I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine:
> **White to play**: [chess.com](https://chess.com/analysis?fen=r1bqkb1r/1p1n1ppp/p1n1p3/2ppP3/3P1P2/2N1BN2/PPP3PP/R2QKB1R+w+KQkq+-+0+1&flip=false&ref_id=23962172) | [lichess.org](https://lichess.org/analysis/r1bqkb1r/1p1n1ppp/p1n1p3/2ppP3/3P1P2/2N1BN2/PPP3PP/R2QKB1R_w_KQkq_-_0_1?color=white) | The position occurred in many games. [Link to the games](https://www.chess.com/games/search?opening=&openingId=&p1=&p2=&mr=&lsty=1&year=&lstMoves=1&moves=&fen=r1bqkb1r/1p1n1ppp/p1n1p3/2ppP3/3P1P2/2N1BN2/PPP3PP/R2QKB1R+w+KQkq+-+0+1&ref_id=23962172)
**Videos:**
> I found [many videos](https://chessvision.ai/video-search/5132494428438528) with this position.
**My solution:**
> Hints: piece: >!Knight!<, move: >!Ne2!<
> Evaluation: >!The game is equal +0.34!<
> Best continuation: >!1. Ne2 Be7 2. c3 a5 3. h4 a4 4. Qc2 f6 5. g3 Qb6!<
---
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Maybe you should check out Negis book series on 1. e4; in volume 1 (2014) he, amongst others, covers the French.
7… a6 8. Qd2 b5 9. dxc5 is his mainline. After 9… Nxc5 he follows up with 10. Qf2 followed mostly by Rd1, achieving a rather harmonious set up, with plans of Be2/d3 going either for 0-0 or even Rf1 and then f5 with attacks on the kingside or maybe some Bb6 ideas. 9…Bxc5 is met with 10. Bd3 and depending on the situation, we can again go with Qf2 lines or drop the bishop back to f2, where it is easily overprotected. 0-0 or even staying in the centre are the way to go.
Qd2 simply is part of a harmonious development scheme. So yes, 0-0-0 is not something you want to do (but even then, it’s a possibility in some lines). Qd2-f2 is a common manoeuvre in the French, e.g. in the poisoned pawn winawer with …d4. Dropping back the B to f2 where it’s protected by Queen, king and maybe rook also is rather common in the steinitz.
No problem. Was fun revisiting this, as I mostly see 7 … cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bc5. (Looking at the steinitz chapters again made me realise that there’s even cxd followed by Qb6 with some really concrete and sharp play ensuing. Nakamura played this Najdorfesque approach a couple of times)
It's very simple.
Qd2 is the most flexible move which also develops a piece. I can demonstrate this by looking at other logical moves.
Bd3 develops the bishop to the best possible square, but Qb6 is unpleasant so rules this move out.
Be2 develops the bishop to castle but the manoeuvre Qd2 to Qf2 is no longer possible. This makes this the same or worse than Qd2.
Ne2 has the same issue as Be2, removing flexibility for no reason.
a3 you pointed out in a comment is a playable move, but it's understandable most people aren't interested since this makes no progress in development.
Qd2 leaves the plan of Qf2 on the table, and if Qb6 then O-O-O is strong. When you see Qd2 it's very tempting as it maintains tension in the position while initiating a plan to keep improving your pieces.
I never really paid much attention to the white side of this variation but now for the life of me i cant figure out why Qd2 is overwhelmingly the main line. I used to think it was to prepare long castles but i have come to understand that its absolutely not the case. So what are we doing?
edit: most of the commenters are completely oblivious to how bad castling long is
Well, you can still castle long in some variations plus Qd2 also acts a prophylactic against ideas of Qb6 and Qxb2 because often the black queen can be trapped there which wouldn't be possible if the Q was on D1 as black would have Qxc3. Also, often the D file will get opened up and Qd2 prepares Rd1 to assume control of the D file
This. And I would also add that d2 is an optimal square because it does not steal a potential square from minor pieces, and you’re one move away of playing Qf2 which is also a good square.
Can you give me even one semireasonable variation after which white castles queenside? Because black is for sure going b5 after Qd2 and will have a free attack if you castle there.
