Hi,
Interesting topic!, it would be great if black could equalize with the bird against the Ruy Lopez as I'm just trying to find a decent variation as black against the Ruy
. In the main line 10...Qb6 is indeed very interesting! Here are some analysis after 11.a3 where black goes back into a sort of the old main line. The logical move 13...Be6 (preparing 0-0-0 and then maybe once d5) runs into Nd5 and after Qd8 white calmly plays Bf4 and Qd4 and he centralizes the rooks preparing the e5 break and he is much better. So no 13...Be6, but maybe 13...Be7. Then after 14.Be3 Qc7 (not Qxb2 15.Nd5) or 14.e5 black should be fine, but
is interesting, for example:
:14...0-0 15.Bxd6
Rd8? 16.Nd5!!
: 15...Bxe6 16.Qxd6 Qxb2 17.Qb4! (Qd2 18.Re3! threatening Rd1 so for example Qd4 19.Rd1 Qe5 20.Qd6! Qxd6 21.Rxd6 and c5 and white's better) 18...Qxb4 18.axb4 and white's I think better because of black's weak a-pawn and white can create a stronghold for the knight on d6.
:14...Qxb2. Now the logical move b1:15.Qd4? doesn't work, because of 0-0! (not 15...Bf6 16.e5) 16.Reb1 Bf6 17.e5 Bxe5 18.Bxe5 dxe5 19.Qd3 Bf5! b2: 15.Re3!? This is a nice move. From this great square the rook defends the knight and indirectly also the a3 pawn, because of Nd5!, so if white gets a free move he will play Rb1 Qxa3 Nd5! winning, so black moves the queen back to b6. 15...Qb6 16.e5!? White's much better developed so he breaks in the center. 16...dxe5 17.Bxe5 and here
:0-0 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Rxe7 and I think white is clearly better. Maybe black should try 18...Qxe3!? when I think the position is unclear.
: Qd8 18.Qxd8+ Kxd8 19.Rd1+ Ke8
20.f4? preparing Bd6 and after Be6 f5 doesn't work because of the easy 20...Be6. B222 20.Bxg7! Rg8 21.Bf6 Be6 22.Bxe7!? Kxe7 23.f4!? and after white playing 24.Ne4 I quite like white's position.
: Be6? This is just bad, because of 18.Bxg7 Rg8 19.Rxe6! fxe6 20.Qh5+ Kd7 21.Rd1+ Kc8 22.Qf7 +-
: Be6 now Nd5 doesn't work, but white has 15.Bxd6 and now
15...Bxd6 16.Qxd6 Rd8 (Bxc4?? 17.Nd5! +-; 16...Qd8 e5 and white's better) and here just as in line a 17.Qb4! Qxb4 18.axb4 a6 and here it seems like black doesn't have enough compensation for the pawn.
15...Rd8 16.c5! and white's just winning.
There may be lots of flaws in my analysis, but these analysis show that white is better in almost all lines. Does anyone have comments on these analysis? I worked about 4 hours on it, so I would be pleased if someone would respond
. Possibly, black shouldn't play 13...Be7 at all?!