The Exchange French Comes to Life: Fresh Strategies to Play for a Win

About the Author\nAlex Fishbein is an American grandmaster. He has been competitive in each of his four U.S. Championship appearances, including in 2004 when he won the Bent Larsen prize for the most uncompromising chess.
2018, the year Alex turned 50, was perhaps his most successful year in chess so far. That year, Alex won the first Senior Tournament of Champions, modeled after the Denker tournament of which he was also the inaugural winner 33 years earlier. He also tied for second in the US Open and finished in the top 10 in the USCF Grand Prix for the first time.\nThe Vibrant Exchange French – No Longer Your Dull Draw!\nIn the first book ever exclusively devoted to the Exchange French Variation, American grandmaster Alex Fishbein recognizes that the Exchange French is an opening for a player who likes active piece play, fights for the initiative, excels in positions with possibilities on both sides of the board, and finds strategic and tactical nuances that arise out of almost nothing. And if you play the French as Black, then this book will help you deal with White's 3.exd5.\nAuthors of French Defense books from the black perspective have recognized for a while that there is no draw here at all and have proposed lines where Black can create interesting play. Indeed, both sides can create complications. The author shows that playing “boring” moves is actually risky with both White and Black. The Exchange French is a vibrant opening, just like any other, and yet there has been very little literature showing how to play it from the white side. That void is filled with this book.\n"While the main point of this book is to build a White repertoire, any player of the Black side of the French will benefit by reading it. A good number of the sample games end well for Black, whereas in the games in which White gains the upper hand, Fishbein is careful to note improvements for the second player. I have been playing and writing about the French Defense, including this variation, for many years, but I came across a lot that I hadn't known in nearly every sub-variation.\n“I suspect that most readers of this book will be pleasantly surprised to find out how rich the play can become in the French Exchange Variation. That alone is enough to reward a careful reading, and Fishbein's careful exposition of lines and strategies will undoubtedly translate into extra points over the board." – from the Foreword by John Watson\nExcerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.\nChapter 5
The 5...c5 Variation\nWhen your opponent takes what is meant for you...(56) Vojinovic – Nakhbayeva
Paracin 2014
French Defense [C01]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 c5!?
[Diagram]
This is a very ambitious response to the 5.Bd3 variation. Black is saying “I will play as if I am White in the Exchange French.”\nRecall that this position, colors reversed, is the starting position of the Uhlmann Gambit (accepted or declined). Black was able to equalize in the Uhlmann Gambit accepted, but was struggling to equalize in the Uhlmann Gambit declined. Will an extra tempo for White make the difference and lead to a white advantage here?\nWhite has two main moves here: 6.dxc5 and 6.0-0. In the first case, we get IQP-lite positions from Chapter 2, but with colors reversed! In the second case, Black will play as we did in the Uhlmann Gambit declined, with ...c5-c4. We first examine the IQP-lite position after 6.dxc5.\n6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3
[Diagram]
One of the luxuries of having an extra move is that you have time for this kind of prophylactic. If White is fighting for an advantage, it is best to prevent ...Bg4.\n8...Nc6\nBromann-Berg (Denmark 2008) continued 8...Qd6 here, and after 9.a3? Qg3! 10.Ng5? (10.Kh1 Bxf2 11.Nc3 Bxh3! 12.gxh3 Qxh3+ 13.Nh2 Bg3 14.Qe2 Ng4 15.Rf3 Qxh2+ 16.Qxh2 Bxh2 17.Rh3 h6 18.Rxh2 Nxh2 19.Kxh2 was necessary, with approximate equality in an unbalanced position without queens) 10...h6! 11.Kh1 Bxf2 12.Qf3 Qxf3 13