The Rubinstein Variation of the French Defence (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4) often proves difficult for White to crack. Sure, you have a lot of space, but Black's position is very solid. After the main moves 4.Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6, White has so far mostly tried 7.c3 or 7.Bd3. In the new ChessBase Magazine #204 Martin Lorenzini presents a new idea with 7.Be3!? which could prove to be a worthwhile alternative to the well-known theoretical variations. Curious? Here's an excerpt of his article.
Pogorelov
Rostovskaya-oblast
Russia
Vienna
Wien
Austria
Netherlands
Dutch
Petra-papp
Sergey-grigoriants
Alexey-kuzmin
Spyridon-kapnisis
€189.90
Viktor Moskalenko defuses (White) set-ups without d2-d4
After
we reach the starting position of our survey. Black has made the classical Dutch Stonewall moves, while White hasn t committed himself yet as to his d- and b-pawn. Here I would like to share my experience against the plans with
6.d3 (English style) or
6.b3 (Réti style), i.e. without d2-d4. These may sometimes transpose. Since White s play is initially more obvious, I had to look for new ideas for Black. So in practice I have achieved very good results from this position (see database!), mainly due to a good understanding of the plans for both sides. Therefore, I would recommend you to trace the evolution of the development of different options.
Italy
Gorbatov
Nizhegorodskaya-oblast
Russia
Netherlands
Belgrade
Serbia-general
France
French
Italian
Dutch