kylemeister wrote on 11/18/08 at 16:15:01:


Really?  I thought 5...f6 was still the main choice, with even 5...Qf6 preferred to 5...Qd6.

Yes well, if you think Black's side of the Exchange is a piece of cake, no doubt you will want to play 3...a6.  But I think that many Open Defense players would find the usual positions of that defense more appealing than the ones that arise from the Exchange.

BobbyDigital80 wrote on 11/15/08 at 04:26:05:


5..Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3 has been tried by some pretty good players, but it just seems wrong to me on general principles.  The bishop pair is supposed to be Black's comp for his compromised pawn structure, and here he just gives it away.   

I think the strange move order with 3 ... Nf6 4. 0-0 Nxe4 5. d4 a6 ... is just an attempt to reach the Open and avoid the Exchange Variation on the way. But is the Exchange Variation really so terrible so you have to avoid it in the first place? I'm usually glad to see it because I think Black is more comfortable here than in the Spanish main lines.

Markovich wrote on 09/25/08 at 18:08:42:


I don't see anything wrong with 14...O-O-O here, and then Black can get his Queen off the e-file followed by either preparing ...c5 or playig ...Rhe8 and contesting the e-file.  In the long run,   I'd expect Black's Bishop to be better than the Knight.

White has the initiative but what does he do with it?  (You're a better player than I am, so I'm hoping to learn something here.)

MNb wrote on 09/26/08 at 01:16:41:


I, like Markovich, thought Black should play 12...h6 there.

11. Qe2 Be6 12. Ne5 0-0 looks okay for Black after 13. Nxf7 Rxf7 14. Rxe6 Qxd4.

kylemeister wrote on 09/24/08 at 16:05:30:


After 11...Be6, I see nothing resembling a White edge.  Do you?  Maybe White can try 11.Qe2 (instead of Bg5)--then 11...Be6 12.Ne5 and perhaps Black shouldn't castle because of Nxf7?

I'm guessing that Black should play 11...Be6 there (which of course at least cedes the Bishops) rather than 11...f6 12. Qe2 (reminiscent of that line in the Giuoco Piano, but without the sac).  I notice that a few GM-types preferred 8...Be7 to 8...e4, but they didn't fare very well.

BobbyDigital80 wrote on 09/23/08 at 22:18:16:


Welcome to this forum.

Black's idea after 7...Nf6 is that if White fails to capture on e5, he just plays ...e4, which leaves White with a d-pawn, not an e-pawn, and Black with his two bishops and no special worries.

So, just looking at this in my head, after 9.Nbd2 I would play 9...e4 and be happy.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see anything immediate for White after 9.Nbd2 e4 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5+ Be7.  Indeed I would probably rather have the bishops.

Alias wrote on 09/15/08 at 19:01:33:


I stand corrected.

BlkSabb wrote on 09/15/08 at 12:24:07:


I doubt that he is an expert on it.  A key virtue of his books is that they give you a practitioner's insights.  Applied to just any subject, that won't work.

Oh Neuronet, you are so right. But, just to take  a small issue, this malady may not be totally related to patzers, unless you count 2160, former masters as a patzer-thats who last played Re1 against me OTB.

You might get some flack the resulting positions being nothing to worry about since black gets the 2 b, but for some of us its not that easy.

By the it recently occured to me that the Berlin move order ( 5..a6) avoids this line as well as the exchange, although there are a different set of Re1 lines there too.

browniesbane wrote on 08/02/08 at 05:25:52:


The move order should not make a huge difference, since the starting position for the analyses of the book would probably be after 5...Ne4.

As for the Re1 line, I assume that John Cox covered this variation in his repertoire book "Play the Berlin Wall" for Quality Chess.

P.S: Perhaps a Starting Out book on Black's alternatives to 5...Be7 (after 4...Nf6 5.0-0) could be written rather than a book only on the Open Ruy, since that way there could be coverage of the Archangelsk (5...b5 6.Bb3 Bc5), which has not been covered by books in some years, and the book may also interest more Ruy Lopez devotees in this way.

Starting Out: The Open Ruy Lopez is another good idea. They already have Starting Out: The Ruy Lopez  but I don't see why a starting out volume on the Open Ruy can't be done. They have Starting Out: the Sicilian but now they are coming out with a lot of Starting Out volumes on the main lines of the Sicilian. For example, they have Start Out: The Najdorf and Starting Out: Sicilian Sveshnikov. Doing a Starting Out volume on one of the main lines of the Ruy Lopez makes sense.

I think we need a new book on the Open Ruy Lopez since their hasn't been a book on the Open Ruy since GM Glenn Flear's book in 2000. Is their any chance Glenn would be willing to do a second edition of his Open Ruy Lopez book? Or is their any chance someone would be willing to do a repertoire book on the Open Ruy Lopez maybe with the title Play the Open Ruy Lopez?