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French Defense, Monte Carlo Exchange Variation
Compiled by WartHog
--*--

A collection of games to help study the Monte Carlo French Exchange Variation with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.c4 (or 4.Nf3 followed by c4). The Isolated Queen Pawn positions in this line often arise by transposition from other openings, especially the Queen's Gambit Accepted with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 e5 4.Bxc4 exd4 5.exd4, but also the Slav, the Petroff, the English (1.c4 e6 2.e4 d5 etc. which is Miezis's favorite), and numerous other move orders. Where indicated, games are featured in print or online sources that analyze this line as it arises via various openings. For a complete list of sources and other Monte Carlo French Exchange resources, see my bibliography: http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2...

Is this the original "Monte Carlo Variation"?
Marshall vs Swiderski, 1904 
(C01) French, Exchange, 32 moves, 1-0

Razuvaev Analyzes QGA - 6th Game, Second Match
La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, 1834  
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 35 moves, 1-0

17th Game, First Match
La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, 1834  
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 29 moves, 1-0

15th Game, First Match
La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, 1834  
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 29 moves, 1-0

7th Game, Third Match
La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, 1834 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 30 moves, 1-0

La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, 1834  
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 35 moves, 1-0

La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, 1834 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 36 moves, 1-0

La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, 1834  
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 26 moves, 1-0

La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, 1834 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 29 moves, 1-0

Timman vs Panno, 1982 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 41 moves, 1-0

Browne vs Petrosian, 1982 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 41 moves, 1/2-1/2

Razuvaev vs Bagirov, 1982 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 35 moves, 1-0

Avrukh, QG 1B transpositions from QGA
I Ibragimov vs I Zaragatski, 2001
(D07) Queen's Gambit Declined, Chigorin Defense, 42 moves, 1-0

Gelfand vs Adams, 1994 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 50 moves, 1-0

K Volke vs N Guliyev, 2008 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 22 moves, 1/2-1/2

Josh Waitzkin games with the Nge2 system
J Waitzkin vs E Moskow, 1993 
(C01) French, Exchange, 65 moves, 1-0

J Waitzkin vs Shabalov, 1993 
(C01) French, Exchange, 27 moves, 0-1

J Waitzkin vs A Friedman, 1993 
(C01) French, Exchange, 33 moves, 1-0

J Waitzkin vs J Levitt, 1994
(C01) French, Exchange, 41 moves, 1-0

J Waitzkin vs J Bonin, 1996 
(C01) French, Exchange, 67 moves, 1-0

Maurice Ashley games with the Nge2 system
M Ashley vs G Russek Libni, 1992
(C01) French, Exchange, 31 moves, 1-0

M Ashley vs Shabalov, 1993 
(C01) French, Exchange, 22 moves, 1-0

M Ashley vs J Levitt, 1994
(C01) French, Exchange, 29 moves, 1-0

M Ashley vs W Hook, 1997
(C01) French, Exchange, 44 moves, 1-0

M Ashley vs S Ritvin, 1998
(C01) French, Exchange, 36 moves, 1-0

M Ashley vs T Shih, 1999 
(C01) French, Exchange, 32 moves, 1-0

M Ashley vs J L Phillips, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 41 moves, 1-0

M Ashley vs V Frias Pablaza, 1995 
(C01) French, Exchange, 77 moves, 1/2-1/2

Normunds Miezis, Magician of the Monte Carlo with Nf3
N Miezis vs Barsov, 1997
(C01) French, Exchange, 31 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs S Bjerke, 1999
(C01) French, Exchange, 54 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs L E Johannessen, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 37 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs H Tikkanen, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 39 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs Y Raivio, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 28 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs A Smirnov, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 26 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs A Huss, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 36 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs M Heidenfeld, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 28 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs R Berzinsh, 2005
(C01) French, Exchange, 33 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs R Dobias, 2006
(C01) French, Exchange, 57 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs T Upton, 2006
(C01) French, Exchange, 60 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs W Langerak, 2006
(C01) French, Exchange, 38 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs M Novik, 2006
(C01) French, Exchange, 34 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs S Ristevski, 2006
(C01) French, Exchange, 18 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs Westerinen, 2007
(C01) French, Exchange, 43 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs E Hermansson, 2007
(C01) French, Exchange, 31 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs B Thorfinnsson, 2007
(C01) French, Exchange, 56 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs R Hendriks, 2007
(C01) French, Exchange, 52 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs A Bykov, 2007
(C01) French, Exchange, 29 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs E Berg, 2008
(C01) French, Exchange, 43 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs S Bergsson, 2008
(C01) French, Exchange, 41 moves, 1-0

