I have an OTB friend who plays this line, he likes to follow it up with ...b6 and ...Bb7.
I personally am a poisoned pawn kinda guy, so don't quite follow his thinking. Perhaps it's just a way to deviate from lines that have been analysed to death, and are well known by mediocre players such as ourselves... It certainly would have some surprise value for the opponent
Recently I discovered quite a cool variation within the French Winawer: the Petrosian Variation which starts with.... 1)e4 e6 2)d4 d5 3) Nc3 Bb4 4)e5 Qd7.
I was hoping to get some comments from more experienced experts in the French defense about this last move, Qd7.... What is the short and long term idea behind this early queen move?