In the spirit of the first book, a couple of lines for Black vs. the Ruy, too, would be great. How about, for example, Open, Arkhanglesk and / or Neo Arkhanglesk!?!? 

For now, congratulations for the book!

@author
Are you going to follow this book with one vs. the Ruy?

Well, it isn't exactly new, in Megabase there's Fahrni-Tartakower, 1914, and there may be even older examples. Anyway, until quite recently I assumed it to be a sideline which Black could handle and maybe even refute if well prepared. If Bücker was the first to demonstrate its viability, it's no surprise.

The reason was that I found the line 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 O-O Nf6 5 d4 exd4 6 e5 d5 7 exf6 dxc4 8 fxg7! Rg8 9 Bg5! Be7 10 Bxe7 Kxe7 11 Re1+ Be6 12 Re4 objectively better for White. That isn't necessarily a big problem, as it may be no more than +=. However, when you add that this frequently will be White's pet line which he has studied deeply and that it seems harder for Black to handle (with his exposed king), it adds up to something that's hard to recommend to somebody inexperienced in the Open Games. I used to play the Max Lange as Black myself, but that was when 8 Re1+ was the main line and I believed that correct play would reward me with full equality or perhaps more.

That being said, it's an old and important line, and I wouldn't exclude the possibility that there are improvements for Black.

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I must plead guilty. The book wasn't available when I started writing the book but Quality Chess is a major chess publisher so I should have noticed when it was published. When I shortly before completing my work checked for recent books from White's side I found one on the the Scotch gambit and one on the quiet Italian that seemed worth investigating. Maybe the Caro Kann in the title fooled me? 

Anyway, I have the book now, and must say that Shaw's choice appears relatively harmless and that my "=" seems a reasonable assessment. Possibly "+= tending towards equality" would be more precise (I haven't run any deep computer analysis on it) but when writing it I obviously didn't find it to deserve more than a simplified assessment. Obviously, starting your analysis at this point (rather than concluding it) gives you an edge but that edge could have been greater had the position been more complex.

Quote:


The reason I instead recommend 7...Bxd2+ is simply that that's what I've played myself for almost 40 years now, and I felt confident that it was an equalizing line with some possibilities for Black to play for a win. 

Anyway, 7...Nxe4 should have been mentioned at least briefly as it seems an excellent alternative. Back in the pre-computer days it always felt risky (at least at my level) to play with your king in the centre. So when I saw Bologan recommend the move, I didn't really study his analysis but just had a look at the diagram position after 8 Bxb4 Nxb4 9 Bxf7+ Kxf7 10 Qb3 d5 11 Ne5+ Ke6! 12 Qxb4 c5! 13 Qa3 cxd4 14 Nf3 Qb6 15 0-0 Rd8 and decided that this wasn't something I'd like to play myself. What Bologan doesn't mention, and I only discovered later, is that instead 12...Qf8 is equal and quite easy for Black to play (so 12...c5 is an attempt to increase Black's winning chances). How Bologan's other suggestion, 10...Kf8!? works out, I've still no idea, as I haven't had that position on my computer screen. It looks safer but 11 Qxb4+ Qe7 12 Qxe7+ Kxe7 13 0-0 Kd8!? is a move I probably wouldn't have considered unless I knew it was 'theory'.

Leon_Trotsky wrote on 04/12/18 at 05:11:32:


The usual point is that it transposes to the line 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bc5 . If instead 4. .. Nf6 is recommended, then indeed 4. d4 takes Black out of his book.

There are other transposition tricks available. For example on 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4, it's possible to play 6. 0-0 which switches into Scotch territory. You can go the other way round. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. c3 Nf6 6. cxd4 to get the 4. c3 Italian.

I wouldn't be convinced that playing as White in this manner leads anywhere in particular, but it sets some problems to Black in what needs to be known about 1. e4 e5 positions.