Meizis starts trying out Nge2 instead of Nf3
N Miezis vs A A Lopez, 2008
(C01) French, Exchange, 38 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs T Maenhout, 2009
(C01) French, Exchange, 44 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs R Akesson, 2009 
(C01) French, Exchange, 28 moves, 1-0

Tactics in the endgame
N Miezis vs G Flom (Battaglini), 2009 
(C01) French, Exchange, 28 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs C Cobb, 2009
(C01) French, Exchange, 38 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs T Luther, 2010
(C01) French, Exchange, 36 moves, 1-0

Lucky save after tactics go awry
N Miezis vs M Al Sayed, 2010
(C01) French, Exchange, 67 moves, 1/2-1/2

N Miezis vs Navara, 2011 
(C01) French, Exchange, 88 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs C Wallis, 2012
(C01) French, Exchange, 78 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs K Shirazi, 2013
(C01) French, Exchange, 41 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs T Glimbrant, 2015
(C01) French, Exchange, 64 moves, 1-0

Baburin - Winning Pawn Structures, Ch. 7 - Play on the e-file
K Darga vs O'Kelly, 1957 
(D42) Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch, 7.Bd3, 25 moves, 1-0

The following games transpose to the IQP tabiya
Andersson vs Tal, 1983 
(D55) Queen's Gambit Declined, 51 moves, 1-0

Kasparov vs Karpov, 1986 
(D55) Queen's Gambit Declined, 46 moves, 1-0

Kasparov vs Short, 1986 
(D55) Queen's Gambit Declined, 33 moves, 1-0

Vaganian vs Huebner, 1983 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 28 moves, 1-0

I Sokolov vs Huebner, 1996 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 29 moves, 1-0

Karpov vs Timman, 1991 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 31 moves, 1-0

I Sokolov vs J Piket, 1991 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 35 moves, 1-0

Moskalenko, Flexible French, classic approaches for Black
Spassky vs Korchnoi, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 27 moves, 1/2-1/2

Velimirovic vs Uhlmann, 1976 
(C01) French, Exchange, 21 moves, 0-1

Glek NIC Yb 20 (1991)
J Klinger vs Glek, 1990 
(C01) French, Exchange, 26 moves, 1-0

Minev, Mini-lesson 024
Gipslis vs B Sturm, 1995
(C01) French, Exchange, 20 moves, 1-0

T Hillarp Persson vs J Kleinert, 2000 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 19 moves, 1-0

L Christiansen vs M Heidrich, 1987
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 19 moves, 1-0

Sielecki, Keep It Simple 1.e4 -- A surprisingly common trap.
M Congiu vs P de Leon, 2009 
(C01) French, Exchange, 23 moves, 1-0

Sielecki likes the Qe2+ line, which has Carlsen's stamp
A Yusupov vs A Asgarizadeh, 2014
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 37 moves, 1/2-1/2

Tkachiev vs Morozevich, 2008
(C01) French, Exchange, 57 moves, 1-0

A Zubov vs H Barseghyan, 2017
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 44 moves, 1-0

A Muzychuk vs N Dzagnidze, 2014
(C01) French, Exchange, 47 moves, 1/2-1/2

V Gunina vs T Gara, 2017
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 23 moves, 1-0

O Cvitan vs A Donchenko, 2013
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 34 moves, 1-0

S Pozo Vera vs M Feng, 2017
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 43 moves, 1-0

M Sebenik vs A Livner, 2013
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 34 moves, 1-0

M Socko vs M Efroimski, 2016
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 23 moves, 1-0

L Moroni Jr vs J Christiansen, 2015
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 35 moves, 1-0

P Tregubov vs A Yusupov, 2016
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 54 moves, 1-0

A Riazantsev vs J Christiansen, 2017
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 42 moves, 1-0

V Gunina vs O N Al Ali, 2017
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 43 moves, 1/2-1/2

