Why do people hate french exchange?

Isn't it fun when 50% of your games turn into tactical mess(advance) while other 50% are calm and chill piece shuffeling(exchange)? Is the fact that white equalises easily the problem? Or are french defence players so hyperactive that they fall asleep if they can't win the b pawn on 10th move?

at higher levels according to GM Simon Williams, the french exchange ends with a high draw rate and is "boring".

Dont know why they hate it , it's meh...

I think is that exchange variation simply deprive french players their favorite kind of game: one with closed position, long pawn chains and wing attacks. It is also fairly slow compared to other lines. Also a factor is that it is often selected by beginner giving it an image of "patzer's opening", much like - say - philidor defence.

Personnaly I think that exchange french is an underrated opening, much more combative then many people think.

I just don't like to play exchange french

It's boring

Because Black is too optimistic, Black wants to win and fall into an unbalanced and rather closed position.

French exchange Defense with Black is like to play an inferior Petrov Defense (because in Petrov Defense it is generally the opposite i.e. it is White who plays to win and Black annoys by macking draws).

i dont know what the complaint is about. black choses to play the french defense. if white then opts for the exchange variation, what's the beef? if black doesnt like it, black should not play the french defense. boom! another problem solved.'

I think french players like the advance variation because of the plans, the French exchange is harder to understand

"A thorough mastery of the French exchange would involve the study of a very large number of illustrative games" - Max Euwe

the exchange variation of the french defense is definitely the most boring of the four main variations. but again, black has only himself to blame for choosing the french in the first place.

I have noticed masters love to explain the advance variation but they shy away from explaining the French exchange, maybe even masters don't understand it.

As a French player, I used to hate the exchange. But then I learned this Bd5, Ne7, into queenside castle set up. As long as white doesn't play an early knight c3, you can almost always get to this powerful setup.

To play it as black, you HAVE to know when to ignore the queenside attacks. There's a lot of positions where playing an innocuous looking a6 or b6 sends the eval to +5. And when a strong attack does finally arrive, having an escape plan is usually better than trying to hold it.

The pros are the entire opening is very easy to play (just watch d5), the powerful pin on the knight (take his bishop/queen if knight ever jumps to attack your queen), and the monster pawn march on his king. Start with a5 and their kingside will be a mess within a few moves.

At the very least it's a good way to turn the French Exchange into an explosive tactical game.

maybe they just find it boring.

cuz people don't know how to grind lol

it's not super dead unless it's FM level + then they know what plans just force a draw. Both sides can play for win

Not all French players hate it!

I see it as a complete and utter joke. I have faced it roughly 75 times or so since 2014 over the board. I have 3 losses in that stretch, and not a single loss in any time control longer than Game in 60 minutes. I probably have about a 3 to 2 win to draw ratio, meaning for every 3 wins I get against the Exchange, I draw roughly twice.

I love facing the exchange over the board. Again, it means half a point for me and I'll fight you now for the other half!

Online? Meaningless. With only 1, 3, or 5 minutes for the game, and even rapid, opening means nothing. You could play 1.h4 and win.

well said!

I can see why French players don't like it, because it doesn't lead to a closed game. I always play it with 4. c4, which is somewhat similar to the Panov attack, a little sharper than 4.Bd3 or whatever, and leads to an even more open game. I prefer it to other French lines, but I don't like it. I prefer to play against 1....e5 or 1...c5, which tend to lead to open games and give more opportunity to attack.

White can also play the Tarrasch variation to avoid a closed game and not push tp e5 even against Nf6. The following gives white a good position. I personally do not like playing against the French as the open lines are kind of boring. You can play more aggresively against 1 .. e5, c5, d6, and Nf6.