Playing the McCutcheon Variation of the French Defence (3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4) immediately sharpens up the game, but quite frequently what soon arises is a positional struggle. Until recently the whole opening system was considered to be double-edged, if not downright notorious – White only had to have good knowledge about the main line. But nowadays the McCutcheon has been developing in an entirely new direction. Rustam Kasimdzhanov now calls 5.e5 h6 6.Bd2 the old main variation – since, as he demonstrates, Black can remarkably easily obtain a pleasant game. The alternatives 6.Bc1 and 6.Bh4 shouldn’t give White any advantage either, but the former FIDE world champion shows how these lines can be used as a surprise weapon. On the other hand, 6.Be3 has turned into the new main variation. Here the author has undertaken some extremely deep analysis in order to be able to come up with the correct evaluations for the individual sub-variations. In many variations Kasimdzhanov provides analyses, evaluations and recommendations which go far beyond the present state of theory. Despite that, you always retain a good overview and the clarity of the explanations make the study of this DVD a real pleasure.

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