The French Defense is one of the most solid and strategically rich responses to 1.e4. Many chess opening lines have been analyzed 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.Acclaimed authors Ntirlis and Aagaard present a complete repertoire for Black based on 3.Nc3 Nf6 and 3.Nd2 c5. With many new discoveries and detailed explanations of positional and strategic motifs,...

Every chess player needs a high-quality answer to 1.e4, and there is nothing more reliable than 1...e5. Black stakes a claim in the centre and prepares to deploy his pieces on good squares. The challenge nowadays is to build a robust repertoire without being overwhelmed by the volume of material and continual advances in opening theory. In Playing 1.e4 e5 A Classical Repertoire, Nikolaos Ntirlis offers the best of both worlds: a complete repertoire against 1.e4, built on sound positional principles, which does not require excessive memorization. Against the Spanish the author recommends the...