How to play as White against French Defence? (For beginner player)

Hi,

I am a beginner player that wanted to know how to play against french defence? Please give me your advice since i wanted to have a normal pawn structure, attacking options as white, and not memorizing systems or long lines. Thanks in advance.

As a beginner I wouldn't know the French from the Berlin from the Damiano Defense (I just read those from a list of openings). So far I haven't played anyone that uses set openings. Perhaps someday when I'm up at 1600 I will.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to start with Discovering Chess Openings, a book about opening principles.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

Here are some books that set out to help the reader, using illustrative games:

Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf

My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/vincent-moret/
Opening Repertoire 1 e4
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7819.pdf

Thanks! I'll read over these.

The easiest way to play against the French for White is simply to take the d pawn (the Exchange Variation). Black will recapture, and then you just develop your pieces as quickly as possible. It's a solid line that's been used by some of the greatest players in history (Morphy, Kasparov), there are no traps in it, and you can just get on with playing chess.

I'm going to give you what I used.

I still don't like the french very much, but here you go:

And now, this is the variation I use, not very study intensive, with good results.

French Defense - principles, themes, plans....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyG2gghNY8c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IjmZ7DL20o

https://www.thechesswebsite.com/french-defense/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEf62yWKPYw

https://www.expert-chess-strategies.com/french-defense.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pig559oP5OM

http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/french-defence-beginners-i-key-ideas#RTFToC10

White's primary approaches against the French Defense...

French Defense - Advance Variation...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plgs6rbCMjE

French Defense - Classical Steinitz Variation...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuI4MWpDe2U

French Defense - Classical - Burn- MacCutcheon - Normal Variations...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZs8v1KJpgY

For the beginner....the following is an overview of all the main variations of the French Defense....primarily from Black's point of view, although the first player will benefit from study of the book...

First Steps: The French by Cyrus Lakdawala...

https://www.amazon.com/First-Steps-French-Everyman-Chess/dp/1781943435/ref=sr_1_33?crid=202HATFQ04UDI&keywords=french+defense+chess&qid=1569313151&s=books&sprefix=french+defense%2Cstripbooks%2C200&sr=1-33

The following is an excellent, instructive, introductory book on the French Defense.....although the title gives no clue, the book is specifically focused on the French Defense.....primarily from Black's point of view, (as are, typically, most books on the French)...

How to Play Against 1 e4 by Neil McDonald...

https://www.amazon.com/How-Play-Against-1-e4/dp/1857445864/ref=sr_1_4?crid=28QE2L7OQ91NE&keywords=neil+mcdonald+chess&qid=1569313428&s=books&sprefix=neil+macdona%2Cstripbooks%2C211&sr=1-4

I usually play 2. d3 and 3. Nd2 against the French.

Thanks Everyone. There are any book like: " French defence exchange variation move by move?

Yes, keep it simple 1...e4 by Sieleki

The books by Lakdawala and MacDonald which I suggested earlier cover the Exchange Variation....in fact they cover all the main variations of the French...

Keep it Simple: 1.e4: A Solid and Straightforward Chess Opening Repertoire for White by Christof Sielecki....

https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Simple-Straightforward-Opening-Repertoire/dp/9056918052/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=keep+it+simple+chess&qid=1569348486&s=books&sr=1-2

Yes...this book does recommend and cover the French Exchange Variation (you can use the "Look Inside" feature on the Amazon webpage to examine the table of contents of the book)

https://www.chess.com/blog/HanSchut/review-keep-it-simple-1-e4-by-im-christof-sielecki

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9068.pdf

"primarily from Black's point of view"

It seems to me that these books are not for beginners:

A Simple Chess Opening Repertoire for White by Sam Collins
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/A-Simple-Chess-Opening-Repertoire-for-White-76p3916.htm
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/A_Simple_Chess_Opening_Repertoire_for_White.pdf
1.e4 vs. The French, Caro-Kann & Philidor By Parimarjan Negi
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/1-e4-vs-The-French-Caro-Kann-Philidor-76p3875.htm
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/GMRep-1e4-vol1-excerpt.pdf
How to Beat the French Defence by Andreas Tzermiadianos (2008)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627050257/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen115.pdf
A Chess Opening Repertoire for Blitz and Rapid by Evgeny and Vladimir Sveshnikov

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9020.pdf
Playing 1.e4 - French Defence & Sicilian Sidelines by John Shaw

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Playing1e4FrenchDefenceSicilianSidelines-excerpt.pdf

1 e4 A Comprehensive White Repertoire

https://www.chess.com/blog/logozar/1-e4-a-comprehensive-white-repertoire-blog-preview

https://www.chess.com/blog/Milliern/a-solution-to-all-of-your-1-e4-problems

Keep it Simple: 1.e4

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9068.pdf

https://www.chess.com/blog/HanSchut/review-keep-it-simple-1-e4-by-im-christof-sielecki

For a beginner who doesn't need to memorize a ton of stuff, I'd recommend the Advance Variation 3. e5

It's the easiest to play and not bad. After getting familiar with the themes of the French, you may want to branch out with the more difficult and broader Nc3 or Nd2 variations.

But avoid the Exchange. It really isn't that good.

The Exchange won't give White an advantage against best play by Black, certainly. But that's true of most openings, and how often is a beginner going to encounter an opponent who plays the best moves? It will get you out of the opening with an active position where you can try out some middlegame plans and see what happens.

 Thanks i understand your point, so i will try the exchange variation to see what happen in the middlegame where my skills should be improved instead of the opening right? Also endgame strategies are more important that the opening. I was asking because against the french defence, there are some lines by memory in the opening that  i saw when black attacks white inmediately.

3. Nd2 is best in my opinion (and I play the French as black).