L Lenic vs E Blomqvist, 2016 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 36 moves, 1-0

J C Sadorra vs D Smerdon, 2016 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 59 moves, 1/2-1/2

Carlsen vs Jobava, 2017 
(C01) French, Exchange, 44 moves, 1-0

R Sander vs Carlsen, 2002 
(C01) French, Exchange, 29 moves, 0-1

Carlsen vs Caruana, 2017 
(C42) Petrov Defense, 40 moves, 1/2-1/2

Nice to see how Carlsen meets Qxd5
Carlsen vs Nakamura, 2018 
(C01) French, Exchange, 26 moves, 1-0

Sielecki's repertoire follows Carlsen
Carlsen vs G Meier, 2017
(C01) French, Exchange, 33 moves, 1-0

Carlsen vs V Akobian, 2017 
(C01) French, Exchange, 58 moves, 1-0

White chooses dynamic compensation for the c-pawn
M Aymard vs M Palladino, 2011
(C01) French, Exchange, 32 moves, 1/2-1/2

Desperadoes and a concluding pin
A Stewart vs E Kazmierczak, 2013
(C01) French, Exchange, 26 moves, 1-0

Shades of Ashley - Shabalov
Fritz vs G Hertneck, 1998 
(C01) French, Exchange, 25 moves, 1-0

Dangerous pawn grab with Ng4xBe3
S Vysochin vs I Zakharevich, 2003 
(C01) French, Exchange, 20 moves, 1-0

P Royset vs P Green, 2010
(C01) French, Exchange, 32 moves, 1-0

By transposition from the Petroff
V Okhotnik vs A Kranz, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 33 moves, 1-0

Chasing the Bishop with Nge2-g3 and f4-f5
P Wolff vs Dreev, 1993 
(C01) French, Exchange, 43 moves, 0-1

Timely exchange on d5 gives White slight edge
Speelman vs Salov, 1991
(D10) Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, 43 moves, 1/2-1/2

Tricky set-up for the Bxh6 sac
Benjamin vs H Stenzel, 1993
(C01) French, Exchange, 35 moves, 1-0

Delayed c4: 4.Nf3 Nc6!? 5.Bb5 Bd6 6.c4!
Chandler vs Bareev, 1992
(C01) French, Exchange, 49 moves, 1/2-1/2

Fressinet vs C Bauer, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 19 moves, 1/2-1/2

Kasparov vs Bareev, 1991 
(C01) French, Exchange, 46 moves, 1-0

M A Maurizzi vs J Lopez, 2018
(C01) French, Exchange, 25 moves, 0-1

Would not want to be White here.
C Bauer vs M Gurevich, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 74 moves, 1-0

C Munoz Solis vs J Rapport, 2008 
(C01) French, Exchange, 52 moves, 0-1

Black makes a move-order mistake with 6...a6?!
I Nikolayev vs Derek Linton, 2008
(C01) French, Exchange, 29 moves, 1-0

I Rogers vs V Kovacevic, 1992
(C01) French, Exchange, 39 moves, 1/2-1/2

M Plomp vs P Dijkstra, 1992 
(C01) French, Exchange, 10 moves, 1-0

White gets pressure, but the 4Q ending is hard
Kaidanov vs P Nikolic, 1993 
(C01) French, Exchange, 56 moves, 1/2-1/2

The French Exchange with c4 via 1.e3
Kasparov vs Fritz, 1994 
(A00) Uncommon Opening, 32 moves, 1-0

Kasparov vs Fritz, 1994 
(A00) Uncommon Opening, 45 moves, 0-1

If White doesn't play c4, then Black gets c5!
S Tatai vs Korchnoi, 1978 
(C01) French, Exchange, 14 moves, 0-1

...but pushing c4 is too static for Black
Kasparov vs Korchnoi, 1991 
(C01) French, Exchange, 45 moves, 1-0

Of course, Korchnoi also tried the Monte Carlo
Korchnoi vs G van der Stricht, 2003 
(C01) French, Exchange, 36 moves, 1-0

