I agree 100% with you, BP, for the same reasons.  Tho I do think creating the theory for the entire system gives Nimzo props over even Uhlmann!

My vote went to Korchnoi and Morozevich: Korchnoi because he played the French more than virtually anyone else over 2600, and Morozevich because until recently he was the only 2700+ GM playing the French on a regular basis, and although his score wasn't great, this wasn't the fault of the opening.

I voted for Uhlmann. Some of his French ideas are completelly outstanding! I don't like many of Korchnoi's games with the French. He chose many times inferior or passive lines with Black. I'd like to see Psakhis on the list. He is a French defence guru and not a week player at all.

Yeah, Tony.  for some reason, even in the last set of polls, I gave Lputian short shrift, listing him merely as "Smbat".  I don't know why, considering he's been playing Grandmaster chess since I was in high school.

Maybe it was something subliminal about him beating the owner of the site in a French game back in the 1980s?

Truly wise are the Chesspubbers. The current top 3 were the only ones I really considered.

A it surprised that Petrosian and Morozevich don't have more votes; they would be next on my list.

Problem with Spielmann is that the only two strong opponents he had good scores against - better than any other player of his time- were Alekhine and Capablanca. No matter which other great player, Spielmann scored about 45%. In other words, he was very inconsistent, not unlike Ljubojevic. This is also highlighted by the fact that he wiped the floor with Tarrasch before WW-1 and got wiped after it.
So to appreciate Spielmann fully one has to neglect his mediocre and weak performances and concentrate on the strong ones.
To decide if Spielmann belongs on the list (and I have my doubts, if I am honest, which I am usually not) you should take a glance at

Tarrasch-Spielmann, Nuremberg 1906 (quite an effort for a 25-years old youngster; remember that Tarrasch was a WCh-candidate at that time);
Réti-Spielmann and Bogoljubow-Spielmann, Stockholm 1919, both showing cool defensive play (something usually not associated with Spielmann);
Réti-Spielmann, Vienna 1921 (positionally outplaying one of the godfathers of hypermodern chess);

If you contradict that these games are outweighed by failures like

Ilyin Zhenevsky-Spielmann, Moscow 1925 and
Matison-Spielmann, Carlsbad 1929 (missing a win costed him first place; now only rival Nimzowitsch is remembered ...)

I only can agree.

Nah, probably Maroczy has more rights. Just could not resist answering your remark on Short.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 04/11/10 at 19:06:56:


Add a certain Jewish-Austrian player who died in 1941 and he will have at least (probably also at most) one vote.

Chess players are contrarian by nature.  In the original poll, Short showed up in only two top ten lists, and nobody chose him in the top 5.  I can add one more name, and Short probably has a slightly stronger case than Dreev or anyone else.

I'll wait to see if others have any preference.

Some of the other "other" candidates may be:

Akopian
Gleizerov
Alekhine (if only for his win against Capa)
Anand
Khalifman
Stahlberg
Yusupov
Radjabov
Psakhis
Timman
Maroczy
Blackburne
and 

Chigorin

Short played 178 games of French with black according to megabase 2010, against top level, and scored above 50% as black. Quite impressing I guess...

Yeah I think Gurevich should have been there, along with they guy that has wins against Kasparov, Tiviakov, Anand, Svidler, and Topalov - that is, Dreev. Given the list, Bareev is gotta be up there among the best, glad he was included.

If the criterium is doing well on a high level (or I can't explain why Timman is left out; a better player than a whole bunch in this list) I think  Ulibin should be replaced by either Maroczy or Psakhis.
On average Maroczy, Psakhis and Timman met far stronger opposition than Glek, Drasko and Farago. This is relevant, because despite of the overall good results I find:

Glek scored 40% against players with ELO 2500+; Farago 39% and Drasko only 33%. Ulibin scored 42%.
Timman's 42% is disappointing, but Gurevich and Psakhis did significantly better, so for them a case can be made.

The selection wasn't entirely random.  It was based on votes in the initial poll about 4 yrs ago.

Chess_Addict wrote on 04/10/10 at 11:02:02:


Maybe facing it as White...and then playing it as Black?!?!   

Or. as a famous quote relates, "People make mistakes, that's why pencils have erasers." Unfortunately, I always go through my erasers long before the pencil is half-way gone! 

Yeah, I did think about Maroczy, but he certainly was never as good as Rubinstein or the others on the list.  Lasker and Timman? Well, for the same reason I didn't include Karpov on the list, they aren't best known as French players even if they did play a few key games. I also didn't include Carlsen!

Of course, any list isn't going to satisfy everyone.  There are serious candidates who aren't on the list, including Mikhail Gurevich.

If there's enough clamor for any one player, I will add that player.

Errm, French Defense, not nationality. 



You can pick up to three players!

If I missed anyone (other than Spielmann, MNb), pls let me know!