Hey all! I've been lurking a little, and this is my first post.

I'm 17 years old, and I just started played chess seriously a year so ago. I've been to a few tournaments and played a huge amount at various free blitz/correspondence sites around the web. While I have no issues in correspondence games, I'm having a terrible time playing the white side of the French in blitz or tournament games. I've played against one guy twice in different tournaments. Both times I was white, and he played the French. Both times he was hammering me out of the opening, but I got lucky and he blundered both times, and I was able to win.

I'm a very tactical player. I like open positions, with tactical complexities. I've tried the classical and the Tarrasch approaches, and no matter what I do I seem to isolate my e pawn on e5 and, if playing the Tarrasch, trap my queenside bishop. I'm tempted to play the exchange, but I've been told that leads to dull positions with neither side having any chances. It also looks similar to Queen's pawn openings, which I'm not very familiar with. Do you guys have any recommendations about active approaches to the French that don't result in long, locked in pawn chains and insane difficulty activating pieces?

Thanks!
Thatsmate

Don't avoid the exchange variation just because of it's reputation. If both players stick to symmetry, it can be boring and end up being drawish at the master level. But I don't play at the master level. Do you?

At the class level, I've never scored a draw playing it when I used to play the French as black. Theoretically, it's probably stronger for black than any other main line, but most people playing the French at beginner-intermediate levels hate the exchange because it gets them out of the stereotypical French positions that they're most comfortable with. As long as you make a point of avoiding a symmetric position, for instance waiting for your opponent to castle and castling on the other side, there should be attacking chances for both sides.

Or you can go nuts with it and find a good gambit to play. There are a couple of anti-French gambits that no grandmaster would touch, but they're perfectly playable at lower levels. The one I'm thinking of trying is the Alapin-Diemer Gambit. I read about it in the Gambit Cartel column on chesscafe.com. The entire 3 year run of that column is in this file: http://www.chesscafe.com/zip/mcgrew.zip and the column on that gambit is the 34th article. As long as you have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you should be able to read it. It looks like a fun attacking gambit.

--Fromper

Hey, I too hate playing the French and have avoided it like the plague by playing 1. D4! But seriously, if you are committed to gambit play, take a look at the Milner-Barry (Berry?) I used to play it against the French in tournaments years ago with fairly good results.

You do get Black's pawn chain, but when white gives up some center pawns, he gets a lot of tactical play on the e-file. It's tricky, and probably unsound, but French players who are greedy and don't know their lines can end up in a trouble quickly!

I don't know how sound this analysis is, but at least you can play some of the scenarios out and see if you like the feel of the positions.

http://www.freechess.org/~toddmf/lecbot/lec22

There's a very fun gambit in the Tarrasch french:

(None of these games are played by me)

[Event "FICS rated standard game"]
[Site "FICS, San Jose, California USA"]
[Date "2006.02.28"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Credit"]
[Black "Anagramm"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
[Time "07:13:03"]
[BlackElo "2004"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[WhiteElo "2229"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ngf3 Qb6
8. O-O cxd4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Nf3 Qb6 12. Qa4 Qb4 13. Qc2 Qc5
14. Qe2 Be7 15. a3 Qc7 16. Bf4 O-O 17. Rac1 Qd8 18. Rc3 Re8 19. h4 f6 20. Rfc1
fxe5 21. Bxe5 Nxe5 22. Nxe5 Bf6 23. Qh5 g6 24. Bxg6 hxg6 25. Qxg6+ Bg7 26. Qf7+
Kh8 27. Rc7
{Black resigns} 1-0

