The best book is the wikipedia article and chessbase database.he he .
Best French Defence Books
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It depends on the variation because there are a lot of them out there. As long as you understand the ideas/ logic behind the move, I think any book would suffice.
if u read all these books and u are able to remember the lines and play it, then u should be a french defence master.
If not, then work something else than opening...
I did not know Simon Williams made a book on the French.
You can also find a William's video course "Killer French".
Everything is not "great" but it's a good way to start.
To be honest, I don't know your level, but if you know the general ideas behind the main variations, I think you can do well by looking for study games.
There is one I recommend for everyone on the Advanced variation.
And about the Exchange variation, Alekhine's games are very interesting to get a bloody game though your opponent wanted a boring to death drawish position (White player should be burned on a pyre for refusing the fight...).
Regarding the Winaver and Tarrasch, there are so many choices of variations that I cannot give you examples just like that. But you can do the job by yourself with a database.
Jul 22, 2016
0
#6
Williams has done a e-book on the 'Killer French', which is available via his website. It is on my 'to read' list.
Cheers for the correction Pfren. A lot of club players I know swear by that book and it is good to know (esteemed) alternate opinions. Poucin this is in an Openings topic, so I presume it is fair game to talk about opening books? Especially one I am trying to get better at after playing it for a season.
@ lostredoubt :
I think I misunderstood your first sentence, thought u had read all these 3 books, lol.
So I just meant that if u are able to read and absorb/assimilate all these books, then u would master the french.
Personnally i used Play the french, 2nd edition, to play this defence with great results, up to 2300 rated level.
What i don't like about this book is that Watson is a bit over optimistic, giving edge for black in all variations...
I know less S.Williams's book, but it is rather entertaining (as usual with this author) and gives an agressive repertoire, which is very good at any level and specially yours.
I don't know Aagard work on it, but generally speaking, i don't like its books... I find them a bit dogmatic and boring...
So to sum up, i would prefer S.Williams's one.
Jul 22, 2016
0
#8
For me, Mastering the French by Neil MacDonald is far and away the best book I've read on the french. It isn't terribly new but deals with pawn structures, typical plans and ideas
Moskalenko Flexible French
SuirenBoid wrote:
Seconded.
For me, Mastering the French by Neil MacDonald is far and away the best book I've read on the french. It isn't terribly new but deals with pawn structures, typical plans and ideas
I particularly dislike John Watson's book (which is the only book I have) - theory is not the slightest bit relevant to a patzer like myself.
Instead, best would be a book with annotated games.
Ulman
adrianflorin a écrit :
Ulman
I have always this thought when I see a game played by Ulhmann given as a study game: He is always here to show us how well he got destroyed piece by piece.
I now it's disrespectful and that he was a grandmaster, he probably won a lot of games with great style, but among all my books I think I don't have a single annoted game where he wins. x)
Merovwig wrote:
I did not know Simon Williams made a book on the French.
You can also find a William's video course "Killer French".
Everything is not "great" but it's a good way to start.
To be honest, I don't know your level, but if you know the general ideas behind the main variations, I think you can do well by looking for study games.
There is one I recommend for everyone on the Advanced variation.
And about the Exchange variation, Alekhine's games are very interesting to get a bloody game though your opponent wanted a boring to death drawish position (White player should be burned on a pyre for refusing the fight...).
Regarding the Winaver and Tarrasch, there are so many choices of variations that I cannot give you examples just like that. But you can do the job by yourself with a database.
"the advance variation (never trust a man who calls this the advanced variation)" ~ neil mcdonald
dfgh123 a écrit :
"the advance variation (never trust a man who calls this the advanced variation)" ~ neil mcdonald
Well, English is not my mother tongue, I sometimes (often) make mistakes. ;)
The game itself was given by GM Williams in the aforementionned DVD and it's instructive.
pfren a écrit :
You mean something like that?
I'm well aware he had brilliant wins, especially against World champions. I once saw one against Botvinnik if I remember well.
It's just a matter of perception regarding the games examples given in the different books I have. Each game he played that I found very impressive or instructive in these books was a loss for him.
I have just checked in the first book at arm length, Endgame strategy by Shereshevski. There are three games played by Uhlmann:
I remembered well the first one Polugaevski-Uhlmann that Uhlmann lost. I didn't remembered the two others where he played the same position with White... and won.
Maybe my interest in Polugaevski's games, or crushing victories that impressed me and that I memorised such as Vasiukov-Uhlmann gave me this false impression (the impression being that I have always seen Ulhmann's losses in my books, not that Uhlmann was a loser...)
Edit: wrong game, sorry, I fixed it.
Merovwig wrote:
dfgh123 a écrit :
"the advance variation (never trust a man who calls this the advanced variation)" ~ neil mcdonald
Well, English is not my mother tongue, I sometimes (often) make mistakes. ;)
The game itself was given by GM Williams in the aforementionned DVD and it's instructive.
i used to call it the advanced variation so it stuck in my mind and made me laugh when i read it in neil mcdonalds book
Hi have read books by John French and Simon Williams. There is also the Jacob Aagaard book (which I have not read). Which do you think is the best book for players of the French?