Hey, I'm interested in learning this for white (instead of the kind of lame, IMO, exchange variation which I usually play). I figure it'll also be good to know since I play the c3 Sicilian (for white) which can morph into the exact same position as advance.

Anyone play this? Know any good websites on it or have any particularly good games played with it?

T'anks,
Narz

As someone who plays the French as black, I see this a lot. People who play 1. e4 as white just want a single, easy to learn system to use against the French, so they figure the Exchange and Advance are their best options, because they can force the game into a single variation. They don't like the Exchange, so they go for the Advance.

The problem (for the white player) is that people who play the French as black end up playing the Advance MUCH more often than any other variation because of this. So chances are pretty good that the black player knows the French Advance better than any other variation of any other opening in the game. I know I do. So if you're just looking for a good way to meet the French as white with as little preparation as possible, I'd say the Advance variation is a much worse option than you think. You'll end up playing an opening that your opponent definitely knows much better than you.

On the other hand, if you insist on learning the French Advance, just start playing the French as black, and you'll get plenty of experience with it in no time.

The concept behind this variation's actually pretty simple: After 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5, black plays 3. ... c5, and the rest of the opening revolves around black attacking the d4 pawn. White plays 4. c3, then black plays stuff like Nc6 and Qb6 to add more pressure to d4. The timing of when you trade the c pawns on d4 is important. Black doesn't want to relieve the pressure there too early, but if he waits too long, white can sometimes mess him up with a well-timed dxc5.

As white, one thing you should know is that you should never play Bb5 to pin the c6 knight, in this or any other variation of the French. Black will play Bd7, and you've just given his useless, cramped in bishop something to do. Chances are pretty good you'll end up exchanging your good bishop for either the knight or bishop, which works out well for black either way. So instead of pinning the knight with Bb5, that bishop's best played to d3 instead.

Speaking of which, there's actually a well known trap (that most black players already know and won't fall for), where white pretends to under-defend his d4 pawn by putting his bishop on d3. It goes 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3. Now it looks like the d4 pawn is attacked three times and defended only twice. 6. ... cxd4 7. cxd4 is fine, but if black continues 7. ... Nxd4 8. Nxd4 Qxd4, then 9. Bb5+ wins black's queen. Black just needs to play Bd7 before Nxd4 and he's fine.

Another reason to play Bd3 as white is that if black castles, white can very often play the Bxh7 sacrifice, follow it up with Ng5 and Qh5, and white's usually got a winning attack. See "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess" by Murray Chandler for details on how that goes. Seriously. Great book, despite the silly title, and it spends more time on that specific sacrifice than any other topic. One of the main things I learned from that book is to never castle as black in the French, unless white already made the mistake of playing Bb5 and letting me trade that bishop off the board. (Notice a recurring theme here?)

Anyhow, hope this helps.

--Fromper

Sure enough, white can transpose into an Advance French, Paulsen Attack from a c3-Sicilian. For instance: 1. e4 c5 2. c3 e6 3. d4 d5 4. e5 Nc6 5. Nf3.
I would go as far as recommending it against Sicilian types because they usually can't play the French worth a merde.
I would never play it as white against a French move order though. And I've played just about everything under the sun against the French.

The main line is good in the Classical variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 followed by either 6. Bxe7 or if you're feeling brave 6. h4.
I like Boguljubow's line against the Winawer. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 ... 5. Bd2.
If you really want something simple, use the Exchange variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5. You're not likely to get an opening advantage, but there's always the middlegame. Most French players I know hate it (it's why I don't play the French).

The original poster said he doesn't like the Exchange, so I didn't really mention it. Actually, the Exchange is the one exception to my "never play Bb5 to pin the Nc6 in the French" rule. In the exchange variation, that move can work, depending on the setup. In all other variations of the French, Bb5 is just a bad idea. No exceptions. Ever. (Of course, now someone's going to find a game somewhere showing that a GM once won with that move...)

You are right that most French players hate exchanging, though. If your opponent hits you with the French, and you just want to annoy him, this is the way to go. The problem, of course, is that the white players tend to hate the Exchange French just as much as the black players.

The other problem is that you might run into that rare player who actually knows how to play the Exchange French well. It's probably the only opening in the game where black has an advantage, because after the pawn exchange, he can watch what white does, then imbalance the piece placement in his favor based on white's moves.

I learned how to play the Exchange French from the book "Action Chess: a 24 Hour Opening Repertoire" by CJS Purdy. It's a repertoire book that recommends a weird French line that I don't actually play, but he's got a chapter on what to do if your opponent trades pawns to go into the Exchange variation. Basically, it's an entire chapter on how Alekhine clobbered people on the black side of the Exchange French. I'm glad I own that book for that one chapter alone (especially since it's the only thing in the book that I still use).

--Fromper

If I recall, Alekhine used to delay exchanging by playing 3. Nc3 first.

I mentioned the Exchange French because it is a decent and simple way to meet the French while not giving black exactly what he wants (the Advance does exactly that).

It's true that white players hate the Exchange as well.. In the past I played the Steinitz variation with disappointing results. I looked around for ways to avoid mainline theory. The 2. e5, the Chigorin variation, Labourdonnais variation, Advance variation, Two Knights variation, 2. d3, 2. c4, Alapin variation, Schlechter variation, Anderssen variation...
None of which suited me. The Exchange variation at least made sense to me, which is why I picked it up. Playing 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nc3 I've seen a lot of annoyed faces. It's pretty much = or =/- but not typical French play.

The main line in the Classical and Alekhine-Chatard attack are what I play nowadays, but they are by no means simple.

I was talking about Alekhine playing the black side of the exchange, not the white. That book talks about the French repertoire from black's perspective. It's how I learned to play the exchange well as black and why I'd never play it as white.

--Fromper

I see. Well, Alekhine could do anything..

The Exchange variation worked for me for a long time. When my opponents got tougher, I started running into people that were quite adept in facing it. I ended up with systematic =/-...

I've been playing with the Tarrasch french myself.

It avoids the Winawer, which is why a lot of people play the french. Black has a choice of lines with an early c5 (which often turn into IQP positions, but in any event aren't typical french pawn-clamp positions) or 3.Nf6. The later is a lot of fun because of a very fun gambit white can play:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ngf3!? Qb6 8.0-0

The following game wasn't played by me, but was some of my first exposure to the gambit:

[Event "FICS rated standard game"]
[Site "FICS, San Jose, California USA"]
[Date "2006.02.28"]
[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

Overall the advance variation isn't very scary to french players because it gives them easier development. By playing e5 before he has to, white gives black more freedom for his development. The above gambit is an interesting demonstration of that: it's a lot stronger than the similarly-themed Milner-Barry because black's lost some time misplacing his king knight.

Actually, I have more fun in the Winawer with white than in any other French line.

This is the line that pops up most in my games with it:
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 cxd4 6. Nb5 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 Nc6 8. f4 Nge7 9. Nd6+


In my experience, black players are more booked up on the a3 stuff, Alekhine gambit, poisoned pawn than in this Boguljubow line. Not that the Tarrasch variation isn't perfectly good, it just makes no sense to me to jumble up my pieces against such a passive/counterpunching opening.

Rather than go in for all the complications I just played dxc5. We'll see what happens.

game