The Tarrasch Variation provides a stern test for the French Defence, and has always been a favourite of strategically minded players, such as Michael Adams and Anatoly Karpov. By putting his knight on d2, White gives his opponent little scope for counterplay, and in many lines ends up with a slight positional advantage that can prove extremely difficult to neutralize. This has led to Black developing various sharper approaches, which complicate the play considerably at the cost of gretaer risk. To get the most out of these lines as either colour, thorough up-to-date knowledge is essential, and this book supplies it in abundance.

List of Content

004 Symbols

005 Bibliography

006 Introduction

3...c5

014 1 3...c5 4 exd5 Qxd5 Main Line: 10 Nxd4

030 2 4...Qxd5: Deviations from the Main Line

041 3 4...exd5: The Old Main Line, 5...Nc6 6 Bb5

058 4 4...exd5: Systems with ...Bd7

068 5 4...exd5: Deviations from the Main Lines

075 6 4 Ngf3 and Other 4th Move Alternatives

3...Nf6

084 7 3...Nf6 Main Line: 11 0-0

112 8 7 Ngf3

120 9 Maintaining a Big Centre: 5 f4

134 10 Deviations from the Main Lines

Other 3rd Moves

145 11 3...Be7

163 12 3...a6

177 13 3..Nc6 and Minor 3rd Moves

189 Index of Variations