Playing the French

I have purchased far more chess books than I will ever read. This is one I plan to read all the way through, even though it recommends the 3...c5 line against the Tarrasch which I have never played. This book strikes a balance with enough verbal explanations, clear recommendations without overwhelming number of alternatives or any sense of a data base dump. It is authoritative without dismissing other options. Quickly I began to trust the authors, who give you enough to play a line, but not so much that it becomes confusing. I have purchased other French books recently including Vitiugov's and Moskalenco's but tended to get bogged down in them. A nice feature of this book is critical positions to assess before each chapter which also serve as a good review after each chapter.

This book is great ! You will ready to meet your e4 opponents in every tournaments or matches. I recommend this book !

Gli autori condensano in una libro relativamente breve e ben pensato per il giocatore pratico un ottimo lavoro che più che fornire un prontuario di varianti, aiuta nella comprensione dell' argomento. Estremamente ben fatto

A good, well written book on the various variations on the French Defence. The majority of the book is dedicated to variations where white moves their Queen's Knight on move 3. The Advance and Exchange variations make up the first two smaller chapters.I've knocked a star off due to this focus on the Queen's Knight variation. As a club player, I'd prefer the book to have more emphasis on the Advance and Exchange variations. The majority of my games were either Advance or Exchange variations and so the details put into the Queen's Knight chapters was ultimately wasted on me.The Advance chapter was good and I felt confident playing it. The Exchange chapter covers symmetrical play and unsymmetrical play. I was never convinced though with the author's recommendation to break the symmetry (c5 with the idea to head into an IQP).I would've liked to see a section on opposite side castling for both White and Black in the Exchange variation. Perhaps at grandmaster level its unsound, but having played against it at club level it certainly seems like an interesting way to break the symmetry.

This book is one of the best opening books I have seen, and I have 100s. Aagaard provides an excellent repertoire that coincides with mine: 3.Nc3 Nf6 and MacCutcheon with 4.Bg5 Bb4, and Steinitz with 4.e5 with an interesting 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.a3 Qa5!? line. In the Tarrasch, he indicates why 4.Ngf3 Nf6 may not quite equalize. The Advance covers the solid Euwe line with 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7 and 7...Ng6. Aagaard is one of my favoriate authors, and you can't go wrong with his entries in the Grandmaster Prep series, too.