Play against 4.c4 Nc6!? with 5.Nc3!
J Henrichsen vs D Plata Fernandez, 2014
(D06) Queen's Gambit Declined, 55 moves, 1-0

de Riviere vs Chigorin, 1883
(A22) English, 53 moves, 1-0

Zukertort vs S Rosenthal, 1880 
(A28) English, 37 moves, 1-0

Transposition from the Albin / Chigorin
A Zatonskih vs A Belakovskaia, 2013 
(C01) French, Exchange, 26 moves, 1-0

This Nc6 line is sharp!
F Hamperl vs M Hanif, 2006
(C01) French, Exchange, 45 moves, 1-0

S Foisor vs A Dergatschova, 2007
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 41 moves, 1-0

White had good pressure in the opening stages
I Snape vs S Williams, 2004
(C01) French, Exchange, 30 moves, 0-1

Weakness at e6
Plaskett vs A A Webster, 1989 
(C01) French, Exchange, 16 moves, 1-0

4...Bb4+ 5.Nc3 Qe7+!? is tricky. Miezis has played 6.Be2!?
N Miezis vs Barsov, 1998
(C01) French, Exchange, 50 moves, 0-1

V Sikula vs A Khudyakov, 2001 
(C01) French, Exchange, 18 moves, 1-0

V Talla vs Shulman, 1998
(C01) French, Exchange, 36 moves, 1/2-1/2

Be6 is critical. This line might argue for a 4.Nf3 move order
F Perrin vs H Knott, 1857 
(C01) French, Exchange, 32 moves, 1/2-1/2

Shaked followed coach Watson's recommendation
A Mallahi vs T Shaked, 1996
(C01) French, Exchange, 30 moves, 0-1

Bb4+ followed by Ne7 is now the theoretical standard
J Waitzkin vs T Shaked, 1997 
(C01) French, Exchange, 42 moves, 1/2-1/2

Anderssen vs K Mayerhofer, 1851 
(C01) French, Exchange, 48 moves, 1-0

A Petrov vs Szymanski, 1853 
(C01) French, Exchange, 17 moves, 1-0

A de Dovitiis vs P Jodorcovsky Werjivker, 2017
(C01) French, Exchange, 23 moves, 1-0

M Ashley vs L Remlinger, 1994
(C01) French, Exchange, 61 moves, 1/2-1/2

E Safarli vs G Franchini, 2009 
(C01) French, Exchange, 48 moves, 1-0

R Forster vs P Carlsson, 2013
(C01) French, Exchange, 36 moves, 1-0

R Appel vs M Senff, 2006
(C01) French, Exchange, 52 moves, 1/2-1/2

Gulko vs Psakhis, 1985
(C01) French, Exchange, 72 moves, 1/2-1/2

N Aginian vs I Vasilevich, 2008
(C01) French, Exchange, 32 moves, 1/2-1/2

A Tari vs P Tozer, 2010
(C01) French, Exchange, 25 moves, 1/2-1/2

P Potapov vs S Martinovic, 2008
(C01) French, Exchange, 28 moves, 1/2-1/2

T Kulhanek vs T Luther, 2000
(C01) French, Exchange, 29 moves, 1/2-1/2

R Vasquez Ramirez vs H Smith, 2006
(C01) French, Exchange, 46 moves, 1-0

C Briscoe vs D Spence, 2004 
(C01) French, Exchange, 23 moves, 1-0

Z Varga vs A Romero Holmes, 2004
(C01) French, Exchange, 31 moves, 1-0

A Skripchenko vs E Sedina, 2005
(C01) French, Exchange, 15 moves, 1/2-1/2

Shimanov vs I Rausis, 2010 
(D20) Queen's Gambit Accepted, 30 moves, 1-0

Often cited by theory, but Miezis has improved on this.
N Miezis vs J Moreno Ruiz, 2001
(C01) French, Exchange, 65 moves, 0-1

An interesting attempt at improvement.
N Miezis vs B Socko, 2005
(C01) French, Exchange, 33 moves, 0-1

N Miezis vs V Tronenkovs, 2006
(A18) English, Mikenas-Carls, 27 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs T Sammalvuo, 2007
(C01) French, Exchange, 51 moves, 1-0

N Miezis vs J L Munoz, 2006
(C01) French, Exchange, 62 moves, 1-0

J Perez Rodriguez vs M Delgado Crespo, 2006 
(C01) French, Exchange, 14 moves, 1-0

157 games

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