Apologies for the OT - I tried playing the Sicilian in my younger days but was put off with:

1) the ridiculous number of people who played 2.Nc3/2.c3 - the former is easy to play for white, the latter changes the character of the game to a much more positional one. At my levels I almost never got an open sicilian.

2) the general style of play - I struggled to handle the Sveshnikov-type structures and have never been fully convinced by the Dragon. The quieter Scheveningen-style setups really didn't give me the type of game I was looking for... and again, since I got each type of position so rarely due to the number of anti-sicilians, I never found a comfortable fit.

3) the boredom factor - it seems everyone and their pet kitten plays the sicilian. I got so bored of facing it as white I switched to 1.d4. I like to play stuff which allows me scope to improvise or surprise. Needing to learn 25 moves of sharp dragon theory and keep up with the latest developments seems a lonely way to lead one's life. Much rather throw in a latvian and get a game of my own where my opponent and I both need to think.

I know there's a body of theory with the French also... but I'd imagine less is needed in order to confidently play it, most don't spend as long preparing for it as they do 1...e5/1...c5. And, as people have already posted, if people like Williams are attracted to the French, it clearly can be played ambitiously and aggressively. The number of ...g5 thrusts makes this quite obvious.

I'm led to believe that the Caro-Kann can be interesting and sharp... it is generally the stodgemonkeys that choose that opening that choose to make it dull. So it is with the French... there are several dull lines, but it seems much harder for white to choose a dull game? (Maybe the KIA setups are the way to do this, and the Tarrasch might be less sharp... but it's pretty much impossible to avoid some quieter variations)

Anyway, I have ordered both books, and look forward  to trying to work out how to learn the opening. I've got to grow up and learn one eventually... 

Vitiugov recommends the extremely sharp Winawer Poisoned Pawn, which is probably the sharpest line in the French. If you like sharp positions you can play this against 3. Nc3.

It can be quite as sharp as anything else (and is as Williams does it.). 

The wonderful Winaver certainly has plenty of ideas in it. All in the Winaver of course. Can't remember how much Tarrasch coverage there is in the flexible French. Some amusing anti Tarrasch ideas in the French dangerous weapons book I guess.

Watson also liable to be very inventive when PTF4 comes out.

I have heard a lot of positives about Williams' books - but having bought the Budapest book, am rather more dubious on Moskalenko - as much as I heartily trust MNb on most things, are there others who would agree with this recommendation? My main reason for straying (or staying) away from the French has mainly been the Tarrasch - I like both sides of the Winawer and have one of my few results against titled players on the black side of an Advance, but the positional nature of a few lines scares me. Still... I've been playing nearly 14 years, have both a FIDE and Welsh rating over 2000... figure it's got to be time to learn a proper opening... if only I could work out something better than making it up on the spot against 1.d4 (1...Nc6 and 1...a6 have made recent appearances) I might actually get decent... 

Simon Williams did one recently which, unsurprisingly perhaps!, rather fits that design brief..... (Attacking chess: the french, Everyman).

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 03/20/12 at 17:15:17:


+1 GC : thanks for sharing 
+1 Dennis: thanks for reviewing (..I will try to buy the new edition before reviewing it and reviewing its review ..)

GenghisClown's link is to a review by Dennis Monokroussos. He has some very interesting specific complaints about the book, but finishes off with a general recommendation to buy it. 

The review is worth the time to read, thx GC for  sharing the link!

Vitiugov gives both 3...c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 and 3...Be7, so two choices for the Tarrasch. I think a brief chapter or at least brief coverage of 4...exd5 would be interesting (both Psakhis and Tzermiadianos covered it), but 3...Be7 seems to be quite popular, especially seeing in the book the games of Morozevich and Nepomniatchi with this line.

As far as I know Shaw's book is not published yet (this has been a topic on Quality Chess forum for a while...), as well as Taylor's forthcoming book. Not sure about Johnsen's book. I think Yusupov wrote a Petroff book in the 1990s, and there was a repertoire book for White by if I remember correctly, Tzermiadianos. Everyman also have a previous book on the Petroff by Raetsky and Chetverik.

The Winawer Poisoned Pawn line is again offered in the book. I think a different line, such as 6...Qa5, 6...Qc7 or 7...0-0 would have been a better principal line because the Winawer Poisoned Pawn is very complicated to play I find.

saubhikr wrote on 03/01/12 at 01:49:57:

When I used to play the French occasionally I never lost with 3...c5 4. exd5 exd5. The positions are not difficult to play and the IQP position is improved due to trading of the light square bishops that usually materialises. Strangely the last game I won with that line was in 2004 when I had a kingside attack against a 2250 player (I was around 2150 at the time).

I have the book now, and it is over 300 pages. The book still gives one of the options against the Tarrasch as 3...c5 4. exd5 Qxd5. I still wonder why no repertoire books on the French do not give the line 3...c5 4. exd5 exd5 against the Tarrasch. I cannot remember exactly where, but I remember reading somewhere a while ago that there was a consensus that this line equalised automatically. The last time I saw this line covered in a book was in Psakhis's Complete French book on 3. Nd2.

London Chess Centre already have it, might as well just order it now then?

Gilchrist is a legend wrote on 02/24/12 at 09:29:04:


Yes. Now the book can be bought on various websites.

On Chess Stars Ed. website main page http://www.chess-stars.com/ you have the preface and book chapter index.
...and after reading a little further,I noticed too one correction about previous release (why nobody told me about it ?  )
...http://www.chess-stars.com/graphics/eshop/books_special/Correction_12-13.pdf

Now curiosity will tease me for some months  (I want to know what lines about the French have been "reloaded")...and I will move forwards on my current gingergm's book reading

Since you already have Psakhis' book, you probably are pretty close to up-to-date on the line. He does cover it in his French Defence 3Nd2 (2003). He devotes the last two chapters to that line.

I meant a recent French book on the variation. The only one I have is Psakhis (I think) second edition of The Complete French. But other than that I cannot see a repertoire for black on that variation in the past couple of years.

MNb wrote on 01/15/12 at 13:06:47:


and: Marovic/Parma. A classic.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1005048

Anticipating this book, as well as the newly announced books on the 1. e4 e5 and Berlin Defence. But I was wondering, if any authors who write on the French consider the line against the Tarrasch, 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5. I think this is not a bad line.

@Semkov have you informed retailers like; amazon, londonchesscentre and chess direct about this? Because they don't list this book yet, and I like to order through any of these retailers for convenience.

Will this be the only book one needs on French or will require other supporting material?

http://www.chess-stars.com/forthcoming_books.html

I looked at the Table of Contents--so Chapter 30 is the 7...Qc7 line and then Chapter 31 on 6...Nc6 is the new line?

Which chapters have the lines that have major updates?

I was also wondering if the line 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5 was considered.

Hi everybody! It has been a while since I have posted something in the forum. We are going to print an important update of the French Defence by Vitiugov. You can download the Contents from Chess-stars.com. Vitiugov took seriously the constructive criticism from readers and reviewers, including in chesspublishing forum. He tried to take into account and address all of the issues  with the first edition.
Thus he added the MacCutcheon Variation as well as closed setups with 2.Qe2 and 2.d3.
The Chigorin Variation & King's Indian Attack have obtained a part devoted exclusively on them.
In the Winawer Variation he offered (beside the sharp variation with sacrifices) an alternative. In the Sreinitz Variation he now also considers 7...cd. Nikita has also changed some of his main lines – sometimes recognizing his mistake or simply because new games altered his preferences. Naturally he took in consideration all the newest games. He is even writing now an update of the update so the book will include games from 2012! We hope to present The French Reloaded before the end of January.