French Defense - Good or Bad for Beginners?

An opening is suitable for beginners if the moves are rooted in fundamental opening principles. If the opening requires pure memorization or a deeper understanding of chess, it isn't recommended for beginners.

The question can be rephrased as: How basic are the moves Black plays in the French Defense?

First off, 1...e6 feels a bit weird since it only moves one square while White’s pawn moves two. It seems like Black is already behind in terms of space. This is just a first impression, but beginners playing as Black might not like it and may wonder why they are supposed to play that way.

Of course, the idea is to strike with d5, a clever counter-attack in the center involving a two-move plan. For a complete beginner, that’s significant but not overly complex.

It also works well for covering the classic f7 weakness, which is often exploited by White in 1. e4 e5 openings. In the French, if White makes the common beginner mistake of playing Bc4, that bishop is just begging to be hit by the pawn, and Black comes out on top.

So far, this looks great, and for a player who is completely new to chess, playing 1...e6 would even be okay.

However, after 2. d4, our beginner-level student should be able to explain the purpose of this central strike. If they understand the importance of central control and gaining space, they’re ready to play the first two moves of the French. But if they don’t understand why d5 is played, the French Defense probably isn’t the right opening for them — at least not yet.

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By the way, if you prefer video format, check out my YouTube channel for a video on the same topic: Is the French Defense Good for Beginners?

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Black’s achievements include advancing a pawn to control the center, gaining some space, and challenging White’s central pawn. Since White can’t develop as they’d like until they address the threat to e4, Black gains a bit of initiative.

However, if the term 'initiative' is unfamiliar to our beginner, it might feel like just another abstract chess concept. Even terms like 'space' and 'space advantage' might not be clear to a beginner.

Moving on, White opts for 3. e5, extending their space advantage. Now, Black might start to wonder what they’ve done and if there’s any room to develop. They know they should begin developing their pieces after moving one or two pawns to control the center.

However, the correct move is not to develop but to play 3...c5, which gains space and aims to immediately challenge White’s central advantage. There’s no time to develop slowly because there’s no good way to do so until White’s center is addressed. The key question is: is this concept known or easy to understand for a beginner-level player?

Let’s consult Lichess database of players with around a 1000 rating and see what it reveals:

Out of 2.5 million games, Black played 3...c5 in 40% of them. The second most popular move is 3...Nc6 (28% of the games), which goes against the whole point of the French Defense. Black can't challenge White’s central pawns effectively until this knight moves again and frees the c-pawn, which is unlikely since the knight has just been developed to c6.

The fourth most common move by Black is 3...Bb4+, which actually helps White create an even better pawn structure.

Finally, the fifth most popular move — with almost 100,000 beginners standing behind it - is 3...c6, which makes no sense at all.

All this clearly shows how tough and out of reach this opening is for beginners.

Of course, they can learn to play moves they don’t fully understand, but that’s not the kind of chess you want to play. Eventually, you’ll be out of book and won’t have a clue about what you’re facing on the board.

But let’s assume they know that in the French Defense, Black should attack the base of White’s pawn chain, the d4-pawn, with their pawn rather than the knight. For White, this is intuitive play; they’ll easily find the best move to connect their pawns. Black continues to apply pressure on d4 with their knight, while White develops with Nf3, adding a defender to d4 and moving towards the center.

Here, a beginner faces a conflict between two different concepts: on one hand, they’re advised to continue attacking the d4-pawn, while on the other hand, they’re told not to bring the queen into play too soon. In this situation, their coach should explain why involving the queen is acceptable here, while it’s generally not advisable in most other cases. The coach’s arguments should be clear and logical, but it’s understandable if beginners struggle with these nuances, as otherwise, they wouldn’t be beginners.

If we go back when White could have played 3. Nc3, things get even more complicated. What should be done with the d5-pawn, and should we develop knights before bishops, as the guidelines suggest? There are simply too many concepts involved, making it unrealistic for a beginner to fully understand and play effectively.

Let me show you another interesting finding from the same database of players around a 1000 rating. Black plays 3...Bb4, and although White often blunders the e4-pawn, we’ll continue with the best move — 4. e5. The most common move by far is the poor 4...Bxc3! Instead of waiting for White to play a3 first, Black gives away their better bishop without any real reason. There’s no logic to this move, nor any understanding of how crucial this bishop is for controlling the dark squares in Black's camp. As a result, Black is immediately worse.

Of course, a beginner can play random moves, and it might not significantly affect the outcome if their opponent is also new to chess. However, if they play poor opening moves, there’s no real benefit in developing an opening repertoire. It’s often better to play moves that come naturally rather than following the French Defense’s first two moves, only to end up with a lack of space, weak dark squares, a vulnerable king, or other issues.