French Defence
Also called French.
Black prepares ...d5 to challenge the centre, accepting a cramped but solid position.
After 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5, the pawns lock. Black is solid but the light-squared bishop on c8 is often shut in, so freeing it is a theme of the whole game.
New to chess? The examples here use it. Play your first moves (five minutes), then learn chess from the beginning, one short lesson at a time.
Want more? Puzzles on this from real games, on Lichess, free and with no account. They are not counted in your progress here.
Learn and practise it
- Lesson: A map of the openings