Advance and Winawer

The French Defence is coming back to fashion again! One of the leaders in the 2020 Candidates tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi, successfully staked on it. Lately World champion himself also embraced the French several times. A great expert of this opening is the last challenger for the world title Fabiano Caruana. The French became a real arena of the battle of the engines - neural network genius Leela was confidently repelling the attacks of its powerful rivals.

Vol. 1: Tarrasch and Various Lines,
Vol. 2: Winawer and Advance

The French Defence is coming back to fashion again! One of the leaders in the 2020 Candidates tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi, successfully staked his chances on it. Lately the World Champion himself also embraced the French several times. A great expert in this opening is the last challenger for the world title Fabiano Caruana.
The French became a real arena of the battle of the engines - neural network genius Leela was confidently repelling the attacks of it´s powerful rivals.

The Winawer

Here we are, together on this page, both interested in the French Defence with 3.Nc3 Bb4. Before telling you what you can learn from this opening, let me tell you a little story about my journey in the French. I started playing the French after reading John Watson’s Play the French, which improved my play a lot.

This book is a collection of games played by top players in which either White or Black wins in 15 moves or less either a result of brilliant chess tactics, an accumulation of mistakes or blunders.

Grandmaster Repertoire 15

The French Defence is one of the most popular and reliable responses to 1.e4. Black invites his opponent to gain space in the centre, with the intention of undermining the enemy position and launching a counterattack. Although the amount of theory has expanded in recent years, the French often leads to positions where positional and strategic understanding prove more relevant than long sequences of computer-generated moves.

The French Defence is one of the most solid and strategically rich responses to 1.e4. Many opening lines have been analysed to death by computer, but the French is relatively resistant to this growing trend, as the characteristic blocked pawn centre leads to situations where a player with superior understanding can overcome an opponent whose expertise lies in computer-assisted preparation.

Grandmaster Repertoire 14

The French Defence is one of the most popular and reliable responses to 1.e4. Black invites his opponent to gain space in the centre, with the intention of undermining the enemy position and launching a counterattack. Although the amount of theory has expanded in recent years, the French often leads to positions where positional and strategic understanding prove more relevant than long sequences of computer-generated moves.

Grandmaster Repertoire 14 – The French Defence 1 introduces the Winawer Variation after the opening moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4, and provides expert recommendations against all of White’s major possibilities, with the exception of the most critical 7.Qg4 line which will receive special coverage in Volume Two of the series. Volume Three will deal with the Tarrasch, Advance and all of White’s other options.

by Nikita Vitiugov

A completely updated edition which presents a Black repertoire based on the French.

Here are Vitiugov's own words: “I received, quite unexpectedly, many comments and opinions following the publication of my first book on the French Defence. These were quite varied, both in form and content. There were renowned experts, who pointed out that some of the variations were not analyzed to perfection. Some meticulous readers looked for, and found (!), possibilities for both sides, which I had omitted in several important, and even not so important, lines. There were people who criticized my rather ambitious concept, according to which I tried to present the opening the way I saw it, instead of just following the branches of the database. However, there were also some appreciative comments.

Fresh Strategies to Play for a Win

In the first book ever exclusively devoted to the Exchange French Variation, American grandmaster Alex Fishbein recognizes that the Exchange French is an opening for a player who likes active piece play, fights for the initiative, excels in positions with possibilities on both sides of the board, and finds strategic and tactical nuances that arise out of almost nothing. And if you play the French as Black, then this book will help you deal with White’s 3.exd5