OK, I'm trying to familiarize myself with the French Defence opening. Which French Defence player should I study the games of? Watson? Korchnoi?

All suggestions, and the reasons why, would be greatly appreciated.

While I'm looking tho, you could try the games of: Petrosian, Botvinnik, Uhlmann, Korchnoi, Bareev, Shirov, Morozevich, Short, Ulibin, and Volkov.  (Just to name a very few.)

There is a wide choice: Uhlmann, Botvinnik and Petrosian are just three names. Reason why? Because they were extraordinary strong players who thus understood a couple of things.
I sincerely think you should narrow your search field.

Playing through games of Uhlmann really is a must, I think. And yes ideas have changed in the French sincce him, but he often was the one with the new idea in the first place. More modern is Morozevich (in particular games where he goes g5).
I would also have a look at games where these players have the white pieces: Anand for the 3.Nc3 lines, Adams for 3.Nd2 and Sveshnikov for 3.e5. They show a lot of the dangers for black.

Openings evolve and new ideas continually come to the forefront. Very few 50 year old opening books continue to be published or reproduced without updates. I am an aficionado of the Alekhine's Defence and have books that go back 20 years, but lean towards more recent analysis in preparing for events in the limited time possible. There is a place in the adoption of a new opening repertoire for classic games, but should they be really relevant to the contemporary study then they are usually quoted in modern tomes. Unlike most, I have a job that takes up 12 hours of each week-day and some time on weekends, add in family responsibilities, a wife suffering a chronic condition, etc. To take an historical trip through the games of the older players is a luxury I can't afford. I am looking for some hard sharp, forcing lines I can learn, play, and then build on, while adopting a greater understanding of the opening over the next few years as I dabble in other variations. Classical games have there place, and I have and will continue to look at them. But, in preparing to play it otb, I must budget my time accordingly. Despite the words to the old song, time is NOT on my side!   

Thanks for The Flexible French suggestion. John Watson also speaks highly of it! I looked for it at 44 Baker Street on my recent trip through London, but as they were moving stock around due to the closing of their flagship store, there were temporarily out of stock. I did grab a copy of Neil McDonald's latest though.

Bowen wrote on 04/10/10 at 13:40:16:


In that case you should rather buy a few good books. Goes much faster than analysing a lot of games. That approach is thorough and time consuming. And certainly you should narrow your search field.

What do you intend to play against 3.Nc3 ?
What do you intend to play against 3.Nd2 ?
Against the Advance I recommend ...Nh6 stuff. Moskalenko beat Sveshnikov with it.
Against the Exchange 4.Bd3 I recommend Nc6 followed by castling queenside. For this you need a database.

PS: don't chose the Winawer Poisoned Pawn. That one needs a lot of preparation or you will get crushed.

Bowen wrote on 04/10/10 at 14:38:16:


That's what I call an undeserved compliment, I am absolutely not faithful. I play the French for exactly the same reason as you.
If you choose the Burn you will also have to study the Steinitz and the Tarrasch. The Fort Knox is a good shortcut, even though it's not my preference at all.
Surprisingly Karpov is your man. He knows how to win with it, albeit in rapid games. Epishin has played it more often, but never won and lost twice. Also check Stojanovic.

Hello, I decided to play the french defense when I saw the games of the match Sokolov-Yusupov, even thought Yusupov lost that match, I was amazed by the way Yusupov handled the FRench defense, it was more than 20 years ago; then I researched and found Vaganian´s games very instructive, then Korchnoi, Uhlman, etc. My point is that there is not a special player to follow or a special position to search into, because the French defense is so rich in ideas  and plans, that ma<ny times I enjoyed going thru Nogueiras´s games or even the game where Ivanchuk beat Kasparov with the bishop retreat ..., Bf8; all the true lovers of the french defense just enjoy any good game of a strong player, and dosen´t matter if it is a Wienawer, Mac, Rubinstein, Advance , Tarrasch, we are like the dragoneers, just enjoy playing or going thru a French game. To answer your question directly, my kids´coach, a 2400 player and a Frenchie too, when he shows my daughter the proper way to handle the French defense in any particular line, he ALWAYS looks Khalinin´s book, he uses that book even more than Watson´s or MOsalenko´s to name a few, he uses that book even more than the yearbooks, my daughter when she started playing the french played Winawer Qa5 line, then she switched for Qd7 with b6, and now she is preparing for the Panamerican Youth, her coach suggested to switch to the Mac Cautcheon, I agreed so I got Mosalenko, Yearbooks and all kind of info, but her coach asked me to bring the old Khalinin book to go over with my daughter some very instructive games first and then study the lines in other sources. So if you are asking for a game collection to get the main ideas of the French defense I would suggest Khalinin´s. I hope that my advice would help you.
Greetings from Lima - Peru.