french defence

d4 e6 best reply for white

 Looks like the pros choose e4 by a convincing margin.  This is from the Explorer master games...

• 2.e4

  103,223

  40%

  32%

  28%

• 2.c4

  21,246

  40%

  34%

  26%

• 2.Nf3

  8242

  37%

  34%

  29%

• 2.g3

  793

  40%

  33%

  27%

• 2.Bf4

  184

  32%

  30%

  38%

• 2.Nc3

  95

  38%

  23%

  39%

• 2.e3

  83

  31%

   

  51%

• 2.Nd2

  68

  41%

  32%

  26%

• 2.c3

  34

  24%

  32%

  44%

• 2.f4

  10

  30%

   

  70%

• 2.a3

  5

  80%

  20%

   

• 2.b3

  4

  25%

  25%

  50%

• 2.h4

  3

  67%

  33%

   

6.a3 is the only way to REALLY test Black in the ...Qb6 advance French.

What If black play Bd7 instead Qb6?

There 6.Be2 is preferrable, as 6.a3 allows Black to either hit the chain with 6...f6, or close the queenside with 6...c4 without having to bother about a Queen misplaced at b6.

In response to melvinbluestone and Snookslayer, I think this is a better option for black:

Simon Williams is a long time french player grandmaster. Follow him on YouTube and that will help with the concepts you need to play the French. Just YouTube his name and French defense and the games should show up. He annotates as he plays.

unless you are being sarcastic, this is obviously not correct. Opening statistics will merely show transposition to the most common position achieved by order of popularity. I can guarantee you, most 1.d4 players will play 2.c4 to 1...e6  over 2.e4 for two reasons. One is that most 1.d4 plays statistically play 2.c4 vs both 1....d5 and 1...nf6 and can afford to do so agaisnt almost all of the black defenses. The second is, 1...e6 hints at being comfortable transposing to a french , why should a white player grant black an opening transposition he so willingly accepts? (after 1.d4 e6 it is more likely that black is confortable with the french instead of white as many d4 players dont play 1.e4 or are not as booked up)

Thanks for the correction guys...Never quite understood the now obvious limitation of the Explorer before.