[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2025.05.11"] [Round "?"] [White "The Zombie Tarrasch"] [Black "?"] [Result "*"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C06"] [PlyCount "23"] [GameId "2176429719064028"] [EventDate "2025.05.11"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. Nf3 Bd6 11. O-O {This is a very well-known position in the Tarrasch French. One of White's hopes is to exploit the weakened dark squares in and around the center - e5 especially, but also f4 and c5 - and so it's in his best interest to swap the dark-squared bishops. For that reason Black's preferred move for many years was 11...Qc7, forcing White's bishop to take a long trip (to g5, h4, and then g3) to effect that exchange. Generations of players would meet 11...Qc7 with 12.Bg5, almost as a reflex reaction. More recently - though it's extremely well-established by now - Black switched to 11...0-0, preferring speedy development looking for active play. Nevertheless, some White players would still play 12.Bg5, which is now utterly pointless when 12.Bf4 is available. I've seen multiple 1900-2000 players do it, and looking in the database even titled players have gone 12.Bg5 followed by 13.Bh4. Bizarre.} O-O (11... Qc7 12. Bg5 O-O 13. Bh4 {makes good positional sense, looking to eliminate Black's d6-bishop to make it easier for him (White) to infiltrate on the central dark squares. Accordingly, Black typically plays} Nh5 {to stop that, and now instead of the move that's played almost automatically here, 14.Qc2, the engine recommends} 14. Rc1 {with a non-trivial advantage for White. French players, stick to 11...0-0, or vary earlier with 3...c5.}) 12. Bg5 (12. Bf4 {is best, with a minimal edge in practice after} Bxf4 13. Nxf4 Ne4 14. Qc1 Ng5 15. Nxg5 Qxg5 {and now either 16.Ne2 or 16.Bxh7+ Kxh7 17.Nxe6.}) *