Fighting French Defense

Great info, as i am learning abt french defense so therefore i picked up this course to start my chess journey.

french

The Fighting French

As a lifelong French Defense player I was curious to see the lines recommended in The Fighting French. I was impressed to see how many new lines I learned in this course. The recommendation against the Advance variation with 4...Nc6 and 5...Nge7 was completely new to me and so far has scored well for me in classical OTB games, it seems that most of my opponents were also surprised by this move order. I was aware of the Burn variation, but I never studied the lines with 8...a6 so that was also a great addition to my repertoire. I used to play the Syeinitz variation with an early 6...c5xd4 to cut down on the amount of theory but I see that by studying the key variations given in the course one can confidently enter the main lines with 6...Nc6. Finally, I checked the lines given against off-beat variations such as 2.c4 d5 3.cd5 ed5 4.Qb3 and iI found them very useful. I particularly like the fact that all Chessgoals courses offer a PGN file, I printed the file because I prefer to study the old fashioned way with a board rather than online. My rating: 5 out of 5

The Guillotine is Sharp and Ready

Review-Gareth Harding-22/03/2024-FIDE 1821 Standard-1865 Rapid This course I feel is just perfect for club players rating range up to 2000 -possibly higher. My reasoning is based on clarity and the manageable variation length, on average around 13 moves, more depth is given where needed, variations covered are the Advance ,Exchange, Classical with 4.e5 and Classical with 4.Bg5, Tarrasch, Two Knights ,Kings Indian attack. Some of my favoured points are ...The course comes with a quick start guide , this will get you up and running ,quickly getting a feel for the opening .In the main course the Classical variation with 4.Bg5 Is answered with the Burn 4.....dxe4 avoiding the fearsome Alekhine Chatard Attack, The Exchange variation finds Black mainly castling Queenside with some ensuing sharp and Interesting play ,The Advance variation is very popular at club level, this is covered more than adequately, interesting lines are given where white attempts both solid and aggressive approaches. Downloadable PGN files are given for all chapters these I have loaded myself into Chessable for repetition training. Course Presented by Justin Storn and Lucas Heberke. The verbal delivery in my opinion is set at a perfect pace for its targeted audience. Well done Guys. This is my 4th course purchased from the ChessGoals team, Overall a great course and well worth the money.

Much more than an opening course!

This is my favorite opening course (on any platform) and I am now exclusively playing the French Defense. The lines are very well curated for club players, but what I appreciate most is the annotations and presentation of the lines. I feel like I am learning a lot about chess by slowly making my way through the course (more than just about the opening). As I spend more time on this course and playing the French, I feel like things are starting to crystallize and I can understand how the opening ties in with the middlegame and dictates the direction of the game. The French seems to be an opening that rewards its devotees for sticking with it, as some understanding is required, but as you start to get that base of understanding, you want to learn more. I have always struggled studying openings (historically I have found it so boring and frustrating) and have on multiple occasions considered throwing in the towel on chess because I so detest opening study - but amazingly, I actually enjoy studying this course, so for me it is a game changer. I like to set up my physical chess board and study one section at a time, going through each line a couple times and making the moves on the board, while trying to cement the important ideas in that line. It is like feedback loop that seems to work (possibly because the lines are well curated to be synergistic). I'm beyond happy with this course.