The variation of the French starting 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 (or 3 Nd2) 3 … dxe4 is a great way to simplify the position at an early stage without making too many concessions. It ensures that the middlegame battle will reward strategic understanding rather than rote memorisation of opening moves. It is also a very useful weapon to defuse the attacking intentions of aggressive White players who plan an all-out assult in the complex main lines of the French Defence. An important feature for the lines after 3…dxe4 4 Nxe4 is that Black has various different ways to continue. 4 … Nd7 (the Rubinstein Variation) is the most common but 4 … Bd7 (planning … Bc6 - the Fort Knox Variation), 4 … Be7 and 4 … Nf6 are all possible. All these lines are covered in the book. Finally, White can, of course, avoid the 3 … dxe4 variation with (amongst others) the Advance Variation, 3 e5. Martin provides antidotes to all these possible sidelines and so the variations in the book provide a complete repertoire to meet 1 e4.