What to do against the French? Sergei Tiviakov recommends 3.Nd2!

by Markus Hochgräfe
5/5/2017 – Sergei Tiviakov knows how to win against the French: by playing 3.Nd2! The renowned author and grandmaster regularly plays this move which has brought him a score of about 80% against the French. On a ChessBase DVD he revealed the secrets of this line. French expert Markus Hochgräfe had a close look at the DVD - and was impressed.

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Review: Sergei Tiviakov: The French Defence. 3.Nd2: a complete repertoire

Sergei Tiviakov is an active grandmaster who likes to travel and to play tournaments all over the world. He is also a renowned trainer and author of 14 ChessBase DVDs. In October 2005 he was among the world’s best 20 players.

On this DVD Tiviakov presents a repertoire for White against the French Defense that is based on 3.Nd2, the Tarrasch Variation. Tiviakov is one of the leading experts of this line and it helped him to a fantastic score against the French.

The DVD contains an incredible amount of material:

  • 20 chapters of video lessons. These chapters are sometimes up to 40 minutes long. As far as I can see Tiviakov covers everything White should know but also shows a lot of additional options.
  • 218 games (some of them annotated) in which French expert Georg Meier plays with Black “C00-C19-MeierBlack”. Not all of these games feature the Tarrasch Variation – it’s basically a collection of Meier’s French games with Black.
  • 230 games (all of them uncommented) in which Tiviakov plays with White against the French “C03-C11-Tiviakov”.
  • 312107 games (all of them uncommented) with the Tarrasch Variation “C03-C11”.
  • A short theoretical overview of the Tarrasch “French with Nd2”
  • 236 chapters with detailed theoretical analyzes: “C03-C11-ECO”
  • 6 questions with interactive training

Overview of the chapters:

000-intro: Why Tiviakov prefers 3.Nd2 versus 3.Nc3
001-sidelines: 3…f5 and other sidelines
002-3a6: 3…a6 4.Ngf3
003-3b6: 3…b6?! 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.Bd3
004-3nc6: 3…Nc6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Nb3
005-3be7: 3…Be7, various moves
006-3nf6part1: Side lines and main variation with 6.Bd3 and 11…Qc7
007-3nf6part2: Variation with 6.Bd3 and 11…0-0
008-3c55dcpart1: 3…c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.dxc5, game 1
009-3c55dcpart2: 3…c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.dxc5, game 2
010-3c55ngf3: 3…c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3
011-5a6: 3…c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 a6
012-5c4: 3…c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 c4!? 6.b3
013-5nf6: 3…c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 Nf6
014-5nc6: 3…c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd6 7.dxc5 Bxc5
015-3desidelines: 3…dxe4 4.Nxe4 sidelines
016-4be7: 3…dxe4 4.Nxe4 Be7?! 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Nxf6
017-4bd7: 3…dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 5.Nf3 Bc6 6.Bd3
018-4nd7: 3…dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7, several options for White
019-conclusion: Strongest variants as Black.

Sergei Tiviakov

As I have played the French with Black throughout my chess career I was curious where and why Tiviakov deviates from my own analyses. Here are my remarks:

000-intro: Tiviakov claims that objectively 3.Nc3 is the strongest move against the French. However, White runs a certain risk of losing against 3…Bb4, and that is the reason why Tiviakov prefers the more solid 3.Nd2 which has brought him a fantastic score of about 80% against the French. Other players who regularly play the Tarrasch with success are Michael Adams and Sergey Rublevsky.

004-3nc6: 3…Nc6 was often played in the past but is no longer popular.

005-3be7: 3…Be7 is a good move according to Tiviakov. Now, he does not like the line 4.e5 c5 5.Qg4 too much for White but instead prefers 4.Bd3 or 4.c3.

006-3nf6part1: 3…Nf6 is the most popular move against 3.Nd2. But Tiviakov likes the positions that arise after this move and he has scored 87% (!) against 3…Nf6. Sergey Volkov is the only top grandmaster who still plays 3…Nf6 with Black. After the sequence 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 Tiviakov recommends 6.Bd3 and claims that 6.f4 is weaker (or at least riskier). However, in the theory section he does not cover the critical line 12.Nc3. See the game Jansa-Langrock.:

 
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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.f4 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qb6 8.g3 Be7 9.Bh3 cxd4 10.cxd4 f6 11.Ne2 0-0 12.Nc3 fxe5 13.Bxe6+ Kh8 14.Nxd5 Qa6 15.Nxe7 Nxe7 16.Bb3 exd4 17.Qe2 Qxe2+ 18.Kxe2 Nc6 19.Bd2 Nc5 20.Bd5 Re8+ 21.Kd1 Nd3 22.Be1 Ncb4 23.Bxb4 Nxb4 24.Bf7 Bg4 25.Bxe8 Bxf3+ 26.Kd2 Bxh1 27.Re1 Rc8 28.Ba4 Bc6 29.Bb3 Bd5 30.Bxd5 Nxd5 31.Re4 Kg8 32.Rxd4 Nf6 33.f5 Rc5 34.g4 Rd5 35.Rxd5 Nxd5 36.a3 h5 37.gxh5 Kf7 38.Kd3 Ne7 39.Ke4 Kf6 40.a4 a5 41.Kd4 b6 42.Ke4 Kg5 43.Ke5 Nxf5 44.Ke4 Kg4 45.b3 Kg5 46.Kd5 Kxh5 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Jansa,V2465Langrock,H23980–12015C05BL2-Ost 15161.2

006-3nf6part2: In this line I found a strong novelty for White: After 12.Bf4 Bxf4 13.Nxf4 Ng4 14.g3 Qd6 Tiviakov claims that 15.Bxh7 leads to equality. But after 15…Kxh7 16. Ng5 Kg8 17.Qxg4 e5 18.dxe5! N White is simply better. After the main move 13…Ne4 Tiviakov shows several possibilities for White. He does not like 14.Ne2 or 14.Nh5 but prefers 14.Qc1 Ng5 15.Nxg5 Qxg5 16. Bxh7 Kxh7 17. Nxe6 Qf5! 18. Nxf8 Qxf8 with a slight advantage for White. I recently played an interesting game against German Grandmaster Niclas Huschenbeth with this line.

