best variations to play against french defence

French has many tricks. I've tried advanced variation but it closes center to early and too positional which is not my cup of tea. Tarrasch is good but it's kind of defensive and blocks bishop which is again not for me. Now i'm playing Nc3 which is agressive and logical. Also positions are very dynamic and tactical after it. This move is considered as best. But again it depends on your style. In many variations black attacks d4 pawn and white can sacrifice it in order to get very active pieces and even advanced variation can be very sharp and dynamic in that case.

You should try the mainlines of the Winawer and if they don't suit you there are many sidelines for white at move 4 and 5 .   You just need to try several things until you find one you like , that suits you . 

after 5.Nd2 a5 refutes it

Of course one must realize that Black can always equalize [if he plays correctly] with the French vs any White variation.  And the same can be said for many other openings.

So, with White against the French you are looking for the best pragmatic chances.

I'm currently a bit scared of White playing this line against me, although it's theoretically fine for Black

Against the Winawer, I recommend the main lines.  What you must study up on is:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 (4...Ne7 usually leads to the main line, there are other extremely minor lines like 4...b6, but a short study of them and you'll realize White's advantage) 5.a3 Bxc3+ (You do need a weapon against 5...Ba5.  The old 6.b4 isn't best, I'd recommend any of the other lines for White as they are all good) 6.bxc3 and now:

6...Qa5

6...Qc7

6...Ne7

Against the main response, 6...Ne7, I recommend the Queen-saddle variation, 7.Qg4, which leads to either the 7...O-O lines where White has an attack on the King (+/=) or 7...Qc7 which leads to the Poisoned Pawn Variation, 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 (the pawn is poisoned because of 10...Qc3+) Nc6 11.f4 Bd7 12.Qd3 dxc3 and now it is a matter of taste.  I find the 13.Rb1 lines to be best, but theory evolves, and new ideas are always cropping up in this line, typically for White, though there are a lot of trick-shots that you need to know.  This line is extremely theoretical, but in the end, White typically ends up on top with best play by both sides.  As of late, 13.Rb1 and 13.Nxc3 have been doing better than 13.Qxc3, but every day that changes.

If you want some excellent books on the french that are recent get the ones by Moskalenko :  The Flexible French and the Wonderful Winawer .  I also like Watson's books on the french as well . 

Be careful about selection though and which side you are playing.  For example, the Watson book is a repertoire for Black.  Great suggestion if you are playing the Black side of the Winawer, but if you are looking to either play it from the White side, or understand the entire opening objectively from both sides, while you can still get some info from the Watson book, it won't be sufficient.

So just make sure you are reviewing first whether the book is written for White (i.e. Four Gambits to Beat the French), Black (Watson's "Play the French"), or Objectively (Psakhis's 4 Excellent books, though dated at this point so these would only work if you are very knowledgable in the French as you'd need to be able to figure out what's still valid and what's not - I played the French regularly as Black from 1997 to 2007 with a couple of dabs still at it in 2008 and 2009 before quitting the French as Black - Still face it as White occasionally against which I play both 3.Nc3 and 3.e5, depending on mood).

I have been playing the french , from both sides , for several decades and still do .  I play the sicilian more often now but still mix in the french often .  Watson's books are more from the black point of view and not as objective as Moskalenko's work . The Moskalenko books are the best I have seen on the French and he gives interesting ideas for both white and black and he plays both sides of the french himself .  I think for a class player that isnt planning to play the french as black himself simply the one volume reference books on the french are probably enough :  ECO , MCO , BCO , NCO ... take your pick . 

Hmm. And what is it that people have been discovering about the Advanced French in the last decade which makes it a reasonable try for an advantage also?

I tried to play 3.Nc3 against the French but found it too theoretical, also I don't like the lines in the WInawer where White is supposed to develop their queen early.

I shifted around trying a few anti-Frenches out before finally settling on the Advance. If you ask French players they'll often tell you they love to pay against the Advance most , but I play it because I think it's helping my chess to get familiar with this pawn structure which shows up in various other openings. In my Sicilian games for example, I now have the option of trying to transpose Alapins into French Advances and playing the Black side of it. It's also a very "strategically rich" opening so I feel it's helping my chess in that way too.

I  play the French and have a few observaions:

1. Weak Frenchies may be annoyed by the exchange variation, but once they learn how to play it they can win plenty of games in it.

2. Tarrasch is a good try, and especially against a Frenchie who is spoiling for a tactical fight.

3. The advanced  and KIA can work well if you are VERY prepared. Otherwise your lunch will be eaten by a decent Frenchie. Frenchies see the advanced alot.

4. The Winawer lines are the most testing and require the most preparation. Weak Frenchies avoid them in favor of the classical lines.

So if you want to prepare against your basic patzer Frenchie, and you don't want to invest in the Winawer, learn the classical lines. He or she will give them to you most every time. You'll throw out Nc3 and they'll steer you into the classical.

You're welcome.

Specifically ideas in the 5...Qb6 6.a3! (Determined now to be significantly stronger than 6.Be2 or 6.Bd3?!) and 5...Bd7 6.Be2! lines.  Not going to rewrite all of theory here in the thread, but do your research in those two lines specifically (screw the Milner-Barry, it's junk, and 5...Qb6 6.Be2 is a draw), looking at Sveshnikov's Books, the 2nd Edition of the French Advance by Everyman, The Gambit book, and ChessPublishing.  Plenty of newer ideas that are all really good for White.  Ideas like g3, h4, and Bh3 against 5...Qb6 6.a3 c4 7.Nbd2 Na5 instead of the old Be2, which is also fine for White, just to name an example.  Too many of them to spell them all out here.

Back prior to 2006/2007, it was thought that 6.a3 against 5...Qb6 and 6.Be2 against 5...Bd7 were both harmless, but they are not at all!

As someone who started playing the Advance recently, I have a question about nomenclature of Advance variations.

"The Euwe variation" - this is where Black plays his bishop to d7 instead of Qb6?

"Lputian variation" - this is where Black develops their kingside knight to h6?

What is the Paulsen attack?

What is the Wade variation?

I once had to play a strong master who was an expert in the French Defense. I had played him before and the game ended in a draw.

So what to play? I found the solution...

I opened 1. c4!   [and later won]

I have been experimenting with 1. e4  e6  2. Nc3 which has its good and bad points.  

Nc3 according to masters(not patzers) is the best response. The problem with NC3 is it requires lots of work(theory).

KIA is not really troublesome for french as long the black player(are not  patzers,novice) and knows what he is doing/familiar with lines. Black can even sidestep the theme that KIA players want with the b6 line and exchange on center. But black is also just okay with queen side expansion.

1. e4  e6 2. Qe2    2. Qe2 is a bad  move

1. e4  e6  2. d3  d5  3. Qe2      here 3. Qe2 is a bad move

You will not see strong gms playing either of these sequences.

Sorry but the Q on e2 is misplaced in some variations. Usually if Black plays for g6 and Bg7  then the White queen on e2 is misplaced.

I, myself, am a French player, I find French Exchange the best way to play it.