Wanna Learn Napoleon's French Defence? Heres How!

“You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.” - Napoleon Bonaparte.
Before we begin, let me introduce you to the greatest War General of all time
"Napoleon, also Napoleon Bonaparte; "Napoleon Bonaparte ( Born a leader: 1769-1821), often known as Napoleon I, was a legendary and most powerful French military leader and emperor who conquered most of Europe in the early nineteenth century. Napoleon, who was born on the island of Corsica, moved quickly through the ranks of the French military during the French Revolution (1789-1799)."
Napoleon was the most powerful and greatest general of all time. He won 38 battles out of 43 and only lost five! His greatest victory was in the "Battle of Austerlitz" where he fought two emperors all at once with an army of 65,000-75,000 against both Austrian and Russian's merged army of a whooping 84,000-95,000! How did he beat them? With his mighty foot of a fierce and powerful Napoleonic army! "One sharp blow and the war is over" The Austrian and Russian armies lost over 16,000 of their armies whereas Napoleon's fierce army only lost 1,288!
Before his downfall. It took "One to Seven Coalition" from twenty-seven different alliances; United Kingdom Kingdom of Prussia Prussia Austria Kingdom of the France United Kingdom of the Netherlands Netherlands Duchy of Brunswick Brunswick Hanover Nassau Württemberg Tuscany Russia Baden Kingdom of Bavaria Bavaria Denmark Liechtenstein Portugal Sardinia Saxony Sicily Spain Sweden Switzerland against France Napoleon and his fearless Napoleonic Followers. Just imagine that. Even Austria decided to join the coalition out of nowhere. Guess what? Before further progress can be made Napoleon with his swift mighty foot destroyed the Austrian army and annexed Austria. Just imagine how great of a commander Napoleon is! Napoleon made a lot of enemies either by betrayal or treason (Only limited to Non-French Napoleonic Alliance and Countries) but even so it took a whipping of twenty-seven just so Napoleon could finally kneel to surrender. Napoleon's foes took 50% of the overall casualties in contrast to Napoleon's mighty Army plus alliance.
What made Napoleon so powerful? To answer that particular question, Napoleon wrote, “the secret of great battles consists in knowing how to deploy and concentrate at the right time.” The birth of a victorious battle comes from “being always able, even with an inferior army, to have stronger forces than the enemy at the point of attack." His excellent relationship with his soldiers, his aptitude for planning, and his ingenuity all had a big impact. Napoleon's ability to concentrate on a single goal, though, was the key to his mighty success. Highly productive people, such as Napoleon, focus on one current task and one overarching aim. How frequently do we become sidetracked at work? How frequently do we leave projects unfinished? Successful individuals avoid these expensive "switches." It is impossible to be a world-class athlete in five sports. You cannot develop five businesses at the same time. You have limited resources, and they work best when they are concentrated.
A single-minded focus on your objective will increase your chances of success. Trying to multitask will only lower your chances of success. "The art of war lies on focusing very heavy fire on a single spot," Napoleon remarked of war, and his words are as true in a boardroom as they are on the battlefield.
Now how does this relate to the French Defence?
The ideal objective in the French Defence is of course to fight for the centre. White's e4 d4 set-up would be countered with e6 followed by a d5! thrust.
The French Defence has different objectives white's depending on alternative responses. It could be either find counterplay on the queenside or harass and break up white's central pawns. Napoleon's strategy is to focus on one main objective (depending on the response of the opponent) and we would learn from his wartime victorious words of successful advice.
https://lichess.org/@/ShreksGonGiveItToYa/blog/wanna-learn-napoleons-french-defence-heres-how/ijycER2dBut the most common response for white against the French Defence is the "Advance variation" with 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5! "White gains some space advantage immediately, and prevents Black from developing their king's knight to its most natural square f6. Because Black's position is somewhat cramped at the moment, he usually decides to undermine White's pawn chain on d4/e5, which hinders Black from developing the pieces of their kingside to good squares. This is typically done by attacking the base of White's pawn chain - d4 - by playing 3...c5."
Black's main objective would be to assault white's centre. White shortly would have to give up his centre because the pressure would have been too much!
In the other variation of the French Defence such as the Exchange, Classical, Tarrasch, and onwards. White would have to shift his attention to either the queenside or the centre as well. Those are the main two objectives. (with an exception of white deciding to attack, Napoleon himself also defends if he has to.)
So our main objectives in the French are...
1. Attack the centre, Black would continuously pressurize the centre till white overpress and have to give in to black's objective goal. (Either with c5 and f3. Both of which are necessary for the upcoming play)
https://lichess.org/@/ShreksGonGiveItToYa/blog/wanna-learn-napoleons-french-defence-heres-how/ijycER2dhttps://lichess.org/@/ShreksGonGiveItToYa/blog/wanna-learn-napoleons-french-defence-heres-how/ijycER2d2. Attack and find counterplay on the queenside (White usually expands on the kingside. in contrast black has the queenside, and black has the queenside)
https://lichess.org/@/ShreksGonGiveItToYa/blog/wanna-learn-napoleons-french-defence-heres-how/ijycER2d3. Defend and counterattack white's assault. White usually finds counterplay on the kingside in the Advance Variation of the French Defence. White would exhaust his effort on the kingside since it is primarily black's weakest spot on the Advance. Black would then focus on the objective. To attack the centre. If ever the attack on the centre slightly backfires. Black would have to attack the queenside and find play in there.
4. 4 In the French, once you see your opponent building up an attack or tactical sequence of move on whatever it may be (on the kingside, centre, or even the queenside.) You would have to separate your forces into different distinctive divisions. One to be reinforced and deflect white's attack in either whatever direction it may be. Two, three and onwards would have to shift its attention to the main objective of attacking the centre or the queenside. (If the attack cannot be deflected by a single division, then I'm afraid you have to merge and bring whatever you can to amend such assault)
5. Use your mind, critical thinking is the key to success. How do you expect winning battles like Napoleon himself if you heavily rely on theoretical preparation?
6 Common Sense. I don't think I even need to explain this. This is pretty much self-explanatory
Well, that's all, the second text would have been my previous opening introduction on both my Interactive and Non-Interactive Chess course. (You can skip reading that if you like and end here) I heavily invested my time in creating this study. It took me 4 months to finish (alongside working with Caro Kann) without the help of others. So I hope that my study is meaningful and helpful. If there are any errors or typos please DM me or post it to our Lichess team. lichess.org/team/kampfschach If you have any suggestions feel free to DM me or post them again on the chess team. That's all! Cheers!
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 { I'm sure that many of you have heard of the French Defence. The French Defence is a dynamic and solid defence against the move; pawn to e4. It is also easy to play and doesn't offer that many problems or challenges in the opening compared to the Sicilian Defence. Growing up I've always hated the French Defence and I saw it as something that should not be played. Steinitz once said that the French Defence is the dullest opening of all time. I agreed with that, I did not play the French Defence for a couple of reasons. One is that the light square bishop is bad and it would ultimately be a big problem for black. Two it offers weaknesses on the kingside. Most of the black pieces usually aim at the queenside which leaves the black king either in the centre or castle. The problem is if black castles white can keep on attacking black until black surrenders. But the thing is I didn't know that the bad light square bishop can be of service despite it being stuck behind the light square pawn chain! First, the light square bishop can be fianchettoed on b7. Black can also put the light square bishop on d7 followed by e8. Once f3 is played black can then proceed to put his light square bishop on h5! Things are different because of this! Black can also play Qb6 shortly and exchange light square bishop with Bb5! Other alternatives include the a6 pawn push followed by Bb5!
https://lichess.org/@/ShreksGonGiveItToYa/blog/wanna-learn-napoleons-french-defence-heres-how/ijycER2dNow as for white's spacious advantage black can combat that with c5 and f3. They are the key important breakthroughs in the French Defence. Honestly, I love the French Defence and it deserves a lot of respect. As a Caro Kann Player and an e4 player, I often frowned upon the French Defence and it isn't something of good defence to meet the move e4. Why is that? Well, my first reason is that the French Defence blockades the LSB (Light Square Bishop) which turns it into a horrible and passive bishop. The second reason is that black often has a weakness around their central pawn. A permanent
weakness which would ultimately cause Black's downfall in the upcoming future. That is the e pawn. In most positions, the e pawn often serves as a backward pawn which would serve as a permanent weakness around Black's position. Third of all the French Defence gives white a spacious advantage with the advanced variation of the French Defence. White often gets an overextended central control which may cause black challenges alongside White's attack on the kingside. Forth the French Defence's kingside is often attacked by White forces. Since black often attacks and reinforces his pieces on the queenside white often attacks the kingside. In many positions, there is only a knight that can be quickly of service to reinforce a complicated defence and a rook that was placed on the f8 square due to Black's castling manoeuvre. But then there came a time when I switched my opening defence against e4 from Sicilian Defence to Caro Kann. The Sicilian Defence did bring me a fair amount of victories but It didn't suit my style of playing chess. I prefer to play quiet games with little risk involved and a guaranteed safe investment in my vision and plan. I like to play Positionally instead of aggressive play. The Sicilian was heavy on theory and difficult to play because there are several moves and variations where black has to play a sequence of moves to keep up with a good position. So I decided to switch to the Caro Kann Defence which I used to frown upon because the Caro Kann once again gives white a spacious advantage. I studied the Caro Kann for a long time and I thought for a moment "It isn't so bad after all! It's good!" Black does not have to worry about White's spacious advantage and initiative since it often neutralizes black, who is exhausting his effort in breaking up White's fortified central control!

