What do French Defence Players Play as White.

Hi there,

For those players who play the French Defence as their main opening for black.

I am interested in knowing what you play as an opening as white. I know it depends on what the reply is. So do you have some regular openings you play as white which are similar in some way to the French Defence ? Did you puposely think out openings that would be similar in character for when you play black and when you have white ?

So would you play 1.e4 ? If so what would your response be to the Sicilian, Caro Kann, Pirc or even French.

If 1.d4 what would be yor response to Indian defences etc.

Lastly is there more likelihood that you would play an English Opening or perhaps Kings Indian Attack ?

Or perhaps there is no link whatsoever between your opening as white, and when you play the Fench.

I would be interested in your views.

Many thanks.

I play french with black, and recommend Ari Ziegler's DVD on the french if you don't have it already.  That DVD helped me to my best wins with the french.

 With white,  I play d4.  If King's indian defense, I play the Samisch (5.f3).  If 1... d5 2. c4 c6, I trade pawns (slav exchange).  If 1... d5 2. c4 e6 then it's a queen's gambit that anybody can handle.

I play 1. f4 a lot, but I have also played 1. c4, 1. d4, 1. e4, 1. Nf3, etc.  Trying to feel out what I like the best.  Learning more and more about controlling the center. 

The reason I chose 1. f4 sounds funny, but I stuck with it.  When I was just learning, I played 1. e4 a lot.  I was playing a weak computer program and it played the Alekhine against me.  I played e5, and it played Ne4, so I played d3.  Then I saw the possibility of Nxf2 (obviously a weak move to me now) and it scared me.  I saw that the f-pawn was weak.  I began to stare at that side of the board, and I imagined opening with that pawn first.  But I had to figure how to defend the kingside, so I found 2. Nf3, and from there I got on chessmaster database and found - voila - Bird's Opening.  So I began to look into this opening, struck with curiosity.

I used to hate playing against the e-pawn, because I feared the attacking potential.  It was because I was always wanting to attack also, and trying to muster up an attack before my opponent, I would lose.  So I had to learn to be a bit more patient.  Finally, I chose the French defense and fell in love.  I learned to play to close the center, where White has to push a bit harder to gain advantage on the kingside.  In the meantime, I could keep developing on the wings, keep my king in the center, or later choose where to castle. 

I am not saying that the French defense is the best.  But if you understand the nuances, it is a very enjoyable opening.  I hate playing a Sicilian Najdorf and giving White the whole board while assembling a counter attack.  I have played the Philidor Pirc Petroff, Owen's defense, so many things...give it a chance.

I play 1. f4 a lot, but I have also played 1. c4, 1. d4, 1. e4, 1. Nf3, etc.  Trying to feel out what I like the best.  Learning more and more about controlling the center. 

I play the French as black and the english as white, also I play the benko gambit against d4.

In some lines of the english it can transpose into a reverse french, something like this.

Swiss Cheese attack

As black vs. e4, I play almost exclusively the French defense, with a caro-kann or sicilian when I feel like doing something different.  I usually don't play 1.e4, but for me it isn't because I don't like the ruy or the sicilian, it's because I hate the Petrov (1. e4, e5 2. Nf3, Nf6) with a passion.  Depending on my mood, I will play:

A) 1. Nf3.  I like this move, because it transposes, in a lot of cases, to e4 and d4 openings that I know well.  If my opponent plays c5, I'll take a sicilian, or if Nc6, I'll transpose to a Ruy Lopez gladly.  And, if my opponent plays Nf6, I can go hypermodern with g3, or I can aim to get back into my opening repertoire with d4.

B) 1. d4.  I started playing this move because I discovered that opponents in my region of the world and rating level generally have little patience and positional understanding.  d4 has a tendency to close things off, and put me into an immediately advantageous situation.

C) 1. c4.  Like I said earlier, it pretty much depends on my mood.  I understand openings pretty well, and I know lots of lines and theory, so I can change my opening to suit my taste for the day.

 Also, since you got me started, as black, against 1. d4 there comes a slav defense, against 1.c4, I try and transpose into the QG with e6, quite often, and against 1.f4, I'm always ready to play either d5 or e5!

I have always played the French as black and used to play d4 as white but moved to 1.Nf3 some years back aiming for Reti style systems with g3, Bg2 and maybe Bb2 setups.

 As black against d4 I play e6 then if c4 or Nf3 I play f5 aiming for a stonewall Dutch.

I play the QG against d5 bayonnet attack against KID and classical variation against nimzo. winawer variation/rubinstein variations against nc3 rubinstein variation against tarrasch mainlines against advance etc.

I'm another French player who plays the English as white.  I tend to like positional games that also offer good chances for attack and inviting the opponent to over-extend him/herself 

i play the scotch, the queens gambit, the english, bird's opening as white and i will play the classical against the french.

as black i like the french, the benko gambit, the benoni, or sometimes a sicilian (there are plenty of variations to mess around with).

but i'll still try out almost every opening i come across.

Wow, I'll add my name to the list of French players who play the English as White.

My personal opening philosophy centers around the idea that Black's goal is to get and maintain a pawn on d5. That's why as Black I play the French. I prefer 1.c4 to 1.e4 because in my opinion e4 is an easier target to attack than c4.

These days 1 d4 is my main move by far, occasionally 1 c4 as well. Against the nimzo I play the classical, against the KID I either play the classical or the fianchetto, depending on my opponent. If I think he's playing the KID because he loves kingside attacks for example, I'll go for the positional fianchetto variation. Against the QGD I play the exchange, the slav I play the meran system usually. I'm also interested in the catalan though I haven't got to studying it yet. So mostly a pretty positional repertoire.