French Defense
also known as: 1...e6
1. e4 e6
Named after
Named for France — specifically the Paris team whose 1...e6 won a celebrated correspondence match against London, 1834–36.
Origin
The move is older (Lucena mentions it, and Philidor's contemporaries knew it), but the Paris–London match gave it identity and a nation.
The story
When the chess clubs of Paris and London played their grand correspondence match in the 1830s, the Parisians met 1.e4 with 1...e6 and won so convincingly that the defense has been "French" ever since. It is chess's great acquired taste: Black voluntarily shuts in the light-squared bishop — the "French bishop," the opening's eternal problem child — in exchange for an unbreakable pawn chain and the promise of counterblows ...c5 and ...f6 against White's proud center. Botvinnik, Korchnoi and Petrosian built careers on its stubbornness.
Why it matters
The classic counterattacking structure: White gets space, Black gets a plan. Every French player learns the same eternal trade-offs — bad bishop versus solid chain, cramped now versus breaking later — which makes it one of the most instructive defenses in chess.
Notable games
- London–Paris correspondence 1834–36
- Korchnoi's lifelong French battles
- Nimzowitsch–Salwe, Carlsbad 1911 (the model Advance French — a pawn-chain clinic)