[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]
[Site "FICS, San Jose, California USA"]
[Date "2006.03.12"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Kokesh"]
[Black "NimzoWits"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[Time "11:08:18"]
[WhiteElo "1717"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[ModificationDate "2006.03.13"]
[BlackElo "1735"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ngf3 cxd4 8. cxd4
Qb6 9. O-O Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Nf3 Qb6 12. Qa4 Qb4 13. Qc2 Qc5 14. Qe2 Be7
15. Bf4 $5 O-O 16. Rac1 Qa5 17. Rc3 Nc5 18. Bxh7+ Kxh7 19. Ng5+ Bxg5 20. Qh5+
Kg8 (20. ... Bh6 21. Bxh6 gxh6 (21. ... g6 22. Qh4 Rh8 23. Bg5+ Kg8 24. Qxh8+ $3
Kxh8 25. Bf6+ Kg8 26. Rh3 $18) 22. Rh3) 21. Rh3 (21. Bxg5 Ne4 22. Rh3 f5 23. Be7
Bd7 24. Bf6 Nxf6 25. exf6 Rxf6 26. Qh8+ Kf7 27. Qxa8 Bc6 28. Ra3 {Crafty's Best
Line: Score: 1.83 Depth: 11}) f6 (21. ... Bh6 22. Bxh6 g6 23. Qh4 f5 24. Bxf8
Qxa2 25. Bxc5 Kf7 26. Qh7+ Ke8 27. Qe7# {Crafty's Best Line: Score: Mat05 Depth:
9}) 22. exf6 $4 (22. Bxg5 fxg5 23. Qh8+ Kf7 24. Rf3+ Kg6 25. Qxf8 g4 26. Rf7 Kh5
27. Qh8+ Kg5 28. Qxg7+ Kh5 29. Qh7+ {Crafty's Best Line: Score: Mat09 Depth:
forced mate}) Rxf6 $4 (22. ... Bxf6 $1 ) 23. Bxg5 Rf5 (23. ... Ne4 24. Bxf6 Nxf6
25. Qh8+ Kf7 26. Rg3 Ne8 27. Rf3+ Nf6 28. Rc1 d4 29. b3 b5 30. Rxc8 Rxc8 31.
Qxc8 Qxa2 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: 0.91 Depth: 10}) 24. Qh7+ Kf7 25. Bh6 Ke7
(25. ... Ke8 26. Qxg7 Ne4 27. Bg5 Qc5 28. Rh8+ Rf8 29. Qg6+ Kd7 30. Rh7+ Kc6 31.
Be7 Qxf2+ 32. Rxf2 Rxf2 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: 1.63 Depth: 9}) 26. Qxg7+
Rf7 27. Bg5+ Ke8 28. Rh8+ (28. Rh8+ Kd7 29. Qxf7+ Kc6 30. Qe8+ Bd7 31. Qxa8 Nd3
32. Rb8 Qb6 33. Bd8 Qa6 34. b3 {Crafty's Best Line: Score: 9.82 Depth: 11}) 1-0

Of course, black doesn't have to play 3. ... Nf6; you'll also see c5 a lot. Then play like Tal:

[Event "USSR Championship"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1969"]
[Round ""]
[White "Tal"]
[Black "Zaitsev"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ModificationDate "2007.02.24"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bb5 Qe7+ 7. Be2 Qc7 (7.
... cxd4 8. O-O Qd8 9. Nb3 Bd6 10. Nbxd4 Nge7 $14) 8. O-O cxd4 (8. ... Nf6 ) (8.
... c4 9. b3 b5 10. a4 c3 11. axb5 cxd2 12. Bxd2 Nd8 13. Ba5 Qd7 14. Ne5 Qd6 15.
b6 axb6 16. Bb5+ Ke7 17. Bb4 Rxa1 18. Qxa1 Qxb4 19. Nc6+) 9. Nb3 Bd6 10. Nbxd4
a6 11. c4 (11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Qd4 Ne7 13. Qxg7 {and black gets initiative for the
pawns.}) Nf6 (11. ... Nge7 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Nxc6 (13. Nb5 ) (13. Bc4 Nb6)) 12.
Bg5 Ne4 (12. ... O-O 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. cxd5 Ne5 15. Rc1 Qb8) (12. ... dxc4 13.
Nxc6 Qxc6 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Bxc4 Qxc4 (15. ... O-O 16. Rc1 Qd7)) 13. cxd5 (13.
cxd5 Nxg5 14. dxc6 bxc6 (14. ... Nxf3+ 15. Bxf3 O-O 16. cxb7 Bxb7 17. Rc1 Qb8
18. Bxb7 Qxb7 19. Nf5 Be5 20. Re1) 15. Nxg5 Bxh2+ 16. Kh1 Bf4 17. Bf3 O-O 18.
Bxc6 Rb8 19. Qh5 Bxg5 20. Qxg5 Rb4 21. Rfd1 Rxd4 22. Rxd4 Qxc6) Nxd4 14. Qxd4
Nxg5 15. Qxg7 Nxf3+ 16. Bxf3 Rf8 (16. ... Be5 17. Rfe1) 17. Rac1 Bxh2+ (17. ...
Qd7 18. Rfe1+ Be7 19. d6 Qxd6 20. Rcd1 Qg6 21. Qe5 Be6 22. Bxb7 Rg8 (22. ... Rd8
) (22. ... Rc8 23. Bxc8 Rg8 24. g3 Kf8 25. Bxe6 Qxe6 26. Qb8+ Kg7 27. Qxg8+ Kxg8
28. Rxe6 fxe6)) 18. Kh1 Qd6 19. g3 Bxg3 20. fxg3 Bf5 21. Rfe1+ (21. Rfe1+ Kd7
22. Qg5 Bg6 23. Re7+ Qxe7 24. Rc7+ Kxc7 25. Qxe7+ Kb6 26. Qd6+ Ka7 27. Qc5+) 1-0

