Mastering the French Exchange Variation

The french defense has ruffled my jimmies for quite some time. I've finally started to look at an exciting variation which destroys the typical french defense structure.

Does anyone have any game/player/book for how to play for the win in the french exchange as white? I understand its "typically drawish", but I would like to learn some of the nifty lines in the exchange french such as (1.e4 e6  2.d4 d5  3.exd5 ex5  4.c4?! . . .) or lines such as that.

I played over a lot of games from Normunds Miezis who enters it from the move order 1.c4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.exd exd 4.d4

There were some good suggestions made in this older thread:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/lines-in-the-french-exchange

Also, this video wasn't very good, in my opinion, but at least its title aims at what you were asking:

Spicing up the Exchange French

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDoU8hWGVS4

Can you show me ONE good suggestion in that thread? All I see is an O.P. who knows very little, if anything, about chess, ( that claim "there aren't really any good moves against Nf3" is really epic!) and some guys desperately trying to pinpoint his blunders.

Is it worth looking at the line I showed or should i just consider playing the advanced variation or something else?

Hey guys.

I'm new to chess and the only opening I know (like 3 moves lol) is Ruy Lopez. The french looks quite good but maybe is for more advanced players, it is true? I really like tho, even when I got my ass kick really badly.

Oops! You're right: I posted the wrong thread. Worse, I still can't find the thread I intended. I was thinking of a thread about 1 year ago where the guy posted some opening suggestions for *Black* in the Exchange French that were very tactical in nature, and were exactly the moves I had discovered gave me problems as White. I believe he had diagrams of those positions, and they involved ...Bg4 and possibly a queen attack on White's g2-pawn.

In an attempt to exonerate myself, below are some threads *similar* to that unknown thread I liked, though mostly they have ideas for Black, not White.

()

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/crushing-the-exchange-french

ideas for Black

The advance is probably a good practical recommendation. I've heard the GM to look at there is E. Sveshnikov. But all 4 of the usual variations are legitimate choices (3.Nc3, 3.e5, 3.Nd2, 3.exd).

Pick something that appeals and play over some games to see some usual ideas and patterns. Then try it yourself and check your games against a database. That's basically how I treat openings. Try to understand the logic behind the moves, not just memorize (and the advance variation may be the most transparent strategically speaking, so a good choice there I think).

Books on specific openings have a lot of variations... and also sometimes leave out a lot of variations that you might like (it's not practical/possible for a book to cover everything). They're great for reference and strong players, but I'm not convinced you (or I) need them.

Okay. Guess I'll try to learn the Advance instead, then when I'm better I'll learn the exchange. Thanks everyone!

Actually, the French Exchange various is a tough nut for both white AND black. 

The few GM videos I've seen comment/discuss it typically say that it's:

- Doesn't give black too many problems

- Better player typically wins

- Surprisingly few draws

As a non-GM myself that plays the French a lot and thus runs into this opening as black in at least 30% of my games, I'd say that for the most part this is true, but it doesn't mean you'll do well against a player who is otherwise prepared.

My biggest problem with playing the French Exchange from either white or black's perspective is that the positions that usually arise, even if they're not symmetric, are really equalish type positions, even 15+ moves in. This means that one tiny little inaccuracy can equal a loss, even ones that seem so insignificant that it shouldn't be the case. I usually end up in some really dry positions where I and my opponent are shuffling pieces around in an equal position without much room to make progress without weakening your position fatally.

That said, in general, my results have been decent, meaning I beat most lower-rated players and lose to most higher-rated players, but I'd have to rate my Exchange French games amongst my least enjoyable, despite feeling pretty comfortable in the setups.  

It's the main reason I opt to not play the French at times and go for something radical as black like the Modern Defense - even if I lose those games, they tend to be strategically very interesting to play, very different from the equalfests I get with the French Exchange.