Tarrasch Defense

"I once asked Fischer if he would give me chess instruction, and he agreed. 'For the first lesson, I want you to play over every column of Modern Chess Openings, including footnotes,' he said, smiling but totally serious; 'And for the next lesson, I want you to do it again.'" - Profile of a Prodigy by Frank Brady (chapter 31).

I gave up on MCO several years ago after seeing atrocious typos such as "Map Large Attack" (instead of 'Max Lange Attack').

Fortunately there are nowadays several alternatives, such as Nunn's Chess Openings, Batsford Chess Openings, and my personal favorite the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings

I have yet to complete Bobby's first lesson. However, out of necessity, I've read all ECO lines and footnotes for the Tarrasch Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined.

Why are there no opening monographs on the Tarrasch Defense?

Well, it turns out there are TWO repertoire books on the Tarrasch Defense, but I had not discovered them because of their sneaky titles.

1) 'Meeting 1 d4' by Jacob Aagaard and Esben Lund



2) 'Complete Defense to Queen Pawn Openings' by Eric Schiller



Schiller's book has alot of coverage for lines lines where White plays e3.
I'd be delighted if my opponents would play e3 against my Tarrasch Defense.
Unfortunately, my weekend swiss opponents are typically booked up and play the main lines with g3 and finachetto.

Aagaard's book has better coverage of the main lines with g3, particularly the lines where Black pushes c4. Schiller says the c4 push is risky and only presents the cxd5 lines.

UPDATE:

Arne from chessvibes.com heartily recommends the book

3) 'Die Tarrasch-Verteidigung' by Harald Keilhack.



Well it's in German and out of print, but I'll certainly keep an eye out for it. Thanks Arne.

"Dear God,

If you give me genie lamp like Alladin, I will give you anything you want except my money or my chess set." --Raphael