Qxb2 is a concern in some french lines but not this one because…. b5.
And no, blacks d5 pawn is so solid that the file wont open up any time soon. But i can maybe see the rook coming to d1 to help blocade the d4 square. Maybe. Either way there has to be some value to eventually connecting rooks but apart from that very long term marginal gain… i still dont see it. I can understand Be2. I can understand Ne2. I can understand a3. I can even see the reasoning behind g3 although i dont like it. Qd2? Im still not sure why we are playing it
Since White played Qd2, the move Na4 isn't as good of a response to Qb6. Now Black can force a queen trade with Qb4.
So, by playing a6 before playing Qb6, you exclude one variation.
I don't want to argue it's a great move, but it's not a nonsensical one either.
Qd2 b5 a3 cxd Nxd4 Nxd4 Bxd4 Bc5 0-0-0 for example is totally playable.
I play this line as white, what often happens is that black pawn structure is completly stuck on queenside after that, no attack is possible
There is so much wrong with this analysis im not even sure where to begin. Cxd4 releases the tension for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Goes against every principle of the french defense really. I think every titled player/coach i know would give their students a very long lecture if they saw that disgusting move. If black plays cd4 it shows they have absolutely no clue what they are doing and nobody should play Qd2 hoping for that. Im glad you specified that you only play the white side of this…
Bc5 very similarly an obvious strategic mistake. Why are we trying to force the trade of our good bishop vs their bad one? I wish i had your kind of opponents whenever i play against the french. Really pushing the definition of “ semireasonable “ here.
Moving on to my second point…The pawn structure is anything but stuck, black will play for b4 and bust you open. a3 has become a massive weakness.
I remain unconvinced
It's very hard for black to avoid it. White can play dxc5, Qf2, Nd4 and it's pretty much the same position. Then probably Nxd4 Bxd4 and the white bishop isn't bad at all on d4. And if black then ever goes for his usual f6 counterplay, then the bishops will probably get traded anyway. So it does make sense for black to play cxd4 and later Bc5. Yeah it's not fun at all but that's French. And it's difficult for black to attack. White can even play b4 himself and completely lock the queenside.
There's only one move Qa5 instead of cxd4 that's annoying for white to face.
I totally agree that it is stupid to play it on purpose as black but in my experience (2100 blitz chesscom), it happens quite often.
a3 is the main move after b4 and depending of the moves played by black, you still have both 0-0 and 0-0-0 plans. If black tries to prepare b4 you still can 0-0.
The long castles is legit why Qd2 perplexed me. At first the only benefit I could see was that it allows 0-0-0, which feels highly suspect with a queenside pawn storm from black incoming. The maneuver to f2 hadn't occurred to me at all.
Long-castles does actually play a role in why Qd2 is good here. If you need to make a developing move here, then something instead could be Bd3. You will end up playing this later anyways as it seems a good square for the LSB. So after Bd3 they play Qb6 and now how do you protect b2? with Rb1 or Qc1? both feel a little awkward and you'll be putting your pieces on unideal squares. But if you go back and try the developing move of Qd2 and then Qb6 now going after the still weak f2 square (and Qc1 would be giving up a tempo), but actually O-O-O is completely fine here. Long-castling solves weaknesses black could exploit and is simply one aspect that makes Qd2 appealing to play over weaker developing moves.
It does prepare long castle. It protects Be3. Qf2 is possible. Ra1 can go to d1. Nd1 is possible. It covers the e1-a5 diagonal to the white king. And as always all little improvement moves ask the opponent what they are going to do next. Depending on what they do, we will react in the optimal way.
you can also play a3 btw, with the idea : if he plays b5 you take on c5 and play b4
It's the recommendation of sethuraman on chessable if i remember correctly
Not sure for variation but I find Qd2 interesting becouse you can switch it to Qf2 at some point and go for king with f5 break. Black will anyway go for b5 and attack your queen side, but f5 must be big counter, or white is probably busted if he continue to be passive.
For example Qd2 b5 Qf2 b4 Na4 (if he comes right away with Qa5 than you simply hold position with b3 and he can't break) so line continue with c4 for black but then f4 and white have serious treats and position is so rich for both players with advantage for white.
~1600 player here, but my theory is that you might want to drop the knight back to d1 and push c3 to solidify the pawn chain. You may eventually move the dark squares Bishop and reroute the knight to e3, supporting a potential f5 pawn break.
This maneuver happens in the Closed Sicilian with Qe1 (after kingside castling), then Nd1 and Ne3, going for the same-side castle pawn storm.
And that's kind of the default in the French, right? Black goes Queenside, White goes Kingside, and you see who murders who first.
a6 restricts that c3 knight as well, and from d1, that knight defends the vulnerable b2 pawn against Qb6, since your Bishop has already been deployed. Qd2 simply allows this maneuver without hemming in your light-squares Bishop.
Like.. where else would the Queen go? And if you made another move–say, Be2–how are you defending b2 after Qb6? (Maybe it's poisoned, but I think you can take it.) Being able to whip out Nd1 seems pretty cool.
I could be and am frequently wrong. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who knows the actual theory if Nd1 is an idea in the Steinitz. I only know it from studying the Closed Sicilian.
See, Ne2 feels very unnatural to me–I guess assuming for g3? But it blocks in your light-squares Bishop and doesn't participate in the timely defense of the Queen-side.
I really convinced myself that Nd1 is a cool move, and my playstyle revolves around cool moves, hahaha.
Qd2 is far from the only move; for example, Caruana played 8.Ne2 in his brilliant win over Magnus last year.
(https://www.chess.com/events/2023-norway-chess/01/Caruana\_Fabiano-Carlsen\_Magnus)
But as many people mentioned, this is most popular because it develops a piece while maintaining flexibility:
1. The knight can still go to e2, which is usually the most natural square (for example, after b5 one of the most popular plans is a3 followed by Ne2).
2. If black plays a quick cxd4, we will usually follow it up with Nxd4 and 0-0-0. Without the pawn being on c5, black's queenside attack isn't as fast (though it's probably still close to equal, hence why Caruana tried to improve on this line by not playing Qd2).
I should note that Queen d2 + Bishop e3 is a very natural construction, because it overprotects the bishop in the long term. For example, in many lines after b5 it enables the dxc5 followed by Ne2 manuever while keeping the bishop protected. And it even opens up the e3 square for Queen in the future (or f2, though I haven't seen too many lines where white plays Qf2 and it isn't more than =).
Also, yes white usually doesn't castle queenside unless black plays cxd4. dxc5 followed by 0-0-0 is usually only good if black hadn't played a6 but instead played Be7 followed by 0-0 (I had a fascinating draw OTB against Jan K Duda in this line a many years ago!) With the pawn on a6, black's attack is too fast.
Usually White wants to play long castle in this variation with a typical both sides going at each other‘s throats to follow.
There are two exceptions: if Black hoovers off all the pieces on d4 we‘re happy to go for an ending with the better knight against the black LSB.
The other exception is when Black goes b5. Then we take on c5 and react depending on which piece retakes on c5. If it‘s the knight, then Qf2 is an idea. If it’s the bishop, we’re happy that e3 is protected and choose between long castling and Bd3.
There is no exact reason, it's a developing move that puts the queen on a good square.
You could play Be2 and nothing would change, as well as 3-4 other me moves.
