how to play french defense?

Hey,

I started playing french defense, but I still do not understand some things - could somebody more advanced help me with that?

1) first, lets consider the advanced varioation (which I see played the most) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4.c3 Jc6

I know that the plan is to throw everything at d4 but in the end it just builds the tension in the center.

Could you give me some sort of hint as to when should I (as black) take the pawn on d4? When is the favourable moment?

And also - many times f6 is being played - to undermine the center (at the cost of of freating the e6 weakness).

When should I play f6 and when should I take it?

2) in the exchange variation (3. exd5 exd5) what should be my plan? I usually go with c6, Bd6, Qc7, Nbd7, Nf6 but I cant make many actions from here... (I sometimes try to do the Ne4 more or less successfully - but I can't find some more active plan...(is c5 a good idea at the cost of making an isolated pawn?) Could u give me a hand?

Thank you!

this is a nice "general set up" in the exchange variation:

Nc6

Bd6

Nge7

Bg4

Qc2

this will usually avoid a symetrical position and give you a lot of room for play. obviously this is not a system you can blindly play without paying attention to your opponents moves, so do not try to play it as such!

here is an example line:

4..nc6 is quite an inaccurate move because of 5.Bb5, black is best off playing Bd6 first, so that if Bd3 then Nc6 makes sense ---> now if bb5 its a waste of tempo.

so 4..nc6 5.Bb5 Bd6 c4 dxc4 d5 a6 Ba4! b5 dxc6 bxa4 O-O Ne7 Qxa4 white has a comfortable game, and his play is probably better.

anyways Bd6 first before nc6.

I get this position a lot when I'm playing Nimzowich's defense.