tried this inferior looking giving up the center variation and it went well. black must have better resources than what this guy played..

I agree, you were!

I do not think much of this line for white, and hopefully neither will you when you consider this ' two openings but one position '.

Here is the Sicilian Taimanov.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 ( blacks second and fourth moves are often interchanged ) 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Bd3 d5 all of which has been played at GM level. Now, from all whites choices what do you think about 7.e5 Is it natural? Can it be whites best or second or even third best move? Well, its so unpopular as to be non existent from what I know. Likely because its pretty lame.

This is a very instructive way of thinking about the long term implication of ideas. Daniel King uses the same technique to get people to assess whether a move is really good in the long term or not. He takes a position where a somebody is defending against a king-side pawn storm, and then asks if you would seriously consider g6 or h6 as a serious move here (in a position where it obviously opens you up to attack). If not, then avoid playing it earlier!

thanks for the input guys, mainstream becomes mainstream for a reason I'm not going to explore the line further any time soon.

If you're looking for a fun line against the French Advance, I have a soft spot for 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bd3!? This is a line supposedly analysed/suggested by Nimzovich (though I have not seen any evidence of this) and played successfully by Julian Hodgson and other strong players. White gives up a pawn for a development lead and attacking chances. White generally follows through with strong-pointing e5 with Bf4, Qe2 etc. If Black castles k-side, he runs into the greek gift sac in many lines. Castling Q-side is not at all safe either. If Qb6 in the early stages, White can ignore the attack on the b-pawn as he either traps the queen after a Qxb2 or Black has to waste several tempi to prevent that from happening. It's a good practical try though possibly not 100% sound as Black often founders after "winning" the d-pawn (though it has not yet been refuted AFAIK). After all, French players know that they have to try to win this pawn- many of them don't seem to know what to do after that. Meanwhile White has a clear plan: strongpoint e5 then attack! Try it in Blitz and see what you think.

interesting, I'll give it a try. thanks

here is one of Julian's games in the line.

nice one

Igor, here is a video I made of the game that persuaded me to adopt that French Defense line. It's not an opening video, per se but should offer some further insight into the line that was Hodgson's pet line against the French for a while in the 80's.

Hodgson-Speelman 1984

great stuff, thanks.