bookReview110

Danish IM Steffen Pedersen has just written the final two volumes of his trilogy on the French ( The French: Tarrasch Variation, 205, 191 pages, paperback, figurine algebraic, $24.95 and French: Advance and other Lines, 2005, 143 pages, paperback, figurine algebraic, $24.95) following on his 2001 book on 3.Nc3 systems. All are published by Gambit Publications ([email protected]). Before examining the two books it's interesting to know what else has been written on these variations on the French recently. The third edition of IM John Watson's Play the French came out in 2003 as did books on the Tarrasch and Advance/other lines by GM Psakhis. Earlier works on the Tarrasch by Emms (1998), The Advance French by Tony Kosten (1998) and Beating the French (Advance Variation) by Gary Lane (1994) are too old to be considered more than supplementary works.

The two books that Pedersen has written are slightly different in their coverage. The Tarrasch book covers all variations and is written from both White and Black's point of view. This is also true of the Advance variation in the second volume but not sidelines like the Closed (2.d3) and Two Knight's Variation (2.Nf3 and 3.Nc3) where Pedersen presents a selected repertoire for Black - a Kingside fianchetto with .... Nge7 and ...d5 versus the Closed and 3...d4 against the Two Knights.

Both books are quite current, at least through the end of 2004. The Tarrasch in particular was an ambitious project. Pedersen gives approximately the same amount of space as Watson to the latter's repertoire choices of 3...c5 with 4...Qxd5 and 3...Be7 but also covers all the rest of the lines after 3.Nd2. Pedersen's strong point as an author is his ability to synthesize all relevant existing material and make sense of it, clearly pointing to what the best lines are. This does not always follow typical practice. For example after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Nf3 Bd6 11.0-0 Qb6 he feels 12.b3 is the most promising and not the traditional 13.Nc3. lines are. One way Pedersen keeps the book's size within bounds is by limiting his coverage of second rate variations. For example in the Guimard variation (3...Nc6) which seems to have recently been given a new lease on life by Vaganian, you won't find much on 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd7 6.Be2 f6 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.Nf1 e5 which Pedersen quickly dismisses on account of 9.Ne3 sacking a piece, confining himself to one game. Likewise after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd7 6.Nb3 Be7 7.Bb5 a5 8.a4 Na7 you will find no analysis of the pawn grab 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.Nxa5 which has been tried but clearly gives Black excellent compensation after 10...b6 11.Nb3 Ba6. This approach, emphasizing that which is most important, coupled with the easy to read, oversize, two column Gambit standard format, makes this book very easy to go through.

It says something for the popularity of the Advance French that over two thirds (101 of 141 pages) is devoted to 3.e5. All lines for both White and Black are covered here including early departures like 3...b6 and 4.Qg4/4.Nf3. Most of the remainder of the book focuses on the King's Indian Attack with quick looks at the Exchange and Two Knight's variations. One line that does get more attention than you might expect is the Wing Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4) which Pedersen feels is underrated.

Who are these books for? If your budget allows for only one book on the French and you play the selected repertoire lines he proposes, John Watson's Play the French is still the way to go, but if you have a bit more to spare you should get both of these books which bring things up to date and more. Those who play either the Tarrasch or Advance against the French have a clear choice - buy the relevant volume.