Just wondering what strategies are most frequently used (by players here) against the French. 

Cheers,

Ken 

Although I don't play 1. e4, I would vote for the Exchange or Advance variation.  I decided to retire from the French because of a constant dose of exchange variations.  It seems White can maintain a small, but persistent advantage.  And Black has to be careful not to drift into a passive, but solid, position.  The exchange variation was very annoying; and it gives e4 players an "escape" from learning any main lines against the French... and didn't Morphy play the exchange alot against the French?

 

 

I play the French against e4.  I don't mind the Exchange Variation at all.  I feel confident in my ability to play symmetrical positions.  I recommend the Tarrasch Variation (3. Nd2)  It allows you to keep good control of d4 with an eventual c3 and prevents the Winawer Variation. 

Playing the French, I would say that the mainline 3Nc3...Bb4 gives White an automatic edge if played perfectly. The advance plays right into a French players positional nature a tight position pent up with energy ready to bust out on f6 or c5 or b4. The Exchange gives up the space advantage. The Tarrasch (3Nd2) is interesting but I still like White. I played Ray Brooks recently and I thought I played very well and earned a draw. I have since decided not to play the French as Black because I think I can play a wide open tactically position better:

Well here's my approach...

1- Hope for a classical variation, they are way too hard as black and all you have to do is add a few tactics to the game to blow it open, often.

2- My typical style is extremely sacrificial and rather wild in general.. in the french though.. avoid positional sacrifices.. you already have a positional advantage and it's rare you can sacrifice to make it better.

3- Don't trade too much.. black will usually win in the endgame (my opinion only) so avoid it. 

4 - Qg4 is a great move in several lines.. if you can play a variation involving it, you probably should. watch for poison pawns though.. a lot of players go out of their way (wasting tempo!) to set up a trap.. if you can avoid it, you can win.

What about the Classical Variation?  The Winawer is too crazy for my tastes.  The Modern Defense for White gives Black control of d4 and allows him to rush forward with his queenside pawns.  I play the Burn against Bg5.  Although it does give White an initiative with his easy piece development, the Bishop pair will prove useful once stability is achieved.

KillaBeez wrote: I play the French against e4.  I don't mind the Exchange Variation at all.  I feel confident in my ability to play symmetrical positions.  I recommend the Tarrasch Variation (3. Nd2)  It allows you to keep good control of d4 with an eventual c3 and prevents the Winawer Variation. 

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 i agree completely.

I like the Advance and the Winawer. The Winawer leads to very messy situations, though, and requires a lot of knowledge. I recommend the Advance. If black plays 3... c5 than 4. c3.

 

Cool.

Here is a game against PlayCro (current ranking about 2100). I played Black and never was able to get my game going and lost around move 43. White had a clear plan and played it well.

Here is a game that shows how a grandmaster can become roasted if he makes a couple mistakes.

Topalov got squished like a bug. Great game!

Yea but Bareev played the burn variation...which is a poor excuse for a french.

 

Against the french I would recommend the classical mainline with Nc3 and Bg5 (if white plays the classical with Nf6). You will get a small edge in all lines. 

When I don't play the Advance, against 3... Nf6, I play 4. e5 Nfd7.

The Steinitz is a good choice (what chesslover was suggesting above). The advance is easy to play, but easy to equalize against as well.

I rarely play e4, so my experience with it is limited, but I have always found the Papa Gambit to be an interesting way of avoiding the main lines of the French.

I like the Alapin Diemer Gambit:

 

 

matthiassmall wrote:

I rarely play e4, so my experience with it is limited, but I have always found the Papa Gambit to be an interesting way of avoiding the main lines of the French.

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 The papa gambit?? Thats the reti gambit.

There are some nice lectures on it at www.videochess.net 

I play Tarrasch variation.

ericmittens wrote: matthiassmall wrote:

I rarely play e4, so my experience with it is limited, but I have always found the Papa Gambit to be an interesting way of avoiding the main lines of the French.

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 The papa gambit?? Thats the reti gambit.

There are some nice lectures on it at www.videochess.net 

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Firstly, I do not like the name of "Reti Gambit", as it gets confused with the actual Reti Gambit. Secondly, it may be called the Reti Gambit when white tries to regain the pawn through Qe2. When the g4-pawn-thrust is played early in the game, it is the Papa Gambit. Obviously, either variation is named after the person who originated the corresponding idea.