French d

You could try the exchange variation like this:

1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. exd5 exd5
4. c4 ...

You don't nescessarily have to take back the pawn right away if he captures. Sort of an open queen's gambit.

Blows the game right open, and there shouldn't be too much risk of symmetrical drawish positions.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

why even play Qh5 after e6?

The post that was quoted here has been removed

I found a game I played in October that was really similar to that one, but I prefer my Bd7 over your Qd7. The b pawn is irrelevent as black will have a crushing attack and strong central control. Also, the queen is completely displaced after Rb8. Black might as well be playing with an extra Queen!

self annotated:

[Event "uchess"]
[Site "uchess.com"]
[Date "10-2006"]
[Round "?"]
[White "kingsnqueens"]
[Black "YUG0slav"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 Nc6 {e6 would have discouraged Qh5, which I was expecting him to play} 3.Qh5 e6 4.c3 Nf6 5.Qf3 Ne5 6.Qe2 Nxc4 7.Qxc4 d5 8.exd5 exd5 9.Qb5+ Bd7! {black gets more than enough compensation for the b pawn} 10.Qxb7 Bd6 {preparing to castle, Be7 blocks the e file and isn't as active} 11.d3 O-O 12.Bg5 Re8+ {screw the e pawn, I want the King} 13.Ne2 Qe7 14.Be3 Rab8 15.Qa6 {white's queen is now totally out of play} Ng4 16.O-O {this fails, but so does everything else} Bxh2+ 17.Kh1 Qh4 18.g3?? {this just speeds up his death} Bxg3+ 19.Kg2 Qh2+ 20.Kf3 Ne5# 0-1

Originally posted by YUG0slav
I found a game I played in October that was really similar to that one, but I prefer my Bd7 over your Qd7. The b pawn is irrelevent as black will have a crushing attack and strong central control. Also, the queen is completely displaced after Rb8. Black might as well be playing with an extra Queen!

self annotated:

[Event "uchess"]
[Site "uchess.co ...[text shortened]... h1 Qh4 18.g3?? {this just speeds up his death} Bxg3+ 19.Kg2 Qh2+ 20.Kf3 Ne5# 0-1

Yeah Im not a big fan of bringing the queen out that early, the guy made 8 queen moves considering 3 tempi = 1 pawn, he gave up 3 pawns just in those dumb queen moves

Nice job of making him pay for it

Originally posted by HomerJSimpson
Nice job of making him pay for it

it's amazing how natural blacks moves are after Qxb7. No thinking involved

In French as white I feel rather uncomfortable - dunno why, but its fact, because in OTB I have good results in French only agains weaker opponents. As black I`m playing French, but I` really dislike when someone turns to exchange in 3rd move, because in most cases such a positions are booooring.

I myself play the tarrash varation as white.

1. e4 e6
2.d4 d5
3. Nd2 ...

(as mentioned above)

The plan is eventually moving the knight from d2 to f3 while developing the g1-knight to e2.

The reason I like this is I usually have problems with my b1-knight in other variations. It feels awkard on c3 and I like being able to move the pawn there instead to support the center.

Having a pawn on c3 and the knights positioned like that is enough to not worry about the center.

I usually end up with the rather ugly bishops on b1 (after Bd3) and c1, but they serve as a powerful resource for a kingside attack.

On 3.Nd2 and 3.Nc3 my answer will be the same 3....dxe4