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Last time I looked, I thought 3 e4 Nf6 4 Nc3 e6 5 h3 Bh5 6 Qe2 was looking a bit better for White, albeit hugely messy. Do you think this is reliable for Black, Stefan, and if so what do you think is Black's best line?

I guess the alternative to getting rid of the bad bishop is to let it live a bit by playing the QID/appropriate Nimzo lines

Or just set out to make it really suffer with d5/e6/c6/a6/b5 etc

1.d4! White avoids the dreaded French and plays for the win!

On the other hand:

1.e4 e6? "1...c5 would have won a pawn." - Bent Larsen, commenting on the game Ken Smith - Mario Campos Lopez, San Antonio 1972.

Stefan Buecker wrote on 06/02/10 at 03:25:45:

Actually that versatility is part of the attraction of the French. Depending on mood and opponent I can be safe and solid or dangerous zombie, and after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 they still don't know which it will be today.

Larsen could be hysterical! Of course, it's important to remember what Smith used to play against 1...c5.

Against 1.d4 only e6, after 2.c4 of Nf3 f5 going for Stonewall or Classsical Dutch. If you do not  like Dutch on  2.c4 Nf6 is very good keeping all the options open. if then 3.Nf3 you may play 3...d5 entering QGD since now the exchange variation lost lot of its venom since Knight is allready on f3.

Stefan Buecker wrote on 06/01/10 at 19:52:56:

There is no such thing as a bad bishop in the French.

Hello everyone

Against 1.d4 , i found the most similar positions to the French is when you play  the Queen's Indian  and the QGD Tartakower defence personnally  .

As a French player , i never play the Rubinstein and Winawer though  , first one often  leads to simplifications too early and second one is quite tactical and i almost always prefer White in the winawer   .

So i get to play the French often in closed or semi-open games , much more strategical than tactical  , like systems with 3.Be7 or lines like McCutcheon , classical French after White plays 3.e5  etc .   

But ok ,  French players knows that White is very often  playing against our king and Black playing against White's weaknesses on the 1st and 2nd rank while trying to undermine or dominate  the center   . This is what you generally also face quite often  in the Queen's Indian

Tartakower defence of the QGD  is close also , because of the pawn structure f7-e6-d5 supported by Bb7 trying to come to life and with  less space than white   . I would also say  that a French player should always be prepared to play endgames very well and outplay White in that part of the game  ,  and this is in my opinion  also true in the Tartakower-Makougonov-Bondaresvky system  in the Queen's gambit declined  .

But of course the French defence also has  sharper and more  tactical lines  and in such cases , other openings system against 1.d4 could be considered as closer  , like for instance the Modern Benoni which i got to play quite often for some reasons but recently switched to the Nimzo and QI systems