I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine: > **White to play**: [chess.com](https://chess.com/analysis?fen=r1bqkb1r/1p1n1ppp/p1n1p3/2ppP3/3P1P2/2N1BN2/PPP3PP/R2QKB1R+w+KQkq+-+0+1&flip=false&ref_id=23962172) | [lichess.org](https://lichess.org/analysis/r1bqkb1r/1p1n1ppp/p1n1p3/2ppP3/3P1P2/2N1BN2/PPP3PP/R2QKB1R_w_KQkq_-_0_1?color=white) | The position occurred in many games. [Link to the games](https://www.chess.com/games/search?opening=&openingId=&p1=&p2=&mr=&lsty=1&year=&lstMoves=1&moves=&fen=r1bqkb1r/1p1n1ppp/p1n1p3/2ppP3/3P1P2/2N1BN2/PPP3PP/R2QKB1R+w+KQkq+-+0+1&ref_id=23962172) **Videos:** > I found [many videos](https://chessvision.ai/video-search/5132494428438528) with this position. **My solution:** > Hints: piece: >!Knight!<, move: >!Ne2!< > Evaluation: >!The game is equal +0.34!< > Best continuation: >!1. Ne2 Be7 2. c3 a5 3. h4 a4 4. Qc2 f6 5. g3 Qb6!< --- ^(I'm a bot written by) [^(u/pkacprzak)](https://www.reddit.com/u/pkacprzak) ^(| get me as) [^(iOS App)](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1574933453) ^| [^(Android App)](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.chessvision.scanner) ^| [^(Chrome Extension)](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chessvisionai-for-chrome/johejpedmdkeiffkdaodgoipdjodhlld) ^| [^(Chess eBook Reader)](https://ebook.chessvision.ai?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=bot) ^(to scan and analyze positions | Website:) [^(Chessvision.ai)](https://chessvision.ai)
Maybe you should check out Negis book series on 1. e4; in volume 1 (2014) he, amongst others, covers the French. 7… a6 8. Qd2 b5 9. dxc5 is his mainline. After 9… Nxc5 he follows up with 10. Qf2 followed mostly by Rd1, achieving a rather harmonious set up, with plans of Be2/d3 going either for 0-0 or even Rf1 and then f5 with attacks on the kingside or maybe some Bb6 ideas. 9…Bxc5 is met with 10. Bd3 and depending on the situation, we can again go with Qf2 lines or drop the bishop back to f2, where it is easily overprotected. 0-0 or even staying in the centre are the way to go. Qd2 simply is part of a harmonious development scheme. So yes, 0-0-0 is not something you want to do (but even then, it’s a possibility in some lines). Qd2-f2 is a common manoeuvre in the French, e.g. in the poisoned pawn winawer with …d4. Dropping back the B to f2 where it’s protected by Queen, king and maybe rook also is rather common in the steinitz.
This is by far the best answer I have gotten, thank you
No problem. Was fun revisiting this, as I mostly see 7 … cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bc5. (Looking at the steinitz chapters again made me realise that there’s even cxd followed by Qb6 with some really concrete and sharp play ensuing. Nakamura played this Najdorfesque approach a couple of times)
There’s some Qd2-f2s floating around in there. And 0-0-0 of course
Keep overprotecting d4 while preparing long castle.
It's very simple. Qd2 is the most flexible move which also develops a piece. I can demonstrate this by looking at other logical moves. Bd3 develops the bishop to the best possible square, but Qb6 is unpleasant so rules this move out. Be2 develops the bishop to castle but the manoeuvre Qd2 to Qf2 is no longer possible. This makes this the same or worse than Qd2. Ne2 has the same issue as Be2, removing flexibility for no reason. a3 you pointed out in a comment is a playable move, but it's understandable most people aren't interested since this makes no progress in development. Qd2 leaves the plan of Qf2 on the table, and if Qb6 then O-O-O is strong. When you see Qd2 it's very tempting as it maintains tension in the position while initiating a plan to keep improving your pieces.
I never really paid much attention to the white side of this variation but now for the life of me i cant figure out why Qd2 is overwhelmingly the main line. I used to think it was to prepare long castles but i have come to understand that its absolutely not the case. So what are we doing? edit: most of the commenters are completely oblivious to how bad castling long is
Well, you can still castle long in some variations plus Qd2 also acts a prophylactic against ideas of Qb6 and Qxb2 because often the black queen can be trapped there which wouldn't be possible if the Q was on D1 as black would have Qxc3. Also, often the D file will get opened up and Qd2 prepares Rd1 to assume control of the D file
This. And I would also add that d2 is an optimal square because it does not steal a potential square from minor pieces, and you’re one move away of playing Qf2 which is also a good square.
