What is the best line to play against the French Defense?

Question

Starting out 1. E4 E6 2. D4 D5. What is the best move for white next?

Answer 1

i prefer to move e5 forming an interlocked pawn position so knight to f6 cant be played
most players make the mistake of playing nh6 and the correct follow up of nh6 would be bishopc1xh6 forcing black to recapture the bishop with the g pawn giving black doubled pawns which is a grave weakness
a smart player will play ne7 instead of nh6
the knights are most important then having the bishops when there are interlocked pawns because knights can move about freely while bishops get blocked off
another possible line is nc3 and if black takes with dxe4 you play nxe4 the french defence no matter what line you use usually looks like a draw at the beginning of the game so these plays have to be made with no slip ups or you will lose
if you play e4xd5 then black plays e6xd5 and the position is equalized so once again it looks like a draw
hope this helped