But then there came a time when I went with my family for a seven-seven-day on, roughly fifteen hours long trip!
I brought my Laptop during this time and I have many PGNS and Chess Books that I can study alongside in my free time on the trip! After a long day of pleasure experience. I was tired and I didn't seemingly have the effort to read or study chess via PGNS or PDFS. I began to crave Chess Courses that were in video format. At first glimpse Chessable is a great idea until you find out that you don't have internet. So out of desperation, I began to find any MP4, MOV, CBV, DVD etc.
I was finding out whether I have some video courses I left on my computer or hidden somewhere. With tough luck, I remembered that I do not have any video courses downloaded because they take many spaces. I was unhappy and disappointed but then I found Simon William's "Killer French Defence DVD"
At first sight It certainly wouldn't interest me since I don't like the French Defence. But then I began to take notice of it and finally caricatured "Fine I'll do it!"The DVD was old and I do not even remember where that DVD came from.

But it certainly didn't disappoint me! I was educated on how the French Defence works and my doubts and questions that hindered me from being in favoured of the French Defence were suddenly changed. The French Defence is beautiful! It changed my perspective towards the French Defence. I usually get bored when it comes to watching Video courses. Many Chessable courses bore me but I won't mention them. Regardless of whether I spent tens of hours on that particular course, it didn't even bore me! I was even fascinated and filled with joy! I learned that the French Defence is a beautiful opening!
Thanks to GM Simon KIm WIlliams for countless of hours work done to give us instructive and educational Chess courses! All for the best @GingerGM!

Here's my link to my Interactive Napoleonic French Defence (Interactive)

Here's my link to my Non-Interactive Napoleonic French Defence (Non-Interactive)
https://lichess.org/study/wXXtCxpM/dXjzwQCq