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In ChessBase Magazine #178 (June/July 2017) Georgios Souleidis takes a look at 3.Bd3 against the French — a real surprise weapon. For many French players this move is so surprising that they refrain from the main move 3...dxe4 to try alternatives:
Souleidis analyzes the alternatives as well as the main lines and recommends moves and set-ups for both sides. It is striking how many games the Ukrainian GM Vladimir Onischuk has played — and won! — with 3.Bd3. Further down you'll find a selection of his games.
Souleidis starts his article with an analysis of 3...Nf6. After 4.e5 Nfd7. White profits from the fact that his knight on b1 has not moved yet. But neither is 3...c5 the perfect solution for Black — 4.exd5 exd5 5.Nf3 leads to a kind of Exchange Variation in which the early ...c5 might once turn out to be weakening though objectively the position after 5.Nf3 should still be equal.
Critical is 3...dxe4 4.Bxe4 Nf6 5.Bf3. Now Black can play 5...Nbd7 or 5...Nc6 to prepare ...e5, but much more popular is 5...c5 and now play most often continues with 6.Ne2 Nc6 7.Be3.
a) Now 7...e5 can be answered with 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.dxe5 which leads to an endgame "that is slightly better for White".
b) After 7...Nd5 8.Bxd5 Qxd5 9.Nbc3 Black should snatch the pawn with 9...Qxg2. This is a bit surprising and in most games Black has played the weaker 9...Qc4 but according to Souleidis Black should be able to equalize after 9...Qxg2. However, here it is useful to know what you are doing because finding the right defence at the board is difficult.
c) However, the most popular line is 7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 Ne5 9.Nc3 and now Black should be able to equalize after 9...Bb4 10.Ndb5 Bd7. However, in practice White has done well in this position.
To sum up: Black has several ways to equalize but Souleidis' analyses also show that the line is relatively unexplored and offers room for further theoretical research.
