A Classical French

I used to have a lot of trouble against the French, especially the classical French.  Recently I have embraced playing the white side of this opening, instead of shying away from it, and I am doing much better.  Here is a nice win against a higher-rated player.

1 d4 e6 2 e4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6  Black opts for the classical variation.  The Winawer (3...Bb4) is the main alternative.

4 Bg5 Be7 5 e5 Nfd7 6 BxB QxB 7 f4 a6  The main move, preventing Nb5.  7...0-0 is a close second, while 7...c5, allowing white's knight to jump to d7 via b5, is a distant third and scores poorly.

8 a3?  This is not one of the moves played here.  It is a pointless waste of time, as white need not fear b7-b5-b4, as white can then move the queen's knight effectively to e2.

8...c5 9 Nf3 Nc6 10 g3 0-0 11 Bg2 Rb8 12 0-0 b6 13 Qd2 Bb7 14 Rad1 Rfd8 15 Qd3 d6 16 g4 

The engine dislikes this move, saying the advantage has now switched to black.

Nf8 17 Rde1 cd 18 Nxd4 NxN 19 QxN b5 20 Kh1 Rbc8 21 Qd2 d4 

The engine think this switches the advantage back to white.  However, we are talking about tiny differences; the position is essential equal.

22 Ne4 BxN 23 BxB Qc5 24 Re2 Rc7 25 Bd3 Nd7 26 Rfe1 Nb6 27 f5 ef  

The engine thinks it is now dead equal.  It gives black a half-point advantage after 27...Nc4.

28 gf Nc4 29 Qh6 Qf8 30 Qg5 Nxb2 31 f6 NxB 32 cd Rc3??

Here is where black goes horribly wrong.  He is going pawn-hunting on the queen-side, when he should be playing defense on the king-side!

 33 Rd1 Rxa3 34 Rf2 Rc3 35 e6 fe??

35...h6 defends, though white still has a point advantage.  White now has a forced mate.

 36 f7+ Kh8  37 Qe5+ Qg7 38 f8(Q)+ RxQ 39 RxR#

One of the things I like about this game is that it shows that white can still get a good king-side attack, even after castling king-side, instead of the more normal queen-side castling in this opening.  It also illustrates the benefits of making and executing a plan, even if that plan is not 100% sound.