[Event "Moscow"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1971"]
[Round ""]
[White "Tal "]
[Black "Uhlmann"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ModificationDate "2007.02.24"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. Bb5 dxe4 (5. ... cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bd7 7.
Nxc6 Bxc6 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. c4 Nf6 (9. ... d4 10. O-O c5 11. f4) 10. Qa4 Qd7 11.
e5 Ng4 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Nf3 Bc5 14. O-O) 6. Nxe4 Bd7 7. Bg5 Qa5+ (7. ... Qb6 8.
Qe2 cxd4 9. O-O-O) 8. Nc3 cxd4 9. Nxd4 (9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. Qxd4 Bxf3 11. gxf3 Qxg5
(11. ... Qb4 ) 12. Qa4+ b5 13. Nxb5 Qe5+ 14. Kf1 Ke7) Bb4 (9. ... Be7 10. Qd2
Nf6 (10. ... Bxg5 $2 11. Qxg5 Nxd4 12. Bxd7+) 11. O-O-O) 10. O-O Bxc3 11. bxc3
Qxc3 $2 12. Nf5 exf5 (12. ... Nge7 13. Nxe7 Nxe7 14. Qxd7+ Kf8 15. Qxe7+ Kg8 16.
Be8) (12. ... Nf6 13. Nxg7+ Kf8 14. Nf5 (14. Nh5 Nxh5 15. Qxh5 Rg8) exf5 15.
Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Qxd7) 13. Re1+ Be6 14. Qd6 a6 (14. ... Nf6 15. Rad1 (15. Bd2 Ne4
$13) Qxc2) 15. Bd2 (15. Ba4 b5 16. Bd2 Qc4 17. Bb3 Rd8 18. Qc7 Rd7) Qxc2 16. Bb4
(16. Rac1 Qxc1 17. Rxc1 axb5 18. Rxc6 Rd8 $1) axb5 17. Qf8+ Kd7 18. Red1+ $1
(18. Rad1+ Kc7 19. Qxa8 Nf6 20. Bd6+ Kb6 21. Qxh8 Ne4 {gives more counterplay})
Kc7 19. Qxa8 (19. Qxa8 Nf6 20. Qxh8 Ne4 21. Be1 $1) 1-0

Nice thing about these lines is that they don't feel very "french" which should take your opponent out of some of his comfort zone, but they keep the emphasis on attacking and tactics, which means they're not gimmicky and should yield good practical results.

Thanks guys! These are all really interesting lines that I'm enjoying playing through and looking at. Do any of you know about transposing the French into the KIA? I was chatting with a friend of mind, and he mentioned that he played e4, hoping to get into tactical complications with the Sicilian. But he said if somebody played other lines, like the French, he would play the Kings Indian Attack. How does that work?

It's a cop-out. The KIA isn't that exciting, not is it particularly effective against the french. (It's not bad, it's just ... bleah. Gives black way too much freedom.)

how can you play KIA against French?

1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 if I recall correctly. I tried it once only. I'm not a King's Indian type player at all. The Pirc without c6 is the only King's Indian'ish opening I've ever had any succes with at all, and that had to make way for 3 other defenses .

A word of warning, I've heard from many KI players that they would only recommend it to experienced players (not necessarily master-level though) because things can get a little tricky.

As for my approach against the French:
I only consider two lines as critical (for me)
A.) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7
I labeled that the Classical Main Line. 6. h4 is my 'fun' option, I'm still learning my way around the sacrifices.
I've tested just about everything else after 3. ... Nf6. Nothing agreed with me so I just went for the main stuff.
B.) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 5. e5 c5 6. Bd2
Which I listed as the 'Bogo-Winawer' (Boguljubow variation). Haven't lost a game yet and I've seriously annoyed some tough people with it. The Winawer has always been a pain in the neck for me, until I started playing this line.

I don't consider other lines to be as threatening as these two.

Listen very carefully (for I shall say zees only once!)

.. do NOT play the exchange!!!

It's dull. Play 3.Nd2 instead and white maintains the advantage - it's a very complex line and a lot of Gm's favour it. I have agreat book by Lev Psakhis on it with many of the best lines and white is always able to maintain his edge for a long time. I have been playing it against players in the 1800-2200 range in my local league in the Uk and have had some success with it, finding a nice gambit attack against his king in one of the game starting from about move 16 so don't turn your nose up at that line. In my opinion, it is the strongest.
The Winawer, on the other hand, is for prepared games where a lot of theory moves are well known, in which case you are probably better off avoiding it if your opponents are more experienced as they may bore you to death with it.