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The Romanishin Variation of the French Defence
The move 3. ... Be7, is a speciality of Romanishin. Here is all the analysis I could be bothered finding.
1) The "French defence" by Alexei Suetin. This book states
that;
"This continuation which has been known since the early 70's found
an eager follower in Romanishin." .
It gives 4 Main lines and some inferior variations, which it assesses
as better for white and which therefore I have not included.
a) 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Be7, 4. c3 de, 5. NxP Nf6, 6. NxN BxN, 7. Nf3 b6, 8. Bb5 c6, 9. Bd3 Ba6, and it is assessed as equal.2) "Batsford chess openings 2" by Kasparov and Keene. This book contains only a short lineb) 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Be7, 4. Ngf3 Nf6, 5. Bd3 c5, 6. e5 Nfd7, 7. c3 Nc6, 8. O-O cd, 9. cd Nb6, 10. Re1 Bd7, 11. Nf1 Rc8, 12. Ne3 a5, 13. a3 a4, 14. Bd2 "with intricate play".
c) 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Be7, 4. Bd3 Nc6!?, 5. Ngf3 Nb4, 6. Be2 de, 7. NxP Nf6, 8. NxN BxN, 9. O-O O-O, 10. c3 Nd5, 11. Bd3 "and white has marginal superiority."
d) 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Be7, 4. e5 c5, 5. dc Nc6, 6. Ngf3 Qc7, 7. Bb5 BxP, 8. Nb3 Bb6, 9. O-O Ne7, 10. Bf4 Bd7, "with equal chances".
3) Computers appear to be given the following line:
1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Be7, 4. c3 de, 5. NxP Nf6, 6. NxN BxN, 7.
Nf3 and suggesting Nd7 next. This you will recognise as a) where Suetin
gives b6 as better than Nd7.
4) I have found the following games by highly graded players (2600+).
Zadrima vs. Lputian: 0-1,
Van der Wiel vs. Korchnoi: 0-1, Georgiev
vs. Lputian: 1-0.
And six games by Romanishin (2560) of which, 1 was a win , 4 were draws,
and 1 was a loss.
I have given the first 12 moves of some of the games by Romanishin along with
the result in each case.
(i) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. Ngf3 Nb4 6. Be2 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Nf6 8. Nxf6+ Bxf6 9. O-O O-O 10. c3 Nd5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qe2 Rb8 1/2-1/2I felt this game was also very interesting. Van der Wiel vs. Korchnoi(ii) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. e5 c5 5. dxc5 Nc6 6. Ngf3 Qc7 7. Bb5 Bxc5 8. Nb3 Bb6 9. O-O Ne7 10. Bf4 Bd7 11. Rc1 Ng6 12. Bg3 Na5 1/2-1/2
(iii)1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 c5 6. dxc5 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Nxe4 8. Bxe4 Qxd1+ 9. Kxd1 Bxc5 10. Ke2 Nd7 11. Rd1 Ke7 12. a3 Nf6 0-1
(iv) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. Ngf3 Nb4 6. Be2 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Nf6 8. Nxf6+ Bxf6 9. O-O O-O 10. c3 Nd5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qe2 Rb8 1/2-1/2
(v) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. c3 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Nf6 6. Nxf6+ Bxf6 7. Nf3 b6 8. Bb5+ c6 9. Bd3 Ba6 10.O-O Bxd3 11. Qxd3 O-O 12. Bf4 Nd7 1/2-1/2
(vi) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bd3 c5 7. c3 Nc6 8. O-O Nf8 9. Re1 Bd7 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. Nb3 Be7 12. Bf4 Ng6 1-0
I have included below what I consider to be the important lines given my experience with the variation.
a) 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Be7, 4. Qg4 (perhaps premature?) Nf6!?, 5. QxP Rg8, 6. Qh6 PxP, (Perhaps not best but certainly safer than c5, 7. e5 Ng4, or Ne4, 8. QxPh7 with dangerous threats) and now 7. Ne2 planning 8. Ng3 to win the e4 pawn or 7. Nc4 allow c5 giving black a free and easily equal game (because of his central influence).b) 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Be7, 4. e5 c5, 5. c3 Nc6, 6. Ngf3 and now black can choose between the bizarre and untested g5?!!, or the straightforward Qb6.
(i) g5, 7.Bd3 (7. h3 leads to h5, Nh6 and g4, and 7. Be2 leaves whites knight no squares after g4 Ng1. 7. Bb5 gives up whites good bishop with no compensation and 7. dc gives up e5 after g4.) g4, 8. Ng1 cd?!, now if QxP then NxPe5 and Qg7 can be met by NxB and Bf6.c) 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Be7, 4. Ngf3 Nf6, 5. e5 (if Bd3 then Black bails out into a Rubinstein upon which plenty of material is available.) Ne4?!, 6. Bd3 (If NxN then PxN and the f3 night has no place to go but g1. Black can then mount enormous pressure on d4 with c5 and Nc6.) NxN, 7. BxN c5, 8. c3 and now black plays the traditional set up with Nc6, Qb6, Bd7, and f6 deciding whether to castle Kingside or queenside depending on whites' play.(ii) Qb6, 7. Nb3 c4, (unnatural but apparently necessary) 8. Nbd2 and now either f6 or Nh6?! (the play down the “g” file will give sufficient compensation for the inferior pawn structure if white manages BxN) will give equality.
d) 1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nd2 Be7, 4. PxP (played rarely) PxP, 5. and now black chooses whether to play c5 or just Nc6 depending on his taste for isolated queens pawns.
In this variation it is possible to be
very creative. Always keep in mind b6 followed by Ba6 with the Queens knight
still on b8 in order to swap off the “bad french bishop”. Or maybe the
omission of c5 with Nc6 and f6? Black is quite happy to weaken his
Kingside with pawn thrusts since his king will be safe in the centre for
some time. Also bear in mind the idea of Nh6-f5 since BxNh6 gives black
good play on the “g” file for his rook (s) [?]. Occasionally too a6 and
b5 can be played even with the sacrifice of one (Benko style) for strong
Queenside play. Also, do not play the line if you do not intend to play
actively! Black must be willing to be constantly producing counterplay
otherwise the slow rate of his development can and probably will prove
fatal. Oh yes, and remember that the psychological effect of this line
is strong. Your opponent will think it is wrong and may try something over
ambitious. Expect him to do so and be ready to punish him for his underestimation
of the “Romanishin Variation”!
