“Milking a cow.” This is how once Bronstein described the Ruy Lopez opening. Despite the heavily explored lines this remains one of the most colourful and rich openings ever. The complex nature of the arising positions, the huge variety of tactical and positional ideas make it a must for every chess player.
The more we study and the deeper we dive into the Ruy Lopez the more and more secrets will be revealed and the better the understanding of the structure and the typical ideas would become.
Partner Course:
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This pawn structure usually arises after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 from one of the following lines:
A) 3... a6 4.Bxc6 (Exchange Spanish)
B) 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Bxc6 or 5.0-0 Be7 6 Bxc6 (Delayed Exchange Spanish)
C) 3...Nf6 4.Bxc6 (Anti-Berlin)
In the introduction, GM Aleksander Delchev writes: n my survey, I deal with this position both from White and Black's perspective. Besides improving your play in the abovementioned theoretical lines, this material is designed to improve your general chess understanding as well. Hopefully, you will get a better feeling of the following strategical aspects: play with and against a bishop pair, find the right plan and execute the right pawn break in static structures, the importance of the space advantage, play positions with opposite castles. Additionally, I am sure that this database will help you to increase your endgame technique since I provide a number of instructive examples.
Sequence: 1.e4 Pawn Structures »
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In this database, Mihail Marin provides a complete Black repertoire which is based on the so-called Open Spanish. The basic position of this line arises after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6. In the introduction, GM Marin writes:
"The Open (or Tarrasch) Variation in the Spanish Opening has fascinated me ever since the 1978 and 1981 Karpov-Kortschnoj matches, during which the challenger regularly used it, coming up with many new ideas. Before that, the system did not enjoy a good reputation, but the intense rehearsal during the matches provoked a real boom of the opening. For many years I had an intense but purely "platonic" sympathy for it. I finally decided to include it in my repertoire when I understood that playing the Sicilian against players like John Nunn was pure suicide. And as a reward, my first game with the Open Spanish ended in a draw against the same Dr Nunn, who one year earlier had made me the unwilling co-author of a brilliancy prize in the Najdorf! The aforementioned matches also induced a new fashion trend from White's point of view, but during the '80s, Kortschnoj introduced many new ideas in tournament games. Around 1990 a serious crisis happened, after a crucial loss of Kortschnoj to Hjartarson. I managed to play it for a few more years, switching systems when I feared concrete opponents' preparation, but around 1994 I had to resign to the evidence: Many of my favourite lines did not look playable anymore. Revisiting the variation after such a long time was refreshing. When writing this database I understood that at this stage of theory there are certain systems (mainly 9.Nbd2) in which Black has to go for dynamic play (and not for static positions, as I used to do)."
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Welcome to the second and final Ruy Lopez database by GM Michael Roiz. In this survey, the author deals with all the variations except Breyer (which was covered in Part 1 ). True to his approach, Roiz provides you with reliable lifetime solutions. In many lines, he suggests new concepts or revives well forgotten old approaches. The vast majority of the lines are based on understanding. Once you finish and understand the current database, even if you do not follow every new game, you will enjoy a complete solution for your problems against Ruy Lopez. Thus, you will have plenty of time to focus on other aspects of your chess preparation.
The database consists of 18 theoretical chapters and 18 interactive tests.
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The Ruy Lopez remains one of the most popular chess openings, both at club level and among top players.
According to many grandmasters, this is the most complex opening in chess. Almost all world champions played it with both colours. Studying this opening will not only provide you with a repertoire but will increase your general chess understanding.
In his two-part series, the renowned theoretician GM Michael Roiz is providing us with a complete repertoire for Black against it.
In the current database, the author builds a repertoire based on the Breyer Variation. Roiz explains all strategical and tactical subtleties and proposes many fresh and unexplored ideas.
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With Yates Variation and Anti - Marshall, White wants to avoid long, forced and heavily analyzed main lines. His task is to minimalize Black's choices and to reach a playable position, where chess understanding is more important than memorization.
This very common opening approach is used by Magnus Carlsen with a great success.
Renier is sharing his ideas in 12 chapters - eight of them are for Yates Variation, and four are for Anti - Marshall.
The database ends with 12 test positions.
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The Steinitz Defence Deferred is an interesting and still relatively unexplored system against the Ruy Lopez (3.Bb5). Apparently passive, yet extremely solid and quite flexible, it has survived the test of time since the late 19th century. Chess greats like Janowski, Schlechter, Capablanca, Alekhine, Keres, Smyslov, etc.
The aim of this opening survey is to provide you with an easily understandable and concrete Steinitz Defence Deferred (in further text SDD) opening repertoire against the Ruy Lopez. SDD is a relatively rare occurence on the top level, but this can be a blessing in disguise for a club or a casual tournament player. Many white players dismiss such opening variations as second-rate and pay less attention to them than to Breyers and Marshalls of the world, on which they are ready to spend countless hours of analysis. If your knowledge of SDD is solid and deep, while your opponent's is superficial and coupled with "today I play against that off-beat Ruy Lopez line" approach, guess who has the upper hand?
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In the first database concerning the Berlin, we have learned how to handle the
Berlin Endgame which arises after the move 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0
Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8 Kxd8. As we have seen, if Black
knows what he is doing in this endgame, it's extremely difficult for White to
pose any problems.That's the reason why White started to look for some
possible deviations from the Berlin Endgame. Despite the fact that such lines
don't promise an advantage, the arising posиtions and structures are complex
and tricky to handle. That's why Black should be very familiar with all the
positional and tactical subtleties in order to avoid entering a difficult
position.
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An ex top 10 Grandmaster, who has defeated on the board no less than 8 World Champions in three formats - classical, rapid, and blitz - has released the best of his knowledge about Berlin Endgame.
The Berlin Variation is by far the most popular top-level player's weapon against Ruy Lopez. Nevertheless, the vast majority of chess fans are not familiar with the subtleties of the arising positions. In his newest opening project, GM Kiril Georgiev builds a complete Berlin-based repertoire against Ruy Lopez.
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