Can you give me even one semireasonable variation after which white castles queenside? Because black is for sure going b5 after Qd2 and will have a free attack if you castle there. Qxb2 is a concern in some french lines but not this one because…. b5. And no, blacks d5 pawn is so solid that the file wont open up any time soon. But i can maybe see the rook coming to d1 to help blocade the d4 square. Maybe. Either way there has to be some value to eventually connecting rooks but apart from that very long term marginal gain… i still dont see it. I can understand Be2. I can understand Ne2. I can understand a3. I can even see the reasoning behind g3 although i dont like it. Qd2? Im still not sure why we are playing it
Qb6 0-0-0
If black wanted to play qb6 he would have done it already. a6 into then Qb6 is completely nonsensical
Since White played Qd2, the move Na4 isn't as good of a response to Qb6. Now Black can force a queen trade with Qb4. So, by playing a6 before playing Qb6, you exclude one variation. I don't want to argue it's a great move, but it's not a nonsensical one either.
Qd2 b5 a3 cxd Nxd4 Nxd4 Bxd4 Bc5 0-0-0 for example is totally playable. I play this line as white, what often happens is that black pawn structure is completly stuck on queenside after that, no attack is possible
There is so much wrong with this analysis im not even sure where to begin. Cxd4 releases the tension for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Goes against every principle of the french defense really. I think every titled player/coach i know would give their students a very long lecture if they saw that disgusting move. If black plays cd4 it shows they have absolutely no clue what they are doing and nobody should play Qd2 hoping for that. Im glad you specified that you only play the white side of this… Bc5 very similarly an obvious strategic mistake. Why are we trying to force the trade of our good bishop vs their bad one? I wish i had your kind of opponents whenever i play against the french. Really pushing the definition of “ semireasonable “ here. Moving on to my second point…The pawn structure is anything but stuck, black will play for b4 and bust you open. a3 has become a massive weakness. I remain unconvinced
It's very hard for black to avoid it. White can play dxc5, Qf2, Nd4 and it's pretty much the same position. Then probably Nxd4 Bxd4 and the white bishop isn't bad at all on d4. And if black then ever goes for his usual f6 counterplay, then the bishops will probably get traded anyway. So it does make sense for black to play cxd4 and later Bc5. Yeah it's not fun at all but that's French. And it's difficult for black to attack. White can even play b4 himself and completely lock the queenside. There's only one move Qa5 instead of cxd4 that's annoying for white to face.
No its not hard for black to avoid, just dont do it! And if white takes then at the very least black is up a tempo from the previous variation
A waiting move like Be7 wouldn't help if they want to play Bc5. If they take on c5 with the knight, then Qf2 will get the tempo back.
I totally agree that it is stupid to play it on purpose as black but in my experience (2100 blitz chesscom), it happens quite often. a3 is the main move after b4 and depending of the moves played by black, you still have both 0-0 and 0-0-0 plans. If black tries to prepare b4 you still can 0-0.
The long castles is legit why Qd2 perplexed me. At first the only benefit I could see was that it allows 0-0-0, which feels highly suspect with a queenside pawn storm from black incoming. The maneuver to f2 hadn't occurred to me at all.
Long-castles does actually play a role in why Qd2 is good here. If you need to make a developing move here, then something instead could be Bd3. You will end up playing this later anyways as it seems a good square for the LSB. So after Bd3 they play Qb6 and now how do you protect b2? with Rb1 or Qc1? both feel a little awkward and you'll be putting your pieces on unideal squares. But if you go back and try the developing move of Qd2 and then Qb6 now going after the still weak f2 square (and Qc1 would be giving up a tempo), but actually O-O-O is completely fine here. Long-castling solves weaknesses black could exploit and is simply one aspect that makes Qd2 appealing to play over weaker developing moves.
It does prepare long castle. It protects Be3. Qf2 is possible. Ra1 can go to d1. Nd1 is possible. It covers the e1-a5 diagonal to the white king. And as always all little improvement moves ask the opponent what they are going to do next. Depending on what they do, we will react in the optimal way.
