Answers.Body: <p>Not everyone regards &quot;Bad&quot; Bishops as unmitigated evil. Read &quot;The Secret Life of Bad Bishops&quot; by Eben Lund to discover the subtlety of the issues.
  If you will play the French you must do this. Hopefully you will understand them better than your opponent.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-07-13T04:44:27.730Z
Answers.Text: There's the famous phrase "bad bishops defend good pawns." In the french, after playing f6 to undermine white's center, the e6 pawn is a sore weakness in desperate need of a strong defender.
Answers.UserDisplayName: NoseKnowsAll
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-07-13T03:25:53.803Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-07-13T03:25:53.803Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Philip Roe
Body: <p>I enjoy playing closed positions like the ones from the French Defense, but I despise having to play with the &quot;bad bishop&quot; on c8. I've been trying to research lines in the French where Black manages to quickly trade it off for White's bishop out of the opening, or at least manages to develop it to a reasonable square.</p>
  <p>Against the Exchange Variation, there is this:</p>
  <pre><code>[FEN &quot;&quot;]
  1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 Bd6 5. Nf3 Ne7 (5... Bg4) 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Bf5
  </code></pre>
  <p>Against the Classical Variation, there is this:</p>
  <pre><code>[FEN &quot;&quot;]
  1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Qd7 (4... b6) 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 b6 7. Qg4 f5 8. Qg3 Ba6
  </code></pre>
  <p>Against the Tarrasch Variation, there is this (not gonna cite a specific line, but obviously at some point the bishop can be developed to e6/f5/g4 or traded off for White's bishop on d7):</p>
  <pre><code>[FEN &quot;&quot;]
  1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5
  </code></pre>
  <p>However, I can't find a satisfactory line for the Two Knights French after:</p>
  <pre><code>[FEN &quot;&quot;]
  1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. d4
  </code></pre>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-07-11T16:59:48.530Z
Comments.Text: For completeness sake, how would you trade off the light squared bishop in the Advance variation?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Akavall
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-07-11T18:13:06.433Z
Comments.Text: 5 ...b6 though?
Comments.UserDisplayName: David
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-07-11T20:38:27.677Z
Comments.Text: @Akavall Good point! I forgot to include that somehow, there is the Wade Variation where you play 4...Qb6 then Bd7/Bb5.
Comments.UserDisplayName: James Ko
Tags: <french-defense>
Title: Is the Two Knights French the only variation where Black is unable to trade off the bad bishop?
ThreadText: # Is the Two Knights French the only variation where Black is unable to trade off the bad bishop?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-07-11)
  
  I enjoy playing closed positions like the ones from the French Defense, but I despise having to play with the "bad bishop" on c8. I've been trying to research lines in the French where Black manages to quickly trade it off for White's bishop out of the opening, or at least manages to develop it to a reasonable square.
  Against the Exchange Variation, there is this:
  [FEN ""]
  1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 Bd6 5. Nf3 Ne7 (5... Bg4) 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 Bf5
  
  Against the Classical Variation, there is this:
  [FEN ""]
  1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Qd7 (4... b6) 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 b6 7. Qg4 f5 8. Qg3 Ba6
  
  Against the Tarrasch Variation, there is this (not gonna cite a specific line, but obviously at some point the bishop can be developed to e6/f5/g4 or traded off for White's bishop on d7):
  [FEN ""]
  1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5
  
  However, I can't find a satisfactory line for the Two Knights French after:
  [FEN ""]
  1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. d4
  
  **Tags:** french-defense
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: For completeness sake, how would you trade off the light squared bishop in the Advance variation?  
  > **username_2**: 5 ...b6 though?  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 Good point! I forgot to include that somehow, there is the Wade Variation where you play 4...Qb6 then Bd7/Bb5.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2021-07-13. Score: 5
  
  Not everyone regards "Bad" Bishops as unmitigated evil. Read "The Secret Life of Bad Bishops" by Eben Lund to discover the subtlety of the issues.
  If you will play the French you must do this. Hopefully you will understand them better than your opponent.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_4**: There's the famous phrase "bad bishops defend good pawns." In the french, after playing f6 to undermine white's center, the e6 pawn is a sore weakness in desperate need of a strong defender.  
  
  ---
  
  