hi!
one of the problems i find in the nc3 lines of the french as white is that i often want to use my c-pawn to reinforce my center. should i avoid Nc3, or is there a work-around?
Black often reinforces it with an extra c-pawn: ...Bxc3, bxc3 :) 3 Nc3 is ok, probably one of best the moves.
Against Winawer 3 ... Bb4 4 N(g)e2 is an easy-to-learn system.
As long as you haven't pushed e4-e5, reinforcing the center with c3 isn't that important. (Because if your d4 pawn gets exchanged - e. g. for a black pawn on c5 - there is no e5 pawn that would become weak.)
Once you have pushed e4-e5, there are basically 3 ways to protect your center:
1. Build a pawn chain with c3-d4-e5 (in the Nc3 lines, this only works if black played Bb4 and exchanged on c3).
2. Support your e5 pawn with f4 and allow the d4 pawn to get exchanged. (Note that you'll get a nice square for one of your knights on d4.)
3. Overprotect the e5 pawn with pieces. (Not sure how common this is in the Nc3 lines, but it does sometimes happen in the Advance Variation for example.)
But yeah, just don't play e5 too early and instead annoy the French players with stuff like 3...Bb4 4. Ne2! :p
Just another line to add in the Steinitz - after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7, 5.Nce2 is quite a respectable line - eg 5...c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.f4
#4 Cool, didn't know about that one!
I usually don't play the Steinitz, but go for the "main line" 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 instead. (Not so sure if I should still call it like this as the Steinitz seems to get more popular...)
What I like about this 4. Bg5 line is that black has to make some sort of concession in order to provoke the e5 advance, namely to give up his dark square bishop. On the other hand, 4...dxe4 is annoying... :p
