Play h6 in the French

In the first in a new series of shorter eBooks, FIDE Master Alexis Harakis provides a complete overview of the underrated and underplayed 3...h6 in the French against both 3.Nd2 and 3.Nc3. This is a pet topic of his and a line he has been flirting with for more than 15 years now. He is also a French expert of more than 30 years with notable victories against Master and Grandmaster opposition mainly with black, but he has also played the white side successfully on more than one occasion. He covers all the main alternatives for white and examines the latest published theoretical material (June 2020) on the 3.Nd2 h6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 lines.

This primer is intended to give the black player a fighting repertoire option which is both less known but in addition, a glance at most current databases will reveal that it is the top-scoring move against both Nd2 and Nc3! It is better-known and more frequently used against Nd2, with patrons from the very highest levels up to Carlsen, including Nakamura, Morozevic, Short, Sadler. It is less popular against Nc3, but is perhaps more interesting and flexible against this move. The World Champion Carlsen has been spotted essaying this move online and it does have a number of 2600+ backers. Harakis offers an approach (sometimes more than one) against each of white's alternatives and explains the underlying reasons. Flexibility, especially against 3.Nc3, is the key. Black often designs the response precisely to exploit some drawback to each white developmental choice - in a logical fashion. He also gives what he considers the most testing lines for white in both variations. Again, this is more often than not very far from the most popular lines played in practice. So, this eBook will also be useful for those playing the white side.

You can use this move both as a surprise weapon, or the foundation of your French repertoire, killing two birds with one stone using h6 against both of white's main positional responses to 2...d5. This eBook contains 11 Chapters discussing each possible line and includes the full moves to all 45 games referenced in these chapters at the end.