02 Mar 07
Clan 24492
I have four French books.
-Play the French by Watson is awesome.
-French Winawer by Neil McDonald is also well written, but narrower in scope.
-The French Defense 2 by Minev is nothing more than a game collection organized by variation. A database would serve you better.
-Tactics in the Chess Opening 3: French Defence and Other Half-Open -Games by Friso Nijboer and Geert Van Der Stricht is another game collection by variation but with lots of useful annotation.
02 Mar 07
1 edit
Originally posted by zebanotrue enough, but Minev's was my first book on the French, and the only one I had for two years, during which time I begane to acquire a string of victories.
Clan 24492
-The French Defense 2 by Minev is nothing more than a game collection organized by variation. A database would serve you better.
Nesis, Tactics in the French is an excellent (often overlooked) book.
I like Knut Neven's two training CDs more than the books on my shelf (now numbering quite a few).
02 Mar 07
Originally posted by WulebgrSpeaking of cds. A class A player at my club really likes Ari Ziegler's chessbase dvd on the french.
true enough, but Minev's was my first book on the French, and the only one I had for two years, during which time I begane to acquire a string of victories.
Nesis, Tactics in the French is an excellent (often overlooked) book.
I like Knut Neven's two training CDs more than the books on my shelf (now numbering quite a few).
04 Mar 07
1 edit
Originally posted by pinkthunderadvice:
I'm trying to learn much more about the French Defense (all variations). Which books you recommend? Whose games should I study? Who were/are the defense's great players and/or teachers in history?
Thank you.
if you want to play French...
be prepared for people like me who will come along and play the exchange variation...
i always play 2. d4 and 3. exd5
makes things easier for me, so i don't have to get killed in the advanced variation, try to figure out the Tarrasch, or play 3. Nc3 after black plays Bb4
too many novice french players go straight into the theory of advance, tarrasch and 3. Nc3 Bb4 lines...
don't get too far into this learn-a-load-of-theory trap and lose concept of the game for black from a symmetrical position......
of course...
after the exchange variation...
i would recommend a caro-kann setup with pawn on c6...
this might become a isolated queens pawn game after white plays pawn to c4...
but either way, you aren't in too much trouble as black...
have fun... and if you determine that the weak light squared bishop isn't worth it, switch to caro-kann...
you get to employ a lot of the same french ideas, but you lose a couple tempos to get an activated (and usually exchanged on d3) bishop
but that's just because i'm addicted to caro-kann openings...
the french contains a lot of deep theory, but the exchange gets white out of all of that stuff immediately...
leaving white to move in a symmetrical position... and the advantage that naturally goes with it...
i play the Caro-Kann, and as black... just like a french player as black, the exchange variation annoys me...
though i think the exchange in the caro-kann is better for black than exchange in french...
just because of the assymmetry...
edit: somehow, while i was typing all of that, the cursor got relocated somewhere weird, so some of the stuff is in a jumbled order...
all the ideas are there though...