Can anyone explain the merits of the French defense?  I've tried playing with it a couple of times but I always end up with a ridiculously cramped position with the inevitable pawn advancement.

You are guarding the weak point at f7 from attack.  You need to expand quickly on the queenside attacking the base of the white pawn chain in the centre.  f6 is a typical move to attack e5 and reinstate a N on f6.  Look out for greek gift sacrifices on h7.  Avoid in general the exchange of your king bishop, otherwise you get a dark-square weakness on the kingside.  And of course, look for opportunities to untrap your 'bad' bishop on c8.  It's a difficult opening to play as black, no mistake, but if you get good with it, it is solid.  I know from reading the forums that a lot of people here dont like playing white against it.  GL

thanks a lot I'll try that out

Play d5 after e6 and counter in the center.  Get c5 in later and maybe a potential f6

I love playing white against it :)...

There's an International Correspondence Master that plays on this site (Ronald Weyerstrass for those interested) who is very well known for the french.  I have a game against him right now in this line and he is killing me! 

beane wrote:

Can anyone explain the merits of the French defense?  I've tried playing with it a couple of times but I always end up with a ridiculously cramped position with the inevitable pawn advancement.

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You either hate or love the French. There seems to be no mid-ground to it. There are many books etc on the French but only a   few are wothwhile.                                                            Ari Ziegler's The French Defense CD ISBN 3937549978 by Chessbase is great. He explains his own personal repertoire explaining the ideas in words, the choices to be made while playing through games.                                                            The French is an aggressive attacking opening from 2....d4 on. Passive play quickly dooms you.

Fischer didn't like the French and Garry Kasparov said  it 'loses by force', but for those of us rated below 2800 it's a solid and reliable choice.

Black's 'French bishop' on c8 can easily turn bad as black has all his pawns on light squares so you might want to try the lines involving a quick b6 and Ba6 to swap it off.

John Watsons 'Play the French' is an excellent repertoire book with lots of nice active lines for the black player.

Famous French defence exponents include Victor Korchnoi, Nigel Short, and Predrag Nikolic amongst many others... 

I believe f6 and c5 are two crucial pawn advances that black will need to make to stay in the game.

If you start playing the French, make sure you don't let your position slowly get constricted until you have no maneuvering ability.

Try playing the games of those who prefer the french as black and try to get a feel of the opening. Yusupov, Bareev, Trigran vartanovich Petrosian, Botvinnik