Dear forummembersmainlythose     that play or arewellacquainted

with  the  french defense and its variations.    I  ambynomeansanywhere  proficient IN  CHESS, I  AM  TRYING  TO  learn the french defense

AS  MY  DEFENSIVE APPROACH TO  E4

THE  QUESTION I RAISE  IS  THAT  I WAS  TOLD  THAT  THE  TARRASCH  IS  USED  AS A  WHITE  DEFENSE  AGAINST  THE  FRENCH defense ?.   I HAVE  LOOKED  AT  GAMES  OF MIHAIL TAL  AND  HAVE  SEE IT  USED  SUCCESSFULLY  AS  WHITE  OR  BLACK

as  i have these  questions, i  like to  throw them out  to  the  members  who  have  vastly more  experience in  these  chess questions then i

i  know this  minor, however, i  learn a little  more  every  day  from  the  members  and staff of this  site

   in  closing, i am  sorry that i use  a lot  caps,  but  that  does not  signify  that  i'm  yelling,  i use  them because  of habit  throughout  my  career  befor  my stroke in  the law enforcement field and also feel that it easier  to  read

                                                         thanks  tony  from the  jersey  shore

                                                           username   antne003

I am  still playing  the scotch game as  white and  switched  from  caro kann to  the french defense  as  black,  potters  variation or  boleslavsky variation of  which  i tghought the use of the knights early in the game  were  good.

in  the  SCOTCH,  MEMBERS  OF  THE  SCOTCH  FANS WROTE  A LOT OF GOOD INFOR  AND  PUT  GAMES OF THEIR  RECENT  WINS  FOR ME  TO PLAY BACK THE  GAMES,  VERY GOOD TRAINING FOR  ME

                                                                             THANKS

Hi Tony, i am not an expert but i can give you a very basic introduction to the topic. 

The tarrasch french(1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2) was developed as an attempt to improve over the classical move 3.Nc3. The idea is that on c3 the knight supports the e4 pawn but can be pinned with Bb4 as happens in the winaver french (3.Nc3 Bb4), while on d2 it also supports the pawn without fearing a pin (3.Nd2 Bb4? 4.c3). The drawback is that the knight on d2 is less active and possibly harms white normal development. The variation is quite popular and challenging and a french player really needs to have an idea about how to counter 3.Nd2.

You have several options against 3.Nd2:

-if you usually meet 3.Nc3 with 3...dxe4, you can play 3...dxe4 also against Nd2 with a direct trasposition.

-3...Nf6 is a very sharp way to meet the tarrasch, while 3...c5 is more solid.

Can you post the moves you usually play against 3.Nc3? this would help in suggesting you the response which fits your playing style better.