I would appreciate recommendation of resources (books, website) for the Black side of the RL but not the Berlin. I know the Berlin very, very well. It has stood me in good stead over the years. I am an ICCF GM. However, I recently decided that I have to add mainline RL to my repertoire for the following reason.
   The Berlin is superb to draw against the very strongest White player. The Berlin also works very well for Black after he has equalized if White pushes too hard. However, against weaker White players who are determined to draw, Bl has no winning chances.

Antillian wrote on 06/23/07 at 10:58:17:


Re: "Smyslov's Best Games" by Smyslov, translated by Peter Clarke and published by Hardinge Simpole. I think that this must be a reprint of a good book published in the late 1950s in descriptive notation after Smyslov won the World Championship. (It appears to me that most of Hardinge Simpole's chess books are reprints of such out-of-copyright classics.) I have the original hardback of this book in my library. I regard it as obsolete; if you have the Cadogan and/or Moravia books you certainly don't need it.

I can strongly recommend "Vasily Smyslov: Endgame Virtuoso."

Regarding learning the Spanish for White, I suggest:

Watch a good introductory DVD or video, such as John Emms's.
Start playing the Spanish in practice games. Note down any queries.
After 15-20 games, review your experience and refer to some good reference book for ideas/answers.
Play another 15-20 practice games.
Decide whether the opening suits you.
If so, refer to one or more good books and begin to map out a repertoire against each of Black's main defences.
Pay particular attention to the early sharp lines, such as the Schliemann/Jaenisch, which are very popular below master level and very dangerous if you are not prepared.
At the same time, begin to play through well annotated games with the Spanish by the great players mentioned above. Use these games as a basis for creating a file (card or electronic) of model games which illustrate particular aspects of play in the Spanish (cf Dvoretsky's "positional sketches"). Highlight the main learning points.
Begin to play the Spanish in long-play over-the-board games.
Look up the theory after each game, and do not "put the game to bed" without deciding, and making a note of, what you think you have learnt from it, and what will do differently next time!

Mastering the Ruy Lopez by daniel King and Pozetto has a lot of stuff.  It may be below you but it might be good to look through.  also Shaun Talbot has an old book on the Ruy. 
Zatara

Quote:


What is the difference between the one volume work "Smyslov's Best Games" by Smyslov translated by Peter Clarke by Hardinge Simpole a and this two volume work by Moravian?

Maybe Keres' games, he played the Ruy quite a lot. Alternatively there should be quite some annotated material in the various K-matches. Karpov played it as white against Korchnoi and with black against Kasparov, while Kaspy also tried it against Kramnik and iirc also Anand. Plus I remember there is a book with loads of Spassky games which should also contain quite some Ruys.

Also have a lookout for games by Sokolov, he always defends classically so he faces the Ruy regularly.

Got chessbase? Create a DB with all the lines you want in (I've put in all the bold stuff from the Anand series) and set the repertoire tick box, Create a DB with, say, all games of players from 2500+, or whatever year span or player range you want, do a repetoire scan on it, and then plough through the annotated games for each variation.

Also I think there's a chess site somewhere where they do like monthly updates which includes a lot of annotated Ruy games, hmm, now what is it ...  

I found the "Mastering the Ruy with the Read and Play Method" very useful, although not a game colleciton.

If you've got a bookstore with a decent chess section, my recommendation would be to check on collections of the great exponents of the Ruy Lopez. Capablanca, Spassky, Anand, and Shirov all played it on both sides of the board, and both Fischer and Kasparov were masters of the white side. I seem to remember John Nunn's Best Games having a numbe of Lopez games, since he played it from both sides as well. There are undoubtedly plenty of others, but those are the ones that come to mind