Thanks to Alan Griffiths for posting his comment to my The Resilient French - Just After the Opening article. To recap, Alan said:
… I don’t like 10 … Bg5 11 Bxg5 Nxg5 - the white queen goes to one of the black squares (e1, d2 and c1 all look good) and, if you play Nf7, then White can play f4 without worrying about your posting a piece on e4 while if your Knight remains on g5 you leave f4 for his knight.
I responded saying I’d look at this in my next article, and here is that article. We start from the position after:
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 a6? 4.a3 Nc6 5.Be3 Nf6 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 f5 8.Nge2 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.f3 Bg5 11.Bxg5 Nxg5 (see first diagram).
Previously I don’t think I was clear about the circumstances under which the knight would go back to f7.
In the position in the first diagram the only ways white can attack black’s knight with pawns is by playing either f3-f4 or h2-h4. In the former case the knight just goes back to e4 and is permanently unassailable by pawns - the best white can do is exchange it off leaving me (playing black) with a protected passed pawn on e4. In the latter case, after the knight retreats, white will then have to look after the h-pawn which is already under attack from the black queen. Other moves just allow black’s knight to stay on g5. As far as I can see black simply needs to keep an eye on where the white queen moves to - e.g. if Qd2 then black can’t move the queen away from the defence of the knight without first defending the knight by other means, however just ….h7-h6 looks ok and gives the knight an alternative retreat to h7.
If the black knight has to stay on g5 for a while, then it isn’t on its most active square. However I can just get on with improving my position which is need of development.
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This is the position I said favours White. I don’t see that your post disagrees with this?
We are agreed that g5 isn’t a great square (so White is in no hurry to chase the knight away). Your continuation of 12 Qd2 is fine - and, as you are leaving the knight there then 13 Nf4 comes next and, perhaps, Rae1. What is Black doing in the meantime? As you’ve admitted he needs to get his pieces into play.
Admittedly opening the centre by Nxe6 or Nfxd5 isn’t an immediate threat - but Black has more problems to deal with than h4.
Sorry! My turn to miss out moves - it sank in gradually. Here’s a possible continuation: 12. Qd2
Bd7 13. Qe3 Qe7 14. Nf4 Nd8 15. Rae1 b6 16. Kh1 c5 17. Nfxd5 exd5 18. Nxd5