Adventures in the Tarrasch French: Guimard Variation
The Tarrasch Variation of the French Defense is considered "the master choice" by Richard James of chessKIDS academy , and it was Ian Nepomniachtchi's weapon of choice in his win against Ding Liren in Game 7 of this year's FIDE World Chess Championship. For all my experience with the French Defense, I have yet to win or draw a game as Black when faced with the Tarrasch Variation. The losing streak includes two recent games where I sought to surprise my opponents with the lesser-known Guimard Tarrasch, which I've been exploring as part of an extensive Lichess study on the French Defense. Those two games, where I went wrong in them, and what improvements can be made for the future are the focus of this report.