Tricking Sicilian Players into French Pawn Structures

Well, just because you are good at playing them doesn't mean other players do. I never said that they would suck at them, but it is something they don't see very often. I see many players go for even worse lines than the ones mentioned above, I only mentioned the best moves for black in my analysis above.

Not many players try out many different openings in their chess life. Some even play one single setup their entire life without learning something new. The people who are in this forum are most likely players who actually study chess at least a little bit so of course people like you will say it's not a problem, because you already have knowledge and experience in such structures

For example I don't know how to play grunfeld structures. Should I for some reason get tricked into a position like that even if it is unlikely I would have to think for a bit to know what is going on and maybe I will make some moves that are inaccurate or don't fit into the overall ideas of this opening.

As you can see the Delayed Alapin can lead to a french advance variation. Note that this little move order trick is only an option if you play the french advance against the french defense (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 and we get the positions mentioned above).

I think this is an interesting way to play, because let's be honest. Most players choose one opening and basically play it for their entire life. If you get a transposition into the french it is very likely that your opponent isn't an expert on french structures since the Delayed Alapin isn't played as much as other anti-sicilians or the classical alapin for that matter (1. e4 c5 2. c3).

For the sicilian players I think 4. ... d4!? preventing white from transposing into the french is an interesting options. It is relatively unexplored and there is room for creativity for both sides.

The above mentioned gambit can be found in this video made by GM Kraai from the chess dojo. Even Carlsen played in a game against Harikrishna.

There is one open question and that is 1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 and now the move that is considered best also against the classical alapin (1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6):

It's 3. ... Nf6. This would basically transpose back into a regular alapin in case of 4. e5 Nd5.

However, this is not what we want. Here I suggest the following interesting idea:

As you can see this variation leads to positions that are similar to the french tarrasch, with the added benefit of having the bishop on c2, which adds the attacking motif of Qd3 threatening checkmate and a knight on b1 which can sometimes go to c3 if black decides to exchange early on d4. In my opinion, the critical reply for black is to push d4 himself which leads to an a complex battle for both sides. I prefer that to the dry alapin tbh.

In my opinion, this is a great weapon at club level and if you have the french advance in your repertoire or the tarrasch french then you will be familiar with these structures anyway, while your opponent probably has only played sicilians so far, which gives you an advantage in both knowledge and experience.

Hope you got some new ideas from that and l'm looking forward to the discussion.

@ OP

I often play the 1e4 c5 2c3 e6 3d4 d5 or 1e4 c5 2Nf3 e6 3c3 d5.... In fact my only OTB win against an IM at normal time controls featured this line.

I'm always happy to go into an Advance French as black.

Sicilian and French  expert Sveshnikov actually suggested your idea if I recall in his c3 book; that is, rather than exchanging on d5. This is consistent with his promotion of the Advance French in his other writings.

In practice most white players aren't keen to go for e5.