Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e6

French Defence
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/4p3/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w
Moves: 1. e4 e6
ECO code: C00-C19
Parent: King's Pawn Opening

1... e6 - French Defence

After 1. e4 Black plays e6 signifying their intent to play the French Defense. The move 1... e6 bolsters support for the coming advance d7-d5, providing Black with a good stake in the center and allowing Black to decline recapturing with the queen after the plausible continuation exd5. In most lines White will follow up with 2. d4, with Black's only serious reply to this being 2... d5 (over 154 times more popular than 2... c5 in master play.)

Theory Table

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation.

1. e4 e6
	2	3	4	5
Main line	d4 d5	Nc3 Nf6	Bg5 Be7	e5 Nfd7	=
Main line / Transposition	Nc3 d5	d4 Nf6	Bg5 Be7	e5 Nfd7	=
King's Indian Attack	d3 d5	Nd2 Nf6	Ngf3 b6	g3 dxe4	=
Two Knights Variation	Nf3 d5	Nc3 d4	Ne2 c5	b4 e5	∞
Chigorin Variation	Qe2 c5	Nf3 Nc6	g3 g6	Bg2 Bg7	=
Rubinstein Variation	d4 d5	Nc3 dxe4	Nxe4 Nd7	Nf3 Ngf6	-=

References

• Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.

• Modern Chess Openings: MCO-14. 1999. Nick de Firmian, Walter Korn. ISBN 0-8129-3084-3.

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.