HOW TO BEAT THE FRENCH DEFENSE

I notice, that whenever I play the French it feels very uncomfortable, and it feels like I have a lot of pressure under my hands, especially after the black queen comes to b6 and pressures my weak b pawn.

From the way the title is, you may suggest gambits, don't, I don't play them.

@1

"after the black queen comes to b6 and pressures my weak b pawn"
++ I presume you play the French Advance Variation 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6. The queen pressurises your central pawn d4, not your b-pawn, which your Bc1 guards.

"From the way the title is, you may suggest gambits, don't, I don't play them."
++ You are right. Most gambits e.g. Milner-Barry 6 Bd3 cxd4 7 cxd4 Bd7 8 O-O are unsound, though Vachier-Lagrave won a fine game with it and Tal used to play it too.

There are five main ways to play against the French Defense

1. 3 Nc3 is the main line, which Spassky played several times against Korchnoi in their Candidates' Match. Black can play either 3...Nf6, or 3...Bb4, or 3...dxe4
2. 3 Nd2 is the Tarrasch, which excludes 3...Bb4, black has two responses 3...c5 or 3...Nf6. It was what Nepomniachtchi played against Ding in the last World Championship match and what Karpov played against Korchnoi in their World Championship matches
3. 3 e5 is the Advance Variation, championed by GM Sveshnikov
4. 3 exd5 is the Exchange Variation which is not without venom and was played twice in the Tata Steel Masters 2024
5. 2 d3 is the King's Indian Attack, which Fischer played 6 times. It makes sense if you play the King's Indian Defense as black against 1 d4.

look at GM games to see patterns and strategy

I am not an expert but I think the Classical French is the best method in beating French Defense because it undermine the effectiveness of the Black Light Bishop from being active. Because of this your Light Bishop will become more powerful and you will own most of the light squares of the board in the process. After you made this opening, always look for weak light squares all over the board to support your Light Bishop. Remember that your Light Bishop would be one of your most powerful piece and you should not trade it lightly.

@6

That is right. The black light square bishop Bc8 is a bad bishop, standing on the same color as his pawns f7-e6-d5 and the white light square bishop Bf1 is a good bishop, not standing on the same color as his pawns b2-c3-d4-e5.
However, the white dark square bishop Bc1 is a bad bishop standing on the same color as his pawns b2-c3-d4-e5, and the black dark square bishop Bf8 is a good bishop, not standing on the same color as his pawns f7-e6-d5.

TY for comment tygxc

A few example games:

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2651796

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2479640

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1990391

checkmate the opponent, that usually works

Anyways since you keep calling out Qb6 i assume you play advance. Here's an idea, it's pretty mainline, but you might not know of it.

keep in mind to know the reasons behind the moves, and not just memorize them; if you know the reasoning behind the moves, you won't even need to remember it. You'll be able to figure it out on the board every time, AND you can apply the reasoning to other, similar positions, too.

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