Study classical or Contemporary

When given the option to study a master's/GM/IM/etc. game, should a student focus on the classics or should contemporaries be focused on due to the influence of chess engines? 

Example

Are Kasparov's QGA games still worth of foucsed study? or should one focus on the 2013 tournament games that contain QGA?

I've been told by a ton of strong players that you have to start with the classics and work your way forwards in time.  

Granted that older books didn't have engine analysis and you will find horrible and embarassing tactical oversights respected authors (and players) have made ... but you're not reading the book just for tactics ... the lessons in strategy, position and planning in all stages of the game remain golden regardless of what decade they came from.  

Ain't no engine today that can explain strategy like a Pachman book is there? :)

On the other hand => An average club player diving into a 2013 annotated game book that is NOT instructional for the club player audience  (there is a BIG difference between Instructional and plain annotated game books which people are quick to miss!) is equivalent to a high school student beginning a study in physics by going over Doctoral lectures on string theory.    You'll be hand-waving through vague, nuanced information (where experienced + serious players can accurately FILL IN THE GAPS!) and waste time better spent reading more basic books!

Get chernevs logical Chess, yes its basic and he explains every first move but he is a great teacher, very Systematic in My opinion.

I Would Say you should study Classics in all cases unless u need to know something concrete, but kasparov isnt Classic its modern

Ofc kasparov is wörth studying because his Way of Playing but there is Evolution in Chess. Its better to learn from the beginning, so u can better understand the newer ideas and benefits.

I havent watched to many kasparovs d4 games, but i believe its a necessary step to study in the Evolution. He is probably to d4 what pillsbury was...

Im just guessing ofc but from seeing kasparovs style i could imagine he brought something useful to d4

ofc if you have a good teacher, you can just as well learn from modern games. But if you work on your own, its definetly better to learn from the classics in most cases.

Also if you buy books the classics are generally better in my opinion.

None other than World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, when he was still world champion, said that if a player has ambitions, then when he sits at the board he should have the whole history of chess at his disposal.

good response!