C10 French with 3.Nc3: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...dxe4 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 5.Nf3 Bc6 6.Bd3 Nd7 7.O-O Ngf6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.Nxf6+ Bxf6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Be2)

In my many games over the years, French Defense is most likely one of the rarest occurring opening. Despite that fact, I would like to at some point learn it so that I could play with both colors with some confidence. Well, actually I would like to at some point rotate between a lot openings without the result suffering in the process. It is an ambitious plan I have to admit and I may never achieve it but I am still going to try my best, for what it is worth.

[Event "ICC 15 0"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2011.07.02"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "Kanenda"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C10"] [WhiteElo "1836"] [BlackElo "1840"] [Annotator "Tactical Analysis 2.10 (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "2011.??.??"] {[%evp 20,66,0,-8,13,0,15,-14,0,-13,0,-20,-22,-16,-27,-21,0,0,0,-5,0,0,0,0,0, -17,-3,-30,-32,-47,67,-185,27,-104,56,0,135,-268,-262,-438,-433,-479,-471,-749, -754,-733,-722,-29987,-29988]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 {C10 French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Fort Knox Variation} 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8. Bg5 Be7 9. Nxf6+ Bxf6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 {[%tqu "En","","","","d3e2", "",10]} 11. Be2 $1 {C10 French with 3.Nc3: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...dxe4 } O-O 12. c3 (12. Re1 Rad8 13. c3 b6 14. Qc2 Bb7 15. Rad1 c5 16. a4 cxd4 17. Nxd4 Ne5 18. f3 Nc6 19. Nb5 Qe7 20. Bd3 h6 21. Qf2 Rd7 22. Rd2 Rfd8 23. Red1 Ne5 24. Bf1 Rxd2 25. Rxd2 Rxd2 26. Qxd2 Qc5+ {Poetsch,L (1946) -Kolb,V (1674) Willingen 2017 1-0 (43)}) 12... Rfd8 $146 (12... Rad8 13. Qd2 (13. Qc2 Qf4 14. Rad1 h6 15. Nd2 e5 16. Bf3 Bxf3 17. Nxf3 e4 18. Nd2 f5 19. Nc4 b5 20. Ne3 c6 21. Rde1 Qg5 22. f4 Qg6 23. a4 a6 24. axb5 axb5 25. Ra1 Ra8 26. Rxa8 Rxa8 27. Qb3+ Kh8 {Castellanos Silva,A-Thilaganathan,J (1906) Chalkidiki 2007 0-1 (41)}) 13... b6 14. Rad1 Bb7 15. Qe3 c5 16. Ne5 cxd4 17. cxd4 Bd5 18. b3 Qe7 19. Rc1 Rc8 20. Ba6 Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Nxe5 22. dxe5 Qa3 23. Bc4 Bxc4 24. Rxc4 Qxa2 25. h4 Rd8 26. h5 h6 27. Rg4 {Litwak,A (2168)-Bjelajac,M (2370) playchess.com INT 2003 0-1 (64)}) (12... Bxf3 13. Bxf3 c6 14. Re1 Nb6 15. Qc2 Rfd8 16. a4 Nd5 17. a5 Rac8 18. Qb3 Rd7 19. Rad1 Ne7 20. Re3 Rcd8 21. Qa4 Rd6 22. Qb4 R6d7 23. Qc5 a6 24. Rde1 Qf5 25. Re5 Qc2 26. Qb4 Nd5 27. Bxd5 {Lutring, A (2015)-Decsey,K (2005) Paks 1996 1/2-1/2 (50)}) 13. Qc2 b6 {The position is equal.} 14. Rfe1 Bb7 15. Bd1 c5 16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Re3 Ba6 18. Be2 Bxe2 19. Qxe2 Qf4 20. Nd4 Qc7 21. Qg4 Rd5 22. Rae1 Rad8 23. Rg3 {[#]} g6 24. h4 Rh5 {0.67/29} (24... e5 $15 { -0.47/27} 25. Nf5 Kf8) {[%tqu "En","","","","g4h5","",10]} 25. Nf3 $2 {-1.85/ 24 [%mdl 8192]} (25. Qxh5 $1 $14 {0.67/29 stays ahead.} Qxg3 {[%tqu "En","","", "","h5h7","", 10]} 26. Qxh7+ $1 {[%mdl 512]} (26. fxg3 gxh5 27. a3 Kg7 $15) 26... Kxh7 27. fxg3) {[%tqu "En","","","","c5d3","",10]} 25... Rdd5 $2 {0.27/27 } (25... Nd3 $1 $19 {-1.85/24} 26. Re3 (26. Qxh5 $2 Nxe1 27. Qg4 Rd1 $17) 26... Nf4) {[%tqu "En","","","","c3c4","",10]} 26. Ng5 {-1.04/26} (26. c4 $1 $11 { 0.27/27} Rdf5 27. Nd4) 26... Kh8 $2 {0.56/28 [#]} (26... h6 $17 {-1.04/26} 27. Nf3 Rhf5) {[%tqu "En","","","","c3c4","",10]} 27. Rf3 {0.00/32} (27. c4 $1 $14 {0.56/28} Rf5 28. Rf3 Rxf3 29. Qxf3 (29. Nxf3 e5 $11)) {[%tqu "En","","","", "h5g5","",10]} 27... f5 {1.35/27} (27... Rhxg5 $1 $11 {0.00/32 remains equal.} 28. hxg5 Nd3 29. Rxd3 Rxd3) 28. Qh3 $2 {-2.68/24 [%mdl 8192]} (28. Qc4 $16 { 1.35/27 and life is bright. aiming for b4.} Qd7 29. Rfe3 Rxg5 30. hxg5) { [%tqu "En","", "","","h7h6","",10]} 28... h6 $1 $19 {[%mdl 32]} 29. g4 $2 { -4.38/26} (29. Nxe6 {-2.62/30} Nxe6 30. Qg3) 29... fxg4 30. Qxg4 hxg5 31. Rf8+ {-7.49/25} (31. b4 $142 {-4.71/26} Rxh4 32. Rh3) 31... Kg7 32. Qf3 Rf5 33. Qa8 Rxf8 {Accuracy: White = 15%, Black = 26%.} 0-1