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French Defense as white opening ?

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wolfen2000

Is there any sense to open with the French as white ?

Anyone has some experience in playing so ?

TitanCG

It's unlikely and probably a lot better for White.

I had some games go 1.c4 e5 2.e3 c6 3.d4 e4 4.Nc3 d5. 

b3nnyhaha

you could try 1. e3 and hope for 1...e5 2. d4, e4 3. c4 and its a french up a tempo, but black has a ton of options. 1... exd4 2. exd4, d5 and its an ordinary french exchange transposition. but black can also play 1... d5 or 1...Nf6 or 1...g6 and ask why you didn't just play e4. You could also play 1. e3, and then against either 1...e5 or 1...d5 play 2. d3, and if they play the other central pawn so they have both e5 and d5 played, you can then move your d pawn again, and you have an actual french defense just as if you were playing black however, so you don't have an extra tempo. Another way to reach a french position as white is the old indian defense to 1. d4 with 1... Nf6 2. c4, d6 3. Nc3, e5 4. Nf3, e4 5. Nd2 or Ng5 however not many people really play this as black. 




it really makes more sense to just play an ordinary white opening rather than try to twist the game towards a flipped version of a black defense. try the kings indian attack or 1. d4 if you want closed positions as white. 

antonisf

You cant really play french as white unless your opponent is extremely cooperative. Usually you will transpose to QGD or some Nimzo-Larsen variation.

jlconn

1.e3 is Van't Kruij's Opening.

It's playable, but no, it's not better for White than the French is for Black, even after 1.e3 e5 2.d4. The problem is that the French is a counter-attacking defense; White, with an extra move, is one move ahead of having anything to counter-attack. Best bet is to transpose to an English Opening, and hope Black plays d5, although then the opening will more likely be similar to a reversed Sicilian rather than a reversed French.

Incidentally, 1.e3 often leads to the French Defense, Exchange Variation: 1.e3 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.exd4 d5.

ViktorHNielsen

This is the main problem with the french. He know alot of the french pawn structure, but he doesn't know alot about anything else, so he will only feel comfortable in the french.

That's why I changed from the french, even though I had a score on 91,7%