'Refuting The Winawer'

I like seeing Nf3 because I know I can't get destroyed. it means they respect the opening (or else they aren't looking for queen moves) and will allow black players a peaceful life. But I have to try the aggressive 7...Qc7 instead of ...0-0 though, because I'm getting sick of castling everytime even though I like it and my book tells me to. I bet many white players are afraid to see the true poisoned pawn, at least if they aren't prepared.

I think it's easier for black to find a plan than for white in 7 Nf3. Could a4-a5 really be that strong? and what's the deal with h4-h5-h6? It just seems like a waste of time (for the most part) to me even though I'm a good positional player.

Currently, both Qc7 and O-O are losing popularity.  Qc7 to Qxg7 and the mainline (turns out the extra pawn should be enough despite the complications), and O-O to Bd3 (although black has some hope in this line).

... Kf8 is a shocking alternative that leaves black with a 'weakness free' position.  White must find (after 7. Qg4 Kf8) 8. h4! to have any chance at advantage. 

Keep in mind that at the very top (2700+) the french is a little bit of a rarity (In the sense that very few if any of these players build their game around it).  there's a reason for this.  I have very little respect for the french :P...

Nonetheless it leads to crazy complications and is incredibly practical... if only to the 2650 level ;)

If black is going to play Kf8 in the winawer it seems to me that he should just play the MacCutcheon!

446919 ... as far as I know, the a4 line is the line where black equalizes :P... h4 is the correct move :). 

I don't have any sources available at the moment but if you're interested message me and I"ll look it up.

The MacCutcheon annoys me to death :P.

White has a superior minor piece and in practice often ends up with the superior Knight as well ... which is 2 for 2 :P.  ... white has a space advantage, play along the B-file, better rook potential, a good king position (castling is absolutely not neccesary), ... it seems like white should be better in all aspects (even the pawn structure is somewhat irrelevant!).  Theory tends to suggest black isn't quite equal... but in practice ... god I hate this line :P.

Bahaha! Yea I know...

The Mac is always a complete mess and black always seems completely lost but personally I've always felt very comfortable on the black side of it. Maybe because I know what black needs to achieve and white always seems completely bamboozled. Also it helps to know that both Morozevich and Korchnoi have played the Mac a ton over their careers and have had great success with it. Recently Ian Nepomniatchi has also championed the black side...behold!

In MCO it says white gets the "more harmonious position".

I"d be inclined to think that the superGM's have been right all along... 1. ... e5 for equality, 1. ... c5 for unclarity ... anything else can be questioned to some degree.

1...c5 has just as much chance as being unsound as 1...e6, despite its popularity. nobody ever questions ...c5. But ...e5 of course has to be a correct move.

Oh I dunno...I think the main reason people knock the french is the lack of space. But most lines in the sicilian suffer from the same problem...in fact it might be worse off since in the sicilian black really has to struggle to play d5 whereas in the french d5 is immediate. Most of the critical lines in the classical steinitz are very sicilian-like except the center is blocked. White has the d4 square in the french like in the sicilian except in the french e4 is very much black's square and the f5 break is much harder for white to achieve. Of course there's the problem of the light squared bishop but in many sicilians black is saddled with a bad bishop as well, look at the dark squared bishop in the e5 najdorfs!

Sure.  The difference is the queenside play ... in the French, black tends to play on the queenside (in lines where the c-pawns are doubled and undermining the center is a little less practical) ... same story in the Sicilian ... the difference is that black uses pawns more effectively (in general) in the sicilian... pawn storms require more attention ...

I dunno, I think both are playable, I think both are very hard to face, I don't think I'm good enough to solve either :P.

Yea sicilian centers are more fluid and likely to bust open with waves of glorious mayhem...but let's not forget black's f6 break in the french which is always interesting.

The doubled c pawns look safe at first, but they can turn into a huge liability sometimes. That's a solid weakness to look at and it's harder to attack black's king than it seems for one reason the center is closed. in the ...0-0 variation black can also take control of the center with ...f6/...f5 to block the kingside and compell exf6. Once black defends the storm (which he usually can) he can get on with his central play and against white's pawns. And the qc7 variation is just insane and very hard to play against. But the classical is also interesting, a little quieter, and perhaps more reliable also.

it's only supposed to lead to a slight edge for white according to MCO.