I had a feeling that anti-positional/pawn-dropping Bb5s might be quite common among something like sub-1600s.  I've also wondered how common it is for White to drop material after 3...c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Be2 cd 7. cd Nh6/Nge7.

Seraph wrote on 02/17/14 at 21:40:22:


This myth of trading down one pawn to reach a "drawish" position has been debunked many times, in many places. Most recently, there's a thread on that idea here:

http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1391619848

The Exchange variation is a reasonable practical line.

Honestly though, I don't think anyone, including those rated under 1600, should avoid an opening because they are worried about the amount of theory their U1600 opponents know.  So, even if Black is "prepared" for the Advance variation, it remains a great weapon for White.

3. exd5

Yes, it's drawish. But you wouldn't have to learn that much theory since after that move it pretty much cuts down any other possibilities by black like the Winawer or Tarrasch or Fort Knox.

Thanks for all your replies friends.

Below 1600, you want to get in and get out of openings so you have time to look at classic games and do 15 minutes of daily tactics puzzles (not to mention have a life outside of chess).  That means that ideally, the basic idea should be understandable in 10 minutes.  So here goes:
(1) Exchange French with Be3 or Bf4, Qd2, and 0-0-0.  You want Black to castle short like a robot, then you try to checkmate him.  I would search for Abby Marshall's article on this at chesscafe.com: EDIT: here it is: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/abby20.pdf
(2) Another option is 2 Knights: 1.e4 and bring your knights out.  After e5xf6 and d4xc5 White will try to blockade the central dark squares, ideally with a knight planted on e5-- this makes the c8 bishop bad.  Also a knight on e5 helps you play g2-g4 to checkmate the guy's king.  White will also look to castle long here to go for the g2-g4 plan, but castling short is fine too and then the plan is really just to blockade e5 at all costs and trade off every piece to aim for a good knight vs bad bishop endgame.

Which one to choose?  Vanilla or chocolate.  Which one makes more sense to you?  If you still can't decide, look at a few games for each opening in a database such as 365chess.com

There is a lot of value in not getting bogged down in minute details.  You want a basic plan or concept to aim for.  You don't want move-by-move theory.  After you have the basic concept you can open a database and select moves that strike you as logical or intuitive.  From positions you arrive at by logical/intuitive moves  you can spend maybe 20-30 minutes scrolling thru games by titled players and consider what each side is trying to do.  The goal is to be efficient, then put the opening study away and look at miniature games or a classic book like Spielmann's Art of Sacrifice.

We haven't quite covered every reply yet. I was about to mention the Alapin Gambit (3. Be3). And as much as I like gambits, I never saw the appeal of the Milner-Barry Gambit in the French, though I do play the Caro Kann gambit with the same name.

I'll agree with the poster above who said that French players at low level see the Advance far more than anything else, so we end up being really prepared for it. That was my experience when I started playing the French, rated around 1250 USCF at the time, and probably until hitting the 1500s or higher. As white, I'd recommend avoiding that variation at first, just for that reason.

The real question is whether the white player wants to really learn the French, or would prefer to focus on getting better at tactics. If your goal is tactical improvement, then go for the Exchange or Alapin Gambit, both of which pretty much give up the first move advantage, but give you wide open, tactical games where you'll learn tactics or die trying. Especially the Alapin, partially because of the lead in development gained from gambiting a pawn (the double edged nature of gambits), and partially because of the balanced and potentially boring pawn structure in the Exchange. Going with one of these would be my recommendation for a 1400, since learning tactics is more important than learning a specific opening at that level. Also, French players tend to hate the Exchange, and most of them at that low level won't have seen the Alapin before, so they'll have no clue how to deal with it.

If you really want to learn something about the French, then Nc3 and Nd2 are probably both good options. 

I really don't understand all this fear of the Winawer for a 1400. It's not like he's going to walk into the mainline of the poisoned pawn facing opponents who know all the details as well as a GM. Just push 4. e5, unpin with 5. Bd2, and send your knight up to Nb5 to try and wreak havoc in black's position. Maybe it's not the strongest line to play by master standards, but it's sound enough, avoids the most demanding main lines, and can be fun to play. That's actually the line I was playing as white in the one and only game where I got a definitively winning position in a slow tourney game against a master... which I then proceeded to blunder away in time trouble and lose the game anyway. But that's why he's rated over 2200, and I peaked just short of 1800.

2 other ideas: 
* Exchange with Nf3 and c4
* KIA

Why?  There is (a) less to learn and some thematic play and (b) Black (at club level) will generally be relatively less familiar with these approaches (although KIA is very popular in some places). 

I know that Black can generate a lot of setups vs. the KIA but at club level you don't see it as much.