Gambits against the French

I used to play the wing gambit and had reasonable results with it, especially in blitz games. White can get quite a bit of pressure for the pawn and a lead in development, though with best play I don't believe white gets enough compensation.

Yusuf, most of the main lines of the french reward a good positional player on either side, although for whatever reason (maybe because I'm more familiar with it as black and don't want to beat "my" opening, maybe from white's side is just not to my tastes) I don't really like to play the white side of the french myself, which I never do, since I've decided to switch exclusively to 1 d4 after a lot of experimentaion with both.

I would suggest the Reti Gambit, though I've never tried it.

Have you tried this?

and THAT is why I despise the french! I'm an attacker and don't do "positional" and frenchies are gambit running cowards, so it's hard to get them onto TACTICAL turf

NO ONE would accept the monte carlo gambit, so I had to give it up. i'm not WINNING with the alapin diemer (I also play related gedult BDG & mieses gambits), but I'm not losing badly with it either and AM trashing SOME french fries in under 20

I guess I'm liking it because it's based on Nf3/Bc4 & semi open f files... my "happy place formation"

looking at the stats, the alekhine maroczy is decent (I DESPISE the pawn chain and refuse to play ANY advance variation and put even more pawns in the way of 0-0, but that's me

the first is the blackmar diemer related alapin diemer gambit. it's what I play. it has great stats, but I don't. It's probably the BEST example of just how bad I am at positional concepts. looking at the other possibilities, another plus for this gambit is that it starts on move 3 and seems to be harder to get away from for black. I REALLY need to learn THIS line as I play 4.Nc3 in the declined line while 4.Nd2 has better stats and eval. i've only won 1 out of 5 games with Nc3 & e5.

the second is the wing gambit which has great stats, but I'm biased against it because wing gambit sucks against the sicilian, at least with the lousy book I bought that didn't cover the main line

Try the Reti Gambit 1983B, but it might be to positional of a Gambit for you to play well

EXACTLY! that's why I argue and argue and argue with everyone that always wants to steer me into main lines like the winawer poisoned pawn, here. I play chess pretty much "only" looking for TARGETS and pawns drive me nuts, especially in closed positions. I was just going to get to reti stats. I remember they are in the top 2 or 3 for french gambits.

I'm thinking that the alapin diemer is as good as I'll ever get against the french. it's based on BDG concepts I understand and is the BEST shot at getting Nf3/Bc4 and a semi-open f file to attack from. I'm just starting to look for 0-0-0 opportunities with it after winning a game with it and a french player (or theory saavy) player was all "DUH!" like queenside castling is OBVIOUSLY "the best plan", only it worked out horribly in my last game.

i'm far more concerned with getting rid of the scandinavian even if I have a winning record with it. I hate the toothless old hag!

the alekhine chatard has really good stats. if I remember right, the "best ones". that and the reti were top from what I recall the last time i had this convo

OMG! this must be the record holder for most named transpositions! almost every move = a new variation! maybe the line just confuses french players trying to name variations. LOL

1...e6 french

2...d4 normal variation

3.Nc3 paulsen variation

3...Nf6 classical

4.Bg5 burn variation

4...Be7 classical normal

6.h4 alekhine chatard

APPARENTLY, the reti has two names as well

you mean OUTSTANDING results with the carokann mieses gambit! I was TRYING to beat caros with the maroczy fantasy variation and doing badly, but when I started confusing it with the alapin diemer, I INSTANTLY started kicking butt left and right because caros just aren't used to Nf3/Bc4 and Bxf7+ pin breaks.

I just played this game this morning

that and that I play gedult BDG against scandinavians with a winning record might be a big reason for my liking the alapin diemer. as a king's gambiteer, BDG concepts are familiar

there's orthoschnapp which popped out of nowhere about a decade ago, and now there's a NEW orthoschnapp too

meanwhile, the "new" orthoschnapp has bad stats... sorry mr Schrantz

"principled moves" means

"I'm REALLY wasting my time trying to play this toothless positional crap!"

the 3.Nd2 tarrasch variation has good stats

if anyone who REALLY understands the theory could suggest the LEAST position based attack against the french, I might be inclined to try THAT, but I'm thinking just toughing it out with the alapin diemer and booking up on it is as good as I'll ever get against the french. I used to have something like a 10% win rate (or less!) against it as a 1400, and never got wins until I tried the ADG.

FORGET the monte carlo gambit! noone will accept it, and seeing just how bad the french is against gambits with players who AREN'T position illiterates (there's just NO WAY to VISUALIZE position!) like me, I guess I can see why they run from them screaming like little girls. I can't stand positional... they can't stand tactical.

like I said, I HAVE tried the monte carlo. it's a total waste of time for ANYONE as I see it has lousy stats besides the fact that no one will even accept the gambit which is supposedly a transposition to the icelandic gambit in the scandinavian... I think that's why I wanted to try it besides the WRONG GM who said it'll rip the center open and make french cowards play and actual game of chess which is the last thing they want when it's safer to hide under your bed with your teddy bear.

49:46 stats are NOT what anyone should strive for when there are better options available

my stats with the ADG are better than I thought! at 44:48 in 64 games, I am HAPPY. i thought my stats were a few % worse. OH! THEY ARE! i'm just 41:54 in 37 ADG accepteds, and CRUSHING 3...c5 franco sicilians with 6 wins and 2 draws in 10 games, propping my stats up for 3.Be3

after 3...dxe4 4.f3, my stats are 46:54 in accepted and a hideous 14:57 in 7x 4...Nf6 declined games. i'm way below average there

OK... i figured out WHY the forum keeps eating my replies... i made 5 in a row

here's an ADG quick start guide with 1600-2000 stats plus stalefish evals.

these are just the most played lines and I followed the theory on some longer lines ignoring anything half as common to hopefully gain some middlegame insights as well as be prepared deeper

if I drill this hard enough, maybe I can get my stats closer to these if not match them

Diemer-Duhm Gambit against the French

dont play all these trash gambits agianst the fench that can be simply taken down with 1-2 prepared lines by black, try the milhner-berry gambit (very strong)

lichess has a good study on it (https://lichess.org/study/0On2ull7)

the lines get extremely sharp and tactical

What is the point of this gambit exactly? Alot of BDG lovers play it, but I just don't see the point. I'd almost prefer to play the same position a tempo down with my pawn on c2 instead of c4.

Against the Winawer I really like playing this Winckelmann-Riemer gambit because alot of players foolishly take the pawn without realizing the difference between this and a regular BDG. This is one gambit where black really should decline.

For example, many of my opponents do this, which looks OK at first glance, but it turns out black is practically lost and getting mated in the next few moves after a white queen gets to h4.

This is the entire reason why I've been playing 1.e6 2.c5 if the position ever gears towards a French

The point is that it is a White variation of the Englund Gambit or even a White variation of the Zilbermints Gambit from the Black side where you just defend d4 and aim everything at e4 almost like a Centralized Queens Gambit

I tried the diemer duhm a decade ago and had some wins with it, but didn't study it enough. There was an AWESOME website at a .edu site that had theory for it, but I can't find it anymore. I bet it works better than the similar Monte carlo because it can't be declined

The Papa-Ticulat Gambit can be uncomfortable for Black.