Past and present, the French Defence has been and remains a popular choice against White's king's pawn opening with top class grandmasters such as Korchnoi, Morozevich, Bareev and Short continuing to practise it with success. Since the publication of The Complete French in 1992 - a highly acclaimed standard work on the subject - the volume of theory has increased to such an extent that the author has produced three volumes to cover it all. This first volume - covering the sequence 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 nd2 - features a wealth of illustrative games as well as up-to-date theory. Known as the 'Tarrach variation', it has long been known to provide excellent attacking prospects for White but, as the younger generation has amply demonstrated, Black has many exciting counterattacking resources too!