French Defense: Tarrasch Variation with dxe4 — Your Guide as White

With 3.Nd2 instead of 3.Nc3, you avoided the main lines of the French and sidestepped the Winawer and the Classical. After dxe4 Nxe4, the centre is mostly cleared, but Black still has a backward d5-pawn (on e6 now) that can become a target. You have a knight on e4, which is active and hard to chase away. Your plan is straightforward: develop your kingside pieces, castle, and then figure out how to exploit your small but real advantage. The engine says +0.56, which is a clear edge for you as White. Black's kingside and queenside are still undeveloped, so you have a head start in the race to bring pieces out.

The computer's favourite move for Black is Nd7, continuing with Nd7 Nf3 Ngf6 Nxf6+. After that, you have traded off knights and Black's position is solid but somewhat passive. The Nf6 move challenges your e4-knight immediately. When Black plays 4...Nd7, they are preparing to bring the knight to f6 and trade, which is why the engine likes it — it's the most accurate way for Black to stabilise. However, in practice, Nd7 is played in 258,371 games, and White scores only 45.0% — the worst winning percentage of any major reply. Why? Because if you don't know how to handle the Nf6 trade, you can end up with nothing. The drill will show you the precise continuation.

By far the most common move here is 4...Nf6, appearing in 988,117 games — nearly half of all games at this position. Black immediately attacks your knight on e4. From here, the natural response is 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 (or 5...Qxf6, but gxf6 is more solid). White scores 51.2% from this line — a healthy result. The resulting pawn structure is unusual: Black's doubled f-pawns can be a weakness, but also give some central control. You can develop with Nf3, Bd3, and castle, aiming your pieces at Black's slightly loosened kingside. This is a bread-and-butter line you will face often, so it is worth drilling.

Two common moves by Black are clear inaccuracies, each costing roughly 0.6 pawns of advantage. First: 4...Nc6 (307,581 games, White scores 51.8%). This natural developing move is actually a mistake because it does nothing to challenge your knight on e4 and allows you to build up pressure. Second: 4...f5 (89,951 games, White scores 54.5%). This aggressive push looks tempting — kicking the knight — but it weakens Black's kingside and creates long-term weaknesses. Against both, the engine says Black should have played Nd7 instead. If your opponent plays either move, you can punish them and push your advantage past the +0.56 mark. The drill will show you the engine's best response to each.