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.
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