I enjoy playing the White side of the Ruy Lopez but I feel particularly confident in my game versus the Marshall and decent against the other variations but I want to maximize my game in the Open and numerous Closed variations. Suggestions on books or anything to be able to improve my game.
As far as the French, I am terrible. No game whatsoever. So anything and everything would help. Advance? Exchange? Winawar? Tarrasch? Two Knights? I'm open to advice, book suggestions, etc...
john watsons play the french is very in-depth and instructive. it's built as chess books should be- an opening tree with variations and strategic commentary instead of lines followed by a collection of games. i prefer it. ari ziegler's dvd is also very good but it's meant as a repertoire guide for black. as for variations... The tarrasch with ...Bg5 probably leaves white with a nagging edge, but black could always play ...cxd4 or ...Be7. As a black player of the french ...Nc3 is always the most difficult, but also is the most dense theory-wise for white, with either the winawer or classical being available for black.
If it was me, i would be tempted to specialise as white either with something not often played, like ...Be3 or the exchange variation. The excahnge is sometimes boring for black and leads to equality, but there are a few lines that black needs to know some lines. If he doesnt... then potentially it could be very good for white.
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