isn’t off the table.

An example: against the Schlechter Variation, you’ll play the novelty 7…e5! — a pawn sacrifice meant to erode White’s center, which, in this case, culminates with a queen sacrifice: