Open system
Tarrasch French: Open or Closed?
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Depends what you mean by aggressive. The open … Qxd5 variation is more direct, leading to an immediate clash in the centre, but this means early simplification is possible. The closed … Nf6 doesn’t challenge white immediately, but keeps more pieces on, so perhaps gives greater winning chances in the long run.
I only recently switched to the open having played the closed for many years. The problem I found is that it’s one of the systems that white players usually know quite well and the resulting positions might ultimately be equal but White was on the fun end of it. I struggled against both Bd3 and f4. The latter was only played by a few but they knew it very well. Especially the variation with an early a3 gave me headaches.
Another option (If you wish to torture yourself) is trying the Guimard Variation against the Tarrasch French. I was studying some of the games of Vaganian (IMO one of the best French defense players ever) and some of his ideas in this variation “almost” seem playable, where move order is paramount. At the very least, it has surprise value.
I was wondering wether the open or closed system in the tarrasch is more aggressive for black?