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I don’t know much about playing against the French Defense, other than there is sometimes an opportunity to take up space! This happened in this game that I played today against a rather stronger player. By the end of the opening and the middle game, I had managed to take control of the majority of the board with my pawns, and somehow got all of my opponent’s pieces somewhat stuck in their queenside corner! Please enjoy!

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Although I knew that I was likely to be substantially ahead in the middle game, it was nonetheless a battle! My opponent played really well and I have to admit that I struggled somewhat to convert the position to a win. I simply couldn’t see a forcing checkmate line and as my opponent managed to unpack their pieces from the corner, I opted instead to try to force piece trades to enter an endgame up a piece. This was ultimate successful but not easy, and I managed to win with only 37 seconds left on my clock compared to my opponent’s 13 minutes. Exciting!

I hope you enjoyed this video, and thanks for watching!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/39828628755

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.02.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "elcaballazo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "1313"]
[BlackElo "1394"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "15:58:14 PST"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]

1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 c6 3. d4 d5 4. e5 Bb4 5. f4 f6 6. Nf3 fxe5 7. fxe5 Ne7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O Nf5 10. Bg5 Qb6 11. Na4 Qc7 12. a3 Ba5 13. Nc5 Bb6 14. b4 a6 15. c4 Ba7 16. Nh4 Nxh4 17. Rxf8+ Kxf8 18. Bxh4 b6 19. Qf1+ Kg8 20. Nb3 Nd7 21. c5 Bb7 22. Be7 Nxe5 23. Bd6 Qf7 24. Bxe5 Qg6 25. Bd3 Qg5 26. Bf4 Qe7 27. Bc2 Rf8 28. g3 Bb8 29. Qd3 g6 30. Bxb8 Rxb8 31. Rf1 Re8 32. Nd2 e5 33. dxe5 Qxe5 34. Kh1 bxc5 35. Nf3 Qe7 36. Re1 Qd7 37. Rxe8+ Qxe8 38. bxc5 Bc8 39. Bd1 Bf5 40. Qxa6 Be4 41. Qe2 Qe7 42. Bc2 Qxc5 43. Bxe4 Qc1+ 44. Kg2 dxe4 45. Qxe4 Qb2+ 46. Kh3 Qxa3 47. Qe6+ Kg7 48. Qxc6 Qd3 49. Qc7+ Kh6 50. Qf4+ Kg7 51. Ne5 Qb3 52. Qc4 Qb7 53. Qd4 Kg8 54. Qd8+ Kg7 55. Qd7+ Qxd7+ 56. Nxd7 Kf7 57. Ne5+ Kf6 58. Nf3 Kf5 59. g4+ Kf4 60. Nd4 h6 61. Kh4 g5+ 62. Kh5 Ke5 63. Nf3+ Kf4 64. Nd4 Ke5 65. Ne6 Kxe6 66. Kxh6 Kf6 67. h3 Kf7 68. Kxg5 Kg7 69. h4 Kh7 70. Kf5 Kh6 71. Kf6 Kh7 72. g5 Kh8 73. Kf7 Kh7 74. g6+ Kh8 75. g7+ Kh7 76. g8=Q+ Kh6 77. Qg6# 1-0