I have been telling Byron Jacobs at Everyman he ought to produce such a book for years.

I don't agree with the last poster at all: off the top of my head, 4 Bxc6, 5 d3, 5 Nc3, 5 Qe2, 5 Bxc6, 5 d4, 6 Bxc6, 6 d4, the Worrall, and various anti-Marshall ideas on move 8 have all had significant GM followings at one time or another, although I will concede that there have never been significant deviations from 7 Bb3. Sure you can do it with Chessbase and so on, but a book would be easier.

I am looking for a recent book on the Black side of the Ruy Lopez (Spanish) which provides detailed coverage of all White's early deviations from the main line (such as the exchange lines, centre attack with d4, Worrall attack and so on) so that I could build up a Black repertoire. Such a book would nicely complement Glenn Flear's new book too. Any suggestions?

(I have Taulbut's Understanding the Spanish, but it is more an overview of the diverse systems within the Spanish.)

For a quick account of themes in unfamiliar (to me!) Lopez positions, I still refer sometimes to Shaun Taulbut's Understanding the Spanish. It's old and the coverage is superficial, but it includes a nice selection of a few lightly annotated key games in each variation. Might be a good complement to a Starting Out-style coverage. You can get it very cheap too - there are worse ways to invest $5!

When I was learning openings from scratch, I loved Imre Konig's Chess from Morphy to Botvinnik - it traces the historical development of four openings from the 19th century through to the 1950s. Are there any books out there now with a similar philosophy? I find that even very good modern openings books fail to give a feel for why certain lines aren't played anymore. There's not necessarily a refutation to a lot of variations, it's just that experience suggests that white usually gets a slight edge, or that black usually gets a completely level game, or that the game usually peters out to a draw, etc.

My copy of OFWATA vol. 2 just arrived and I'm just starting to delve through the maze of theoretical variaitions presented. However, despite the plethora of variations, Khalifman's expanations are very clear on both the opening themes, middlegame techniques and maneuvers, and common endgame themes. It's a book that seems like rather than making a choice between giving variations with little explanations or giving lots of explanations with no variations, Khalifman decided to (and I think he did successfully) have both.

Haven't heard anything new on Glenn Flear's book, supposedly it will be out by the end of May so I'm hoping that someone will review it pretty soon. If anyone knows anything about it let me know please.

I have played the Lopez for about a year with overall success and based it mostly on lines I looked up in NCO or something like that. Is there a good book out there that covers the variations AND themes of the Ruy Lopez. I looked at Easy Guide to the Ruy Lopez and Starting Out: The Ruy Lopez and found them to be limited in their coverage because they are, primarily, meant to be repertoire books. While this may be what some people are looking for, I was hoping for something with a wider range of coverage. I considered Opening for White According to Anand Vol. 2 which covers all lines after 3...a6 and since I already bought volume 1, I figured I should probably pick up the second volume.

I also noticed that Glenn Flear is supposed to be releasing a new book called "The Ruy Lopez: Main Line" within the next few months and I was wondering if Glenn could tell us what lines that book will be covering.

Are there any other books on the Lopez that people think are really good?

Thanks,

Mitch