Good Books on the French Tarrasch?
Can anyone recommend a good book or two on the French Tarrasch from the white side? I'm making two (relatively) major changes to my opening repertoire...one being to switch from 3.Nc3 against the French to 3.Nd2, the other being to switch to the Worral Attack in the Lopez.
I'm not making these changes due to poor results or unhappiness with my current lines, but rather to stay more consistent with the philosophy seen in the rest of my opening choices. I've built most of my repertoire around less popular and less well-known (but still solid) lines. I've done this largely to increase the likelihood that I'm more booked up than my opponent, as well as to minimize the need to spend significant time on opening study.
The French and the Ruy Lopez (a.k.a. the Spanish) have been the two biggest exceptions in that I have played more mainstream lines. Unfortunately, this has meant that these sections of my repertoire have been significant in size and time-consuming to keep on top of...thus my decision to change things up a bit.
Anyway, I have ordered Play the Ruy Lopez by Greet and am looking for a book to kickstart my Tarrasch knowledge. I'd prefer something that is more on the "talky" side rather than just a large book of variations. If anyone can make a recommendation or two, I'd appreciate it.
I'm not making these changes due to poor results or unhappiness with my current lines, but rather to stay more consistent with the philosophy seen in the rest of my opening choices. I've built most of my repertoire around less popular and less well-known (but still solid) lines. I've done this largely to increase the likelihood that I'm more booked up than my opponent, as well as to minimize the need to spend significant time on opening study.
The French and the Ruy Lopez (a.k.a. the Spanish) have been the two biggest exceptions in that I have played more mainstream lines. Unfortunately, this has meant that these sections of my repertoire have been significant in size and time-consuming to keep on top of...thus my decision to change things up a bit.
Anyway, I have ordered Play the Ruy Lopez by Greet and am looking for a book to kickstart my Tarrasch knowledge. I'd prefer something that is more on the "talky" side rather than just a large book of variations. If anyone can make a recommendation or two, I'd appreciate it.
posted by Ron | 7:46 AM
4 Comments:
I don't know about a "talky" book for the Tarrasch, but I'd point out Mastering the French by McDonald and Harley for general French knowledge, and Kaufman's repertoire book The Chess Advantage in Black and White, which uses the Tarrasch against the French.
For not-so-talky, Pedersen's books on the French have been well received...there should be one on the Tarrasch, one on the main line, and one on Advance and everything else.
As a player of the French from the black side, I rarely see the Tarrasch at my level of play (C class and below), so I think that it's a good choice for White.
Thanks for the suggestions grandpatzer. I've been kind of leaning toward the Pedersen book on the subject. I'll head over to Amazon and take a look at the other two you suggested.
Thanks,
Ron
Ron - I think you'll be really happy with Greet's book, as you probably already know that he advocates the Worral Attack. As for your French search, I strongly recommend checking out Watson's brand new book on the French I just received from amazon, "Dangerous Weapons: the French". It's a whopping 320 pager with plenty of talk & analysis written soley for the player who's interested in exploring lesser-known but equally potent variations of the French. The first 142 pages are devoted to systems for white in the French, and yes, he even explores lesser known yet sound variations of the Tarrasch. Highly recommended. -CC
Terrific! Thanks for the tip CC...I'll go check it out.
Thanks,
Ron
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