I think the standard move is 4. ... Nfd7. After that, black should be aiming for c5, followed by Nc6 to attack the d4 pawn, similar to what happens in the Advance variation. I'm not sure what black eventually does with the d7 knight, though. When I play the French as black, I usually go for the Winawer (3. Nc3 Bb4), so I don't really know much about this line.
A quick look at Wikipedia (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_defense) says this after 1.e4 e6, 2.d4 d5, 3.Nc3 Nf6:
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The Steinitz Variation is 4.e5 Nfd7, when White faces a choice between 5.f4 (most common), 5.Nce2 (the Shirov-Anand Variation; White gets ready to bolster his centre with c2-c3 and f2-f4), or 5.Nf3 (aiming for piece play). After 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 (7.Nce2 transposes to the Shirov-Anand Variation; a trap is 7.Be2 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Ndxe5! 9.fxe5 Qh4+ winning a pawn), Black has several options. He may step up pressure on d4 by playing 7...Qb6 or 7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6, or he may choose to complete his development, either beginning with the kingside by playing 7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5, or with the queenside by playing 7...a6 8.Qd2 b5.
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I'm sure there are other web sites that give more detail on this line. You might also want to go to Chess Lab (
Java chess games: database search, analysis) and look up some games with this line to see how the grandmasters play it.
--Fromper
a question on french defence
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