0 Failure in the French

Looking through my database, I found this abysmal failure in the classical French. I had begun the process of switching from the Sicilian to the French two or three years before this game, which was played in an online USCF rated tournament.


Bennett,Thomas G (1868) -- Stripes,James (1565) [C11]
GCS 10 5 USCF Quick #2 GCS, 19.01.2006

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3

Black to move

7...Qb6 

On Sunday, I played 7...cxd4. 7...a6 is slightly more popular than 7...cxd4.

8.a3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxb2??

White to move

A stupid, game losing blunder.

9...Bc5 was the correct move. I have played 9...Nxd4 is a few blitz games, usually exchanging quickly into a hopeless endgame where I have a bad bishop against a strong knight.

10.Na4 Bb4+ 11.Kf2 1–0