The French Defence: The Stubborn Pawn That Refuses to Leave
By Cameron W. · Thu, 05 Nov 2026
From a letter war between London and Paris to the modern game, how the cramped but stubborn French Defence earned its place.
There is a special kind of courage in answering 1.e4 with 1...e6. It looks modest, almost shy, a pawn step that blocks your own bishop before the game has begun. And yet for nearly two centuries the French Defence has been one of the three most trusted replies to the king's pawn, beloved by fighters who would rather be cramped and dangerous than comfortable and equal. This is the fifth story in our series on the openings that shaped chess.
Born in a letter war between two capitals
The name comes from an 1834 correspondence match between London and Paris, according to Wikipedia, though the opening had been played earlier. The Paris team, including Jacques Chamouillet and Pierre de Saint-Amant, kept answering 1.e4 with 1...e6, and the opening took its name from the contest. Wikipedia credits Chamouillet with persuading his teammates to adopt it. A match played by post, between rival capitals, gave the opening a name that has never gone away.
Dull, said Steinitz. Not to everyone.
The first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, who gave his name to a classical line, called it "the dullest of all openings," Wikipedia says. Others saw a spring in the coil. Géza Maróczy was perhaps the first world-class player to make it his main weapon against 1.e4 in the early 1900s. Aron Nimzowitsch favored the Advance Variation with 3.e5, and Mikhail Botvinnik's work in the 1940s made 3...Bb4, the Winawer, the most common answer to 3.Nc3.
The bishop everyone talks about
Every French story comes back to one piece: Black's light-squared bishop, hemmed in by the pawn on e6. The cure is to strike at White's center with ...c5 or ...f6 and free it. Wikipedia points to Tarrasch against Teichmann at San Sebastián in 1912 as the classic example of what happens if the bishop never gets out, with Black nearly helpless by the end. Black's usual plan is to counterattack on the queenside while White presses on the kingside.
Weapons and specialists
Over the years the French grew a family of famous variations: the Tarrasch with 3.Nd2, which Anatoly Karpov used effectively in the 1970s and early 1980s, the Advance, revived in the 1980s by Evgeny Sveshnikov, and the Exchange, which Garry Kasparov briefly tried in the early 1990s before switching to 3.Nc3, according to Wikipedia. Its defenders have included Viktor Korchnoi, Wolfgang Uhlmann and Nigel Short, and modern names include Alexander Morozevich, Teimour Radjabov and Ding Liren. In early 2003, one source says, Radjabov beat Kasparov using it.
Still in the top three
For decades the French has been the third most popular reply to 1.e4, behind 1...c5 and 1...e5, and Wikipedia notes that around 2006 it briefly moved above 1...e5. The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings gives it the codes C00 to C19. Modern engines have not killed it, and one opening guide notes that they have even renewed interest in some older lines, such as the Classical Steinitz.
That is the charm of the French. It asks you to accept a worse-looking position in exchange for a plan, and it rewards the player who is patient enough to wait for the moment to strike.
