French Attack

In the French Attack, White answers the recapture 4...Nxe4 by challenging the knight with a pawn at once. The Classical Attack, 5. d4, claims the center and lets the knight stay on e4 behind ...d5. The Cozio Attack, 5. Qe2, pins the knight instead. With 5. d3, White simply forces the knight to retreat. The cost is that the pawn on d3 hems in the king's bishop, so White usually advances it again to d4 a move later. The normal course is 5...Nf6 6. d4, and if Black replies 6...d5 the game transposes into an Exchange French. That gives a symmetrical structure with d4 against d5, an open e-file, and little imbalance for either side to exploit.

The retreat 5...Nf6 is by far the most common answer. The alternative 5...Nc5 is seen much less often, and White scores noticeably better against it. The central thrust 5...d5 is a rarity. Engines rate the position after 5. d3 as roughly balanced. In online games, results are almost exactly even between the two sides, with few draws.