i have recently got bored of using my usual archangel ruy lopez and want to play the french can anybody suggest any good books? i would need a general one and then some more on specific variations

Starting out: The french by Byron Jacobs should probably cover it detailed enough for you atm.

'Play the French' by John Watson. It was my first book on the French and it got me hooked. A good all-round introduction to the important lines.

thank you

Khalifman's book on French defense was pretty good.

There are4 many good books, but John Watson's "Play the French" is a masterpiece and brought me many undeserved wins back when I was an active player

"How to Play Against 1. e4" by GM Neil McDonald is a GREAT book on the French. I have the 2nd Edition of Watson's "Play the French", but I much prefer McDonald's book, both for the writing style and the lines recommended.

McDonald is a a great writer, whose work is very easy to just sit and read. It's not just specific moves and variations, but also ideas and advice on how to handle the resulting positions. And he recommends some interesting lines - usually giving the reader the choice of two variations against any main line, in case you decide that his first recommendation doesn't suit you.

For instance, against both 3. Nc3 and 3. Nd2, he recommends learning the Fort Knox variation of the Rubenstein French (3. ... dxe4) first. This is easy to learn and play, and very solid defensively. Then, if you get bored with that or want some variety, you can move on to later chapters that cover more theoretical lines against Nc3 or Nd2.

Play the french has very nice theory on it, but I had to learn many things about the french that I do now, "the hard way". There are some explanations, but not many, and the theory is very dense. As a class player who knew something about the french I could sometimes figure out the plans, and also by looking at the unexplained book moves and try to figure out why they are played, but then again I may totally fail to see the point of certain moves until I got a lot better. Although I made do with it as say a 1400 uscf or so, I think one should be at least 1700 before looking at it and even then it's not super clear.

But like I said the theory is fantastic (though it doesn't cover every french variation, but it's good enough), you just might be confused sometimes.

My friend has "How to play against 1 e4", and explanations wise it seems excellent.

The Watson book is a classic, and probably the seminal work on the French today.  Prior to him, Rolf Schwarz' Handbuch der Schach-Eroffnungen Band 24:  Franzosisch was the standard.  It's long out of print, but if you can find a copy there are many odd lines White may not be prepared to meet.

'The Flexible French' is excellent (one of my favourites), but not as an only book on the French - it's great in addition to a couple of basic repertoire books. 'Play the French' is better if you own just one book.

On a side note - check out the Grandmaster Repertoire series if you get the chance (none on the French yet) - I got my first book last week and it is excellent.

ok thanks everyone ill buy play the french then if i enjoy it ill buy every book i can find on the french

There are a lot available. I've got 8 so far, with another 4 on my Amazon wish list.

 cud you please name them and put the prices down???

and dont buy How to Play Against 1 e4 by Neil McDonald  its rubbish

I like McDonald's book. He's a great writer - very good at making the ideas very clear, even to someone who has never seen the French before. This isn't a detailed theoretical work, but it's a great book for starting out with the French for someone who hasn't played it before.

I am biased as I think Watson's works are fantastic in explaining the ideas and highly recommend his book Play the French. I know the Flexible French by Moskalenko got great reviews and friends of mine who know the French say it is great. Minev has an interesting book French Defense 2 which looks at short games using forgotten ideas and is great to play over when learning an opening.

I have not seen the McDonald book but overall he is a good writer my guess it is more of a repertoire book and may be good for learning the basics.

Another great book that is OP but I would recommend Mastering the French by McDonald and Hartley. Very good for learning themes and structures

+1.

i just found that it was to much of a reportoire with not enough emphesis on lines