 
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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Nf3 Bd6 11.0-0 0-0 12.Bf4 Bxf4 13.Nxf4 Ne4 14.Qc1 Ng5 15.Nxg5 Qxg5 16.Bxh7+ Kxh7 17.Nxe6 Qf5 18.Nxf8+ Qxf8 19.Qg5 Bf5! Better than Qf5. Black should only go for the endgame if he has direct targets for an attack. 20.Rfe1 Rd8 21.Re3 Rd6 22.Rf3 Rf6 23.Re1 23.Rd1 Qf7 23...Kg8 24.g4 Be4 25.Rxf6 Qxf6 26.Qxf6 gxf6 24.g4 Bc2 25.Rxf6 gxf6 26.Qh4+ Kg7 27.Rd2 Be4= 23...Qf7 24.Rf4?! 24.Re5!? Nxe5 25.dxe5 Qe6 26.g4 Bxg4 27.exf6 Qe1+ 28.Kg2 Bxf3+ 29.Kxf3 Qd1+ 30.Kg2 gxf6 31.Qf5+ Kg7 32.h4 Qd4= 24.Ree3 Qg6 24.h3! Qg6 25.Qxg6+ Kxg6 26.Rd1 a6 24...Qg6! Black can exchange queens because the rook on f4 stands badly. 25.Qxg6+?! 25.Rh4+ improving the rook's position with tempo looks more logical. Kg8 26.Qxg6 Bxg6 27.a3! 25...Kxg6 26.f3?! 26.h4 a6 26...Bc2 26...Bd7 27.Rxf6+ gxf6 28.Kh2 Kh5 28...Kf5 29.f3 Nxd4 30.Rd1 Ke5 29.Kg3 Nxd4 26.Re3 Bb1 26...Nb4!? 27.Re3 27.Re7 Nd3 28.Rh4 Rc6 29.g4 Rc1+ 30.Kg2 Kg5 31.Rh8 Nf4+ 32.Kf2 Rc2+ 33.Kg1 Rc1+= 27...Nxa2 28.Re7 28.g4 Bc8 29.Rxf6+ Kxf6 30.Kf2 Nb4 31.h4 28...Re6! 29.Rc7!? This move came as a complete surprise to me. White tries to exploit the position of the knight on a2. 29.Rxb7?! Nc1 ...and Black's knight and rook start to become a formidable team. 30.Rh4 Re1+ 31.Kf2 Re2+ 32.Kg1 32.Kg3?! Rc2! 33.h3 Ne2+ 34.Kh2 Rd2 35.Rxa7 Nxd4 32...Rd2 33.Rxa7 Ne2+ 34.Kf2 Nxd4+= 29...Rb6? Black has no time to go pawn-grabbing. Activating the knight on a2 was more important. 29...Rc6! 30.Rxc6+ 30.Rxb7 Rc1+ 31.Kf2 Rc2+ 32.Kg1 32.Kg3 Nc1 32...Nc1 33.Rh4 a5= 30...bxc6 31.Kf2 30.g4+- Be6 31.Kg2?! 31.h4 is even stronger. 31...Rc6 31...Rxb2+ 32.Kg3 Nb4 33.h4+- 32.Re7!? Noch ein unerwarteter Zug. Weiss lässt die Aktivität des Turmes c6 nicht zu. / Another unexpected move. White does not allow the activity of the rook. 32.Rxb7 Nc1 32...Nc1 33.h4 Ne2 34.Rf8 Nxd4 34...Rb6 35.Kf2+- 35.h5+ Kg5 36.Kh3 g6 Niclas played the game very well and I thought that deserves to be crowned with a mate. 37.f4+ Kh6 38.Rh8# 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Huschenbeth,N2588Hochgraefe,M24111–02016C06HSK-Weihnachtsopen 20176

010-3c55ngf3: 4…Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4. Here Tiviakov offers a lot of theoretical material focusing mainly on the lines arising after 6…Qd6. However, the move 6…Qd7 which has recently become popular is not covered. The main ‘problem’ for amateur players in these lines (and this goes for the whole variation with 4…Qxd5) is that 10.Qxd4 leads to an ending in which White has virtually no risk of losing. This move is not often played on the highest level but it still is a problem when you want to play for a win with Black. But Tiviakov prefers 10.Nxd4 and he recommends to follow up with b3, Bb2, Qe2.

019-conclusion: 3…a6, 3…c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 and 3…dxe4. According to Tiviakov these are the most solid lines for Black in which it is very difficult to get an advantage for White.

Summary

Tiviakov presents a complete repertoire for White against the French and offers an incredible of material. In the videos he offers a comprehensive analysis of the opening, diving deeply into the theory. But for me the highlight of the DVD are the 236 chapters which offer a detailed theoretical overview of the Tarrasch Variation: “C03-C11-ECO”. So far, I have not seen anything better yet for this price. All in all I would give the DVD an ‘’A” and would recommend to buy it.

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Markus Hochgräfe was born in 1972 and is a FIDE-master from Germany. He is a former Hamburg youth champion and qualified several times for the German Youth Championships. In 2000, he played for Königsspringer Hamburg in the German Bundesliga. Hhe has a current Elo-rating (as of April 2017) of 2411.

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