4/26/2012 – The Ruy Lopez is one of the most popular openings in chess, named after the 16th century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura, who made a systematic study of this (and other) openings in the 150-page book on chess Libro del Ajedrez written in 1561. 450 years later renown chess trainer Andrew Martin provides us with full intructions on how to play the open variation.
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Andrew
Martin: The Open Ruy Lopez
Review by Steven B. Dowd
The Open Ruy Lopez (DVD) by Andrew Martin, ChessBase, Playing time:
3 hours 40 minutes. $34.95 (ChessCafe Price: $28.95)
This is another well-produced trainer, but to be fully armed in the Ruy Lopez,
Martin's two other DVDs will round out your repertoire: ABC
of the Ruy Lopez and the Spanish
Exchange Variation.
Martin describes the Open Ruy as an active defense. The package insert notes,
"White will argue that Black loosens his position in the Open Variation,
but if Black takes the time and trouble to learn the ideas and tactical themes
that underpin this line, he has every chance to win the game."
In that sense, it resembles the Tarrasch Defense. The same rules apply. It
can be loosening, but if you know the ideas and tactical themes, you will succeed
more often than you fail. In my own games, I hate reaching passive positions,
which I mention only because I believe others share this apprehension. For lower-rated
players, this is a particular problem, as once you are doomed to passivity,
you probably don't have the positional skills to hold on. That is why I found
the Open Ruy to be such a great starter opening.
In evaluating opening trainers, I pay particular attention to how well side-lines
are covered. In weekend tournaments, I noted that successful players often eschewed
main lines in favor of side-lines they knew well. Opening books often don't
cover such lines in any depth, and in some cases, not at all. Martin usually
does well in this department, and spends five games of the twenty-nine on these.
He also notes that many of them are "tricky," which is precisely why
you need to know them.
He does well usually, but misses on a few occasions. For example, in the line
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.Qe2 is a
move designed to not commit the rook to e1 but allow it to come to d1, 7.Bxc6
dxc6 8.d4 Ne6 9.dxe5 opens the d-file. Here Martin correctly avoids
the most commonly played move in this position, 9...Bc5, in favor of 9...Nd4!
10.Nxd4 Qxd4.
Now 11.Rd1 is played, and Black will have two good moves to
choose from: 11...Bg4, or 11...Qg4. But Martin fails to consider Euwe's recommendation
here, the prophylactic 11.h3!, which should lead to a decent game with chances
for both sides. After 11.h3, the best retort is 11...Be6, allowing the black
queen to go to c4 in case of Rd1. Certainly Black still has slightly better
chances with the bishop-pair, but his four to three majority on the queenside
is also a bit crippled.
Another tricky position comes after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.c4!? (Martin calls this move "insane-looking").
8...bxc4?! leads to 9.Ba4, and thus Martin recommends the simple approach with
8...dxc4, giving 9.Bc2 Nf6 10.dxe5 Qxd1 11.Rxd1 Nd7
and Black is a pawn up with a good game. I am not certain of this, as it looks
like the pawn break 12.a4! (12.Nc3 might be good as well) will equalize. But
instead of 9.Bc2 White will play 9.Qe2, retaining some attacking chances, as
in the game Trindade-Grivas, Belfort 1983. Euwe, again, recommended
the counter stroke 8...Bg4! Here I am also convinced this active move is more
in the vein of the Open Defense, and unlike his various "distillations"
in the Queen's Gambit trainer, where you can pretty much rely on him to pick
the best continuation, Martin falters a bit with his coverage of these tricky
lines. However, one can't expect a four hour DVD to cover everything –
that is what your database is good for!
Martin's coverage of the main lines is impeccable, and I leave you with this
game in which the mighty Seirawan gets beaten by an unknown. This is an example
where Black's piece activity is impressive, and is the kind of game that makes
you take up an opening like this. Two pieces versus a rook is not always an
advantage!
[Event "Lugano op"] [Site "Lugano"] [Date "1989.03.03"] [Round "1"] [White "Seirawan,
Yasser"] [Black "Zak, Uriel"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C82"] [WhiteElo "2610"] [BlackElo
"2335"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "1989.03.03"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds
"9"] [EventCountry "SUI"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1994.03.01"] 1.
e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. c3 {A good noncommittal move for White, waiting to see what he wants
to do with his queenside pieces, and supporting the d4-square.} Bc5 {Martin
recommends this over other possibilities as it is more active. The drawback
is that the bishop is exposed, and might be exchanged.} 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Bc2
Bf5 { Another recommendation by Martin (Larsen once beat Fischer with it).}
({Usual is} 11... f5) 12. Nb3 Bxf2+ ({Murey's move} 12... Bg6 {is more usual.
We end up in a position similar to the Dilworth.}) 13. Rxf2 Nxf2 14. Kxf2 Bxc2
15. Qxc2 f6 16. exf6 Qxf6 17. Kg1 Ne5 18. Qd1 (18. Nbd4 {has been recommended
by Korchnoi.}) (18. Qf2 {is another option, but in all cases White is under
pressure.}) 18... Rae8 19. Qxd5+ Kh8 20. Bd2 Nxf3+ 21. gxf3 (21. Qxf3 $4 Qb6+)
21... Re2 {Black's rook is "supremely active on the seventