The Annoying Exchange French

At recent tournaments I have been playing the french defense.  Much to my displeasure, my lower rated opponents have been playing the exchange variation(1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5) and have been getting some pretty good play and after the exchange the positions tend to be drawish or white has a slight advantage.  It seems very difficult for black to attempt to go for a win in such situtations.  This has caused me to almost give up on the french defense against lower players as they always opt for the exchange and I can't generate any winning chances.  Anyone have an antidote for this problem? perhaps a line that can give black winning chances? or should I switch to sicilian against lower rated players?  Please help and Thanks in advance! 

Kasparov played the Exchange French at least eight times, with excellent results. It is not a trivial matter to suggest a good line in this variation, because you need to know how to play against 4.c4, 4.Nf3 or 4.Bd3. According to chessgames.com, GM Alexei Barsov lost only two games out of 25 when playing Black against the Exchange French, so it may be worthwhile to go through his games to see how he managed to dismantle the variation.

I have the same problem and don't play french against lower rated players for this reason. I play sicilians against them and play french only with higher rateds because I figure they wont usually opt for the exchange....... I refer to OTB tournament play. 

 oh I see.  What kind of sicilians do you generally play?  And I think I will take a look at Gm Barsov's games.

I play sveshnikov and classical sicilians most but have been known to throw in a najdorf or dragon here and there ..... very rarely though 

Not strying in any way to be a smartass here, just not understanding.  I know next to nothing about the French, although I am going to have to learn some basics as I have started playing e4 recently instead of d4.

If the exchange is good for lower level players, and they get an equal or slight advantage with it, why do higher level players avoid it?  If other lines in the French are better for white, whouldn't you want player to choose the exchange as the weaker continuation?  And if the exchange is the stronger continuation as white, why don't the higher level players choose it more often?  I am mising something here. 

Most french players dont like the exchange lines when playing black because they dont like the positions that often arise and they are extremely difficult for black to play for a win without taking extreme risks. Almost all of my opponents who have played the exchange against the french were lower rated and content to draw and in fact a larger % of my french games are drawn in this line than any other line white can play. Higher rateds almost never exchange against me because they are NOT content with a draw and so they play for more....... 

There is a certain amount of stigma attached to playing the Exchange French. If you play it as White, they label you either a beginner, or a wuss. BTW, the Scandinavian is similarly stigmatized, just ask Scarblac.

Yes, like Reb said.  It is hard to win with black when white plays the exchange, but it is also hard for white to win as well, but white still holds a slight advantage.  Lower rated players play this for white so that they can draw against higher rated players which is my problem.  So in order to prevent this it looks like i'll have to play some sicilian against lower rated players.

Ah, ok.  So its basically a drawing weapon for white if they feel they are out-gunned.  Thanks.

The exchange french is a way to escencially avoid opening theory and simply play a slightly better but drawish position for white. The thing is that most people (me included) play to win with white you will not be content with an "academic advantage" and a drawish position and since most intermediate-strong players know the theory they will battle it out in the classical french to see if they can get a large advantage with the white pieces. Besides the exchange french is up there (makes the top 5) on the highly infamous "list of boring openings by general consensus". It is just behind the exchange Philindor and English Opening-great snake variation.

I used to have the same problem with black, mainly in live chess, because most people plays like ana automat e4 Nf3. a friend of mine (2020 FIDE), also a french defence player, told me a very interesting line to complicate things 

My question is which variation is better for white?

-French exchange

-French Classical

thanks

As a mid tier class player who plays the french almost exclussively against 1. e4 here's my thoughts for what they are worth. 

I feel absoultely certain I'm about to win a game if the person in front of me plays 3. e5 or 3. exd5. Both of those are the 'cop out versions' that people who don't know the Opening as white. Players who whip out 3. Nc3 and 4. Bg5 are the one's who worry me. 

3. exd5 players are my favorite. It's white's way of saying "i'm afraid of you and don't want to play your game so I'm going to voluntarily throw away my advantage before move 5 just to avoid your prep!"

Now a few hundred points above me, I'd be worried about end game expertise and the like, but within my class, 3. exd5 = wimp about to lose :)
 

Estragon nailed it right on the head!

try to castle queenside with Nc6 and Ne7 systems and it is double sided

As a french player I can say the reason I hate the exchange variation is that it leads to positions that I dont really like playing . I prefer anything else . This does not mean I can't play the positions , just that I dont like/prefer them .  I have a good score from the black side of the exchange french but I still dont like playing the positions that often arise . If I know an opponent is gonna play the exchange against my french I will opt for the sicilian instead !  

Systems in which black plays Nc6 early and works to castle queenside can successfully unbalance the position when facing 4. Nf3 and 4. Bd3. It's dangerous to castle queenside against 4. c4 and so you probably will have to castle kingside, but black still has some chances for counterplay. Here are some sample ideas:

I know this is an old thread, but anyway. 

In order to play for a win, you need to play for imbalance, and not playing mirror game with your opponent (obviosly!). The most tenacious lines from white is to go for the c4 pawn move. That should be the most of your concerns. You should not mindlessly tripple your major pieces and swap them on the e-file. The thing is that the e-file is already covered by your minor pieces. Instead, you should try to find play along the f-file. It is actually black that has the option to play for a win, and not vice verca. Of course, it can be hard when not high level, but that's the idéa behind it. 

There is no simple remedy to this; Exchange Variation, indeed, leads to mostly drawn games, and that might be the reason lower-rated players play it against you, knowing that in sharper lines they have no chance.

If you want sharper lines, you can play around the fast ...c5 idea: it is not a very good plan against equal opponents, but your deep positional understanding can offset the arising issues. For example:

Not the greatest line, but it does lead to better counter-attacking opportunities.

Personally though, against weaker opponents I tend to play out the usual Exchange Variation lines, hoping to use my superior knowledge and experience to transition to a favorable endgame and outplay them in there.

Oh, there is also a weird sacking line 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 Nf6?!, but I'm not sure if it is playable on a serious level.