Good Books on the French Defence

The French defence is a peculiar phenomenon - almost all books on it are catering for black! Back when I played it myself I liked Psakhis completeness. John Watson has several french books under his belt, though personally I guess it was partly his fault I stopped playing it - as he advocated the Winawer and when I accordingly went from Nf6 to Bb4 my results deteriorated. Though he should know the opening well enough to be able to recommend some good surprise weapons.

As for books aimed at the French, I only know of three: my own The Fascinating Reti Gambit (which for some reason does not show up when you search amazon for "french defence chess"), sadly, it has not sold well at all - but personally I'm scoring extremely well with it when blitzing on the net, and in longer games people have started to avoid 1...e6 to my 1.e4! :)

Sam Collins recommends The Advance variation, 3.e5 - and apparently this has gained in reputation, as back when I played the french 3.e5 was just another reason to play the French! On the good side, you avoid the boring Rubinstein as white - which is probably why most white repertoire books on 1.e4 also go for 3.e5.

How to Beat the French Defence: The essential guide to the Tarrasch by Andreas Tzermiadianos is a book I've heard a lot of good things about, so if you're seriously into main line theory and have the motivation for 320 pages on the most careful way to fight the French, then this is probably your cup of tea!

21/9-2009. Maybe I'm getting nostalgic, but two recent books have tempted me to take up the French again. (1) Mcdonald's How to Play Against 1 e4 which gives a brief but reliable repertoire for black in the French (though against my Reti Gambit he's missed the idea of 5.Qg4! - which doesn't bother me of course! :) ) I especially liked the chance to be re-aquainted with the Classical French and in particular to be introduced to the McCutcheon (many years ago I always played the Be7-defence) which is a perfect example of a variation you need to understand more than memorise - despite its uncompromising positions. He also gives an alternative for the lazy, i.e. The Fort Knox (3.Nd2/Nc3 dxe4 and a quick Bc8-d7-c6) which isn't as tedious as one might think - at least not when you're sitting behind the black pieces... :)
(2) Moskalenko's The Flexible French: Strategic Explanations & Surprise Weapons for Dynamic Players. This book contains lots of interesting ideas in most of the french mainlines, based on the author's own practice. In short, i think this book may replace Uhlmann's Game Collection as THE book on the French in 5-10 years.