French exchange:why does everyone play this?!

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EnduringGuerila

Can anyone tell me what system I should be aiming for against the french? I'd prefer a tactical position where white has an attack and the game is imbalanced.  The more obscure the line the better although I don't want a dubious gambit.  The winawer is nice but there's way too much theory on it for my taste.

binblaster
timkirtland wrote:

Can anyone tell me what system I should be aiming for against the french? I'd prefer a tactical position where white has an attack and the game is imbalanced.  The more obscure the line the better although I don't want a dubious gambit.  The winawer is nice but there's way too much theory on it for my taste.

There are some offbeat winawer lines that don't have too much theory. eg. 



ChessSponge

Nobody said the simple solution? If you don't like playing the exchange variation, and find lots of people playing it.... then don't play the french?

 

That will certainly avoid the French Exchange Variation if it isn't a French to begin with.

Vivinski

I see the exchange variation an awfull lot too, My standard pre-move is 3 ...exd5

EternalChess

I don't like To play against the frenchbecause opponents obviously know the theory so I play exchange to 1. Make them sad (or overexcited), and put myself in familiar territory, I would rather make it even then get outplayed because they knew thee theory and didn't. So in most cases, I don't mind making the game equal.

DrSpudnik

I love to see white play the exchange against me. It means they don't know how to play the French or are just lazy & think they have a guaranteed draw. They usually end up very disappointed.