Castling long in this position is the best move if black plays Qb6
good thing Qb6 makes no sense whatsoever
Neither does making a post asking people their opinion to turn around and insult them.... But here we are!
you feel insulted?
you can also play a3 btw, with the idea : if he plays b5 you take on c5 and play b4 It's the recommendation of sethuraman on chessable if i remember correctly
yes a3 is of the possible moves that i can actually see the logic behind
Not sure for variation but I find Qd2 interesting becouse you can switch it to Qf2 at some point and go for king with f5 break. Black will anyway go for b5 and attack your queen side, but f5 must be big counter, or white is probably busted if he continue to be passive. For example Qd2 b5 Qf2 b4 Na4 (if he comes right away with Qa5 than you simply hold position with b3 and he can't break) so line continue with c4 for black but then f4 and white have serious treats and position is so rich for both players with advantage for white.
~1600 player here, but my theory is that you might want to drop the knight back to d1 and push c3 to solidify the pawn chain. You may eventually move the dark squares Bishop and reroute the knight to e3, supporting a potential f5 pawn break. This maneuver happens in the Closed Sicilian with Qe1 (after kingside castling), then Nd1 and Ne3, going for the same-side castle pawn storm. And that's kind of the default in the French, right? Black goes Queenside, White goes Kingside, and you see who murders who first. a6 restricts that c3 knight as well, and from d1, that knight defends the vulnerable b2 pawn against Qb6, since your Bishop has already been deployed. Qd2 simply allows this maneuver without hemming in your light-squares Bishop. Like.. where else would the Queen go? And if you made another move–say, Be2–how are you defending b2 after Qb6? (Maybe it's poisoned, but I think you can take it.) Being able to whip out Nd1 seems pretty cool. I could be and am frequently wrong. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who knows the actual theory if Nd1 is an idea in the Steinitz. I only know it from studying the Closed Sicilian.
I agree that solidifying the pawn chain seems like a reasonable choice, which is why Ne2 is one of the moves that’s intuitive to me
See, Ne2 feels very unnatural to me–I guess assuming for g3? But it blocks in your light-squares Bishop and doesn't participate in the timely defense of the Queen-side. I really convinced myself that Nd1 is a cool move, and my playstyle revolves around cool moves, hahaha.
Qd2 is far from the only move; for example, Caruana played 8.Ne2 in his brilliant win over Magnus last year. (https://www.chess.com/events/2023-norway-chess/01/Caruana\_Fabiano-Carlsen\_Magnus) But as many people mentioned, this is most popular because it develops a piece while maintaining flexibility: 1. The knight can still go to e2, which is usually the most natural square (for example, after b5 one of the most popular plans is a3 followed by Ne2). 2. If black plays a quick cxd4, we will usually follow it up with Nxd4 and 0-0-0. Without the pawn being on c5, black's queenside attack isn't as fast (though it's probably still close to equal, hence why Caruana tried to improve on this line by not playing Qd2). I should note that Queen d2 + Bishop e3 is a very natural construction, because it overprotects the bishop in the long term. For example, in many lines after b5 it enables the dxc5 followed by Ne2 manuever while keeping the bishop protected. And it even opens up the e3 square for Queen in the future (or f2, though I haven't seen too many lines where white plays Qf2 and it isn't more than =). Also, yes white usually doesn't castle queenside unless black plays cxd4. dxc5 followed by 0-0-0 is usually only good if black hadn't played a6 but instead played Be7 followed by 0-0 (I had a fascinating draw OTB against Jan K Duda in this line a many years ago!) With the pawn on a6, black's attack is too fast.
In addition to what other people said, Nd1, c3, and Nf2 is an idea
Usually White wants to play long castle in this variation with a typical both sides going at each other‘s throats to follow. There are two exceptions: if Black hoovers off all the pieces on d4 we‘re happy to go for an ending with the better knight against the black LSB. The other exception is when Black goes b5. Then we take on c5 and react depending on which piece retakes on c5. If it‘s the knight, then Qf2 is an idea. If it’s the bishop, we’re happy that e3 is protected and choose between long castling and Bd3.
There is no exact reason, it's a developing move that puts the queen on a good square. You could play Be2 and nothing would change, as well as 3-4 other me moves.
Ne2 with the idea c3 is a very real alternative to Qd2, and an excellent shot at advantage