Winawer French
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bauersas286
May 27, 2023
0
#1
Anyone have any good book/course recommendations on the Winawer from whites perspective?
May 27, 2023
0
#2
As a French player for over a quarter of a century and one that has played the White side many times, I think I can say this and it should be taken with a lot more than a grain of salt.
I own well more than half of all French books in print within the last 30 years. Here is what I can say about those that cover the Winawer.
The French Winawer by Neil McDonald. This book was well written for its time, but today would be considered outdated as the theory has changed a lot, especially around the 2006 to 2008 time frame for all closed French lines (Advance and Winawer in particular). Might be OK just to get a feel of the play in the French, but otherwise, too outdated.
French Defence 3.Nc3 Bb4 by Lev Psahkis - Again outdated, but very deeply detailed. Unlike McDonald's book, which was written for Everyman who at the time cookie-cuttered their books to whatever could fit in 144 pages, then 176, etc, this was the 3rd of 4 books by batsford, so it had no page cap. I still own all 4 books, but use them sparingly mostly to compare older ideas to today. They can also still be good for the older lines, like 7.Nf3 and 7.a4, but the more modern ideas of 7.Qg4 or 7.h4 they might not be up to date.
The Wonderful Winawer by Viktor Moskalenko - He has written 4 books on the French. The Flexible French in 2008, The Wonderful Winawer in 2010, The Even More Flexible French in 2015, and The Fully-Fledged French in 2021. The 1st one and the last 2 have somewhat of a Black bias. But not the case with The Wonderful Winawer. It is an excellent work, and I would say over 90% of it the theory still holds up today. This would be an excellent book to have a source while waiting for the main one I am going to recommend to be published. This book will give you an in-depth knowledge of each of the lines in the Winawer, and you will probably need it to know what to do when Black deviates, like if he plays 5...Ba5 instead of 5...Bxc3+, or if he plays 6...Qc7 or 6...Qa5 instead of 6...Ne7, etc. Highly recommended book for those looking to play the Winawer from the White or Black side.
Beat the French Defense with 3.Nc3 - Published by Thinkers Publishing in 2020. This book is specifically written for White, but I have gone through it, and here is what I have to say about it. What he covers against 3...Nf6, the Steinitz, is phenomenal. You can tell he has put the time and effort into it. It covers the Steinitz Variation about as exhaustively as humanly possible. That is 3...Nf6 4.e5, by the way. He also covers 3...dxe4. But when you get to the Winawer, it kind of falls apart. First off, he recommends an inferior line, exchanging after 3.Nc3 Bb4. But even then, Black has some ideas that are either not covered or covered in a very skimpy manner. I would recommend this book, but for the Steinitz and Rubinstein only.
Beat the French Winawer Variation by Thinkers Publishing - This book has been on the coming soon list for over a year. When it gets published, I HIGHLY recommend it. It is based on the line that I can honestly tell you I have played as White myself, and the line that has given me the most problems with Black. 7.h4! I actually find this stronger than the significantly more popular 7.Qg4, which I think is over-hyped. The latest on that is that Black is fine in the Poisoned Pawn and in the Eingorn line (7...Kf8). Things are a little dicey in the Warsaw (7...O-O), with 8...f5 pretty much the only playable line, and 8...Nbc6 and 8...Qa5 both basically busted for Black. Uhlmann's old 7...Nf5 might be enough to hold, but he has virtually no winning chances. But avoid the Eingorn and the Poisoned Pawn with the Aggressive 7.h4, which while you will need to go through the lines like 5...Ba5 and 6...Qa5 in The Wonderful Winawer, I suggest putting a lot of focus on the 7.h4 line there until this book comes out.
Hope this helps. Again, keep in mind that I have played the French Defense for 27 years. It is the one opening I would seriously recommend you take what I am saying with more than just a grain of salt. The same cannot be said for other openings, and hence why I am an expert and not a master.
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