Quote:
"Also, I think that a new time has arrived for chess books on opening theory....Instead of copying thousands of games that are played each day and presenting extensive analyses by engines, it is much more effective – and more positive – to compose a book with articles according to a different concept: with space for background information, an instructive selection of the material and conclusions drawn from this material."
Conveniently for Moskalenko, I suspect this is also less work for the author than taking responsibility for deep, up-to-date and accurate analysis, or presenting a coherent repertoire with all bases covered...
I have the original
Flexible French, and it was inspirational, but the analysis needed to be expanded in many places. But OK, there are a lot of authors publishing really good, variation-heavy books on the French these days (Berg, Ntirlis, Watson, Vitiugov, Maksimovic/Antic as well as several "enemies" from the White side), so there should be room for some books that are more about explanations and ideas. (Btw, is it just my impression that the French is one of those openings that get a lot more books devoted to it than its actual popularity would suggest?)
One line I noticed that is popular recently: The Classical Steinitz with ...Be7, but without an early ...Nc6. This seems to give some extra/different options against the dxc5 lines, and also makes a quick ...b6/...Ba6 possible in other lines. Does Moskalenko cover this? I.e.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0.