ChessPub Forum - Spicing up Black's play vs 6 Re1 in the Open Lopez

(UTC)

ChessPub Forum › Chess Publishing Openings › 1. e4 e5 Spanish › Open › Spicing up Black's play vs 6 Re1 in the Open Lopez

(Moderators: proustiskeen, trw)

‹ Previous Topic | Next Topic ›

Pages: 1

Topic Tools

Spicing up Black's play vs 6 Re1 in the Open Lopez (Read 9163 times)

FreeRepublic God Member Offline I Love ChessPublishing! Posts: 1029 Location: Georgia Joined: 06/08/17 Gender:	Re: Spicing up Black's play vs 6 Re1 in the Open Lopez Reply #4 - 11/17/24 at 20:52:06	Post Tools	Print Post
	Modern-Chess has "Play the Spanish - Top-Level Repertoire for White - Part 1" by GM Baadur Jobava GM Pier Luigi Basso. To my surprise, they recommend 6Re1. You can see some of their analysis at the Modern-chess website, video included. 6Re1 has never gotten the attention of 6d4 but leads to interesting games also.


	IP Logged

FreeRepublic God Member Offline I Love ChessPublishing! Posts: 1029 Location: Georgia Joined: 06/08/17 Gender:	Re: Spicing up Black's play vs 6 Re1 in the Open Lopez Reply #3 - 11/03/21 at 19:17:10	Post Tools	Print Post
	Paddy wrote on 06/30/10 at 17:32:36: At lower levels of play, the otherwise attractive Open Defence to the Spanish is often met by 6 Re1 instead of 6 d4 When I first learned the Ruy, I was encouraged that I could at least get my pawn back with 6Re1! Clearly 6Re1 comes in a distant second to 6d4 in terms of popularity, but it's not bad and leads to interesting chess. Theoreticians cover 6Re1, but only briefly as there is so much to cover after 6d4. Perhaps 6Re1 is a little underappreciated. It's worth some study as you will face the move as black and it's not as harmless as one might think. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 Nc5 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8. Nxe5 Be7 9. d4 Ne6 10. c3 O-O 11. Be3 f6 12. Nd3. An early game, Rosen L-Cohn Wilhelm 1896, continued 12...Bd6 13Nd2 f5. Black won the game. Many early games continued aggressively and entertainingly with moves such as ...f5, ..g5, ..Qh4. Opening books go along with those plans. My engine is skeptical of 13...f5. ECO mentions 13...Qd5. 13...a5 and 13...Re8 are also options. GM Mikhalevski mentioned ...Re8 on move 11 or 12. Black usually plays ...f6 to evict the white knight, but the move weakens the white squares. White can play Qb3 with pressure on the file and diagonal, while the rook puts pressure on the e-file. If black plays this wrong his position may just collapse. Black should have one or more strategies to respond. ...Qd5 counters Qb3, but black must reckon with c4. ...a5-a4 is a good idea, but white might answer ...a5 with a4. ...b3 and ...Re8 also act to secure black's position. Assuming black avoids catastrophe, the two bishops may later give him the better game. There are many ways to vary early. GM Mikhalevski points out that 10Be3 0-0 11c4 (instead of c3) is more aggressive for white. After 10c3 0-0 white can play 11f4 f6 (11...Re8, or 11 ...g6). GM Marin varies with 8d4 Ne6 9Nxe5 Bd6. I think ...Bd6 instead of ...Be7 helps to relieve the congestion in black's game. (8...e4!? may be playable by this move order). If you like ...Bd6, you might try 8Nxe5 Ne6 9d4 Bd6 which transposes to Marin's suggestion. However as GM Mikhalevski points out, white could then try 9Qf3 or 9Qh5. To me 6Re1 somewhat resembles the exchange variation. White plays simply and directly. Both lines lead to interesting play. Both come in second to their respective main line which increases the tension and complexity of the position.


	IP Logged

Paddy God Member Offline The truth will out! Posts: 966 Location: Manchester Joined: 01/10/03 Gender:	Re: Spicing up Black's play vs 6 Re1 in the Open Lopez Reply #2 - 11/06/10 at 22:58:11	Post Tools	Print Post
	NeverGiveUp wrote on 11/05/10 at 14:02:41: Dear paddy I think you have already answered your own question - 6. ... b5!? is the move to go for. There are 6 games with b5 on Nicbase and black seems to be doing OK. Two variations you didn't mention - 7.Bb3 d5 8.Nc3!? is stricky but should be OK for black, and white's best is probably the even trickier 7.Ne5:!? (threatening Qh5+) and after 7. ... Ne5: 8.Re4:. After 8. ...d6(!) 9.d4 Bb7 10.Re3 ba4 11.de5 de5 12.Qe2 Kf8, followed by Qd7, black is OK. Thanks for responding. So little interest was shown in this line that I did not post my later findings. Here is what I concluded some months ago: if White can find (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.Re1) 6...b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.Nc3! Nxc3 9.dxc3 Be6 10.a4! b4 11.a5! Black could be in some difficulty. The engines think he has to play 10...b4. which is almost an indictment in itself. So basically Black would be gambling that White would play the obvious 8 d3 Nf6 9 Nxe5 Nxe5 10 Rxe5 Be6 intending ...Bd6, when I believe Black has a slight edge and can play for a win. As Larsen once wrote, I don't like playing stuff I know how to refute, or something like that. The position after 6...Nc5 7.Bxc6 dxc6 8.Nxe5 Be7 is a tedious one but Black has no real worries and something to nibble. The main problem that I came up against when researching this line for Black is 6...Nc5 7 Nc3!? angling for the same trap that can arise in the Berlin: 7...Nxa4 (7... Be7 8. Nd5 Nxa4 9. Nxe5 Nc5 10. Nxc6 dxc6 11. Nxe7 Be6=) 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 (8... Nxc3 9. Nxc6+ Be7 10. Nxe7 Nxd1 11. Ng6+ Qe7 12. Nxe7+-; 8... Be7 9. Nd5 Nc5 10. Nxc6 dxc6 11. Nxe7 Be6=) 9. Rxe5+ Be7 10. Nd5 O-O 11. Nxe7+ Kh8 12. Qh5! +- In this line it is Black who has to avoid all the traps but even if he manages that he may not even emerge with the bishop pair. So unless we've missed something (more than possible!) it would seem therefore that White is playing for two results! BTW I notice that some Latvian masters were playing this a while ago. However, that great 1 e4 e5 specialist Ivan Sokolov (who often goes to great lengths to try to win with Black, sometimes coming a real cropper though!) chose 7...d6!? after 7 Nc3. This at least makes a complex game of it and it seems Black will get to keep his bishops, at least for the time being. Maybe this is the way to go. File attached. Comments and suggestions most welcome.

	OpenLopez6Re1.pgn ( 19 KB \| 459 Downloads )
	IP Logged

NeverGiveUp Full Member Offline Never despair in a lost position Posts: 221 Joined: 11/18/09	Re: Spicing up Black's play vs 6 Re1 in the Open Lopez Reply #1 - 11/05/10 at 14:02:41	Post Tools	Print Post
	Dear paddy I think you have already answered your own question - 6. ... b5!? is the move to go for. There are 6 games with b5 on Nicbase and black seems to be doing OK. Two variations you didn't mention - 7.Bb3 d5 8.Nc3!? is stricky but should be OK for black, and white's best is probably the even trickier 7.Ne5:!? (threatening Qh5+) and after 7. ... Ne5: 8.Re4:. After 8. ...d6(!) 9.d4 Bb7 10.Re3 ba4 11.de5 de5 12.Qe2 Kf8, followed by Qd7, black is OK.


	IP Logged

Paddy God Member Offline The truth will out! Posts: 966 Location: Manchester Joined: 01/10/03 Gender:	Spicing up Black's play vs 6 Re1 in the Open Lopez 06/30/10 at 17:32:36	Post Tools	Print Post
	At lower levels of play, the otherwise attractive Open Defence to the Spanish is often met by 6 Re1 instead of 6 d4, and after 6..Nc5 Black is OK if he know what he is doing, but the play can become very tedious. So I'm looking for an alternative to 6...Nc5 that, without being unsound, can ask more questions of the white player. First idea: does anyone know a refutation of 6...b5 with the idea of 7 Bb3 d5 ? You'd think that there was an opbvious refutation, but I'm d*ed if I can see it. BTW I think 7 Rxe4 can be met by 7...d5 8 R moves bxa4 and 7 Nxe5 by 7...Nxe5 8 Rxe4 Be7 9 Rxe5 bxa4 10 Qe2 d5 11 d4 Be6 when the bishop pair is comp. for the split pawns.


	IP Logged

Pages: 1

Topic Tools

‹ Previous Topic | Next Topic ›

Bookmarks:

« Board Index ‹ Board Top