Yusupov's Bulid Up Your Chess, Vol #3 (Mastery) from 2009 has a chapter on the C-Z, as a suggested way of meeting 1..Nf6 2.Nf3 e6, which is actually the only move-order by which I can be persuaded to play 3.e3.
The first stupid question. I know that some of Rudel's books on the C-Z are more recent than, for example, Palliser's Starting Out: d-Pawn Openings (C-Z, Barry, 150, etc), and even include references to the earlier work.
I may have asked this once. (
) How good are the books by
Rudel? What is the target audience? Is he a strong player? (I have not really read any of his books, except for a few pages.)
(My last three consecutive games in this season of the team championship started with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3, so I am
forced to study more and more. The opponents didn't know the good set-ups, even a 2300-FM erred with 8..d6 (instead of 8..d5) against the Classical QID, and had to think long over the board.)