HowchessYT wrote:
The papa ticulat gambit is good to annoy french players
The Papa Gambit?....that spinning sound you are hearing is Reti turning in his grave at a great rate of knots
Suggestions against the French Defence?
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#26 ?
Play e4, e6, Nc6, but then there are many options like Nc6 or dxe4 and Nxe4
ce5000 wrote:
Play e4, e6, Nc6, but then there are many options like Nc6 or dxe4 and Nxe4
After black's 6...Bc5 I believe white will play 7.Nxc5, and sit back 
Or even after 7...b6 white will be clearly winning after 8.Nxc5 bxc5 9.Bxc6+.
Is that what you really play with black?? Speechless.
I don't play this as black ;-)
How about steinitz variation: 1.e4, e6 2.e5
Nov 28, 2017
0
#30
I second pfren's 3. Bd3 suggestion. It has some trappy lines within it and most Black players will be unprepared for it. I even managed to score a nice 5 min pool win vs GM Zherebukh with it on ICC... 
Tragularius wrote:
I'm a 1.e4 player and I usually have a hard time dealing with the French. I used to play the advance variation (1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5), but I could never help losing my central pawns after they got fixed and were attacked. Then I decided to switch to the Paulsen variation (1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3), playing the Poisoned Pawn against the Winawer and the Alekhine-Chatard attack in the main line. However, I still found it quite difficult to withstand the pressure against my fixed centre, and I felt nearly forced to start playing the freaking exchange variation. I believe there's a quote by Mikhail Tal that says, "French Defence, exchange variation: the shame!". At least following the trade on d5 I play 4. c4 (the Monte Carlo variation), trying to unbalance the position at least slightly with the likeliness of arriving at an IQP position (with which I'm unfortunately not so familiar either, though). So far I haven't settled on any system against the French, so I welcome suggestions from anyone who wants to share knowledge and/or experience! P.S: I don't really want to play stuff like the KIA or dubious gambits. I'd prefer dynamic but still solid positions.
I play exclusively 2.d4, 3.Nc3. Feel free to look at my games to see some ideas in resulting lines. Not that I'm some sort of French defense guru, but I get very good results in those lines.
Ashvapathi wrote:
How about steinitz variation: 1.e4, e6 2.e5>>>>
No good. The advance 2. e5 is premature, because black has both the f pawn and the d pawn to undermine it, so white has wasted a move.
Regarding 2. Qe2, I probably played it four or five times against decent opposition. It's hopeless against strongish players because the Q tends to be misplaced and at least it represents automatic equality. There are also quite a few approaches against it. I won a couple of times with it against weaker opposition, say against under 1700.
The only two approaches I'd use against the French are 2. d4 and 3. Nc3, which is objectively probably the best way to pressurise black's game, and the anti-intuitive Advance Exchange Variation, where white plays 4. dc and goes for piece play behind the e5 pawn outpost. No chain of pawns to hinder white's development and it's tricky for black.
the exchange is a good variation if you're about 150 to 200 rating points below your opponent, but you must be content with draws.
Same with the Alapin against the Sicilian.
Maybe also the Scotch Game against 1. ...e5.
papa ticulat and reti gambit are the same thing yes?
was referring to this comment earlier: The Papa Gambit?....that spinning sound you are hearing is Reti turning in his grave at a great rate of knots
I started playing the reti last month and it gets very aggressive right out of the opening , furthermore you get your pawn back
Dec 7, 2017
0
#39
The Two Knights variation is solid enough, and flips the tables on black: suddenly, the French Defense player is the one trying to defend his pawn center against White's pressure! For example:
The downside is that you need to be prepared for a Van Geet / Dunst style position if black plays d4 before you do, though.
I play the advanced variation
just check stockfish for muck better play