Spanish with ...g7-g6 for Black — Top-Level Repertoire for Black
The Ruy Lopez is usually White's kind of fight. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5, the familiar roads lead to slow, deeply mapped positions where White keeps the tension and sets the pace, while Black spends the middlegame answering questions rather than asking them.
The modest-looking 3...g6 changes that on move three. Black declares the character of the game at once: fianchetto the bishop, aim it down the long diagonal at White's centre, and head for an unbalanced struggle where the full point is a genuine target for both sides. As Pier Luigi Basso frames it in the introduction, this is a way to fight the Spanish and play for a complicated game — not to equalise quietly, but to reach positions with rich play for either side.
What makes this repertoire different
The course is built around one fighting tabiya and White's many attempts to avoid it. In the main line, Black expands with ...b5, castles behind the fianchetto, then presses the centre with ...Na5 and ...c5:
4.c3 a6 5.Ba4 Bg7 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 b5 8.Bb3 Nge7 9.O-O O-O 10.Nc3 Na5 11.Bc2 d6 12.h3 c5 — the starting position of the main line, and the subject of Chapter 2.
From there, everything is organised as White's tries to steer away: the early 10.d5 break, the quieter 10.a4, the Bc2 setups, the exchange on c6, and the direct 4.d4. Each one gets a concrete, self-standing answer rather than a general recipe, so you always know what you are aiming for.
The authors
The repertoire is the work of GM Alexey Dreev and GM Pier Luigi Basso. The introduction sets out the guiding idea, and Dreev takes the most demanding branch himself — the 4.d4 exd4 5.Bg5 Be7! line, covered in depth in Chapter 9. Together they treat 3...g6 as a serious top-level try: sound enough to hold up against White's critical 4.c3 and 4.d4, sharp enough to keep the winning chances Black is really after.
Variation map
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6
4.c3 — the main line and most critical approach
- 4...a6 5.Ba4 Bg7 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 b5 8.Bb3 Nge7 9.O-O O-O 10.Nc3 Na5 11.Bc2 d6 12.h3 c5 → Chapter 2
- 10.d5!? → Chapter 3
- 10.a4 and other sidelines → Chapter 4
- 8.Bc2 d5!? → Chapter 6
- 5.Bxc6 → Chapter 7
4.O-O Bg7 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 Nge7 7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4 b5 9.Bc2 d5!? → Chapter 5
4.d4 exd4
- 5.Bg5 Be7! → Chapter 9
- 5.Nxd4 → Chapter 8
- 5.c3!? dxc3 6.Nxc3 → Chapter 10
4.Nc3 and other harmless sidelines → Chapter 1
For players who like rarer roads
If meeting the Ruy Lopez off the beaten path appeals to you, GM Pier Luigi Basso in collaboration with GM Baadur Jobava has built a separate weapon in the same spirit: the Norwegian Variation against the Ruy Lopez — Top-Level Repertoire. It is not a companion volume to this one, but another fully tested, low-traffic answer to 3.Bb5 for players who prefer to leave the main highways early.
What's included
- 10 chapters
- 25 test positions
- Memory Booster
- To Go version of every chapter
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN (English, German, French, Spanish)
Take up the fight
The Closed Spanish will always give White a comfortable game to steer. With 3...g6, Black takes that choice away and sets the terms from the third move. Dreev and Basso hand you the whole system — main line, every sideline, and the concrete answers that hold it together — ready to play against anyone who opens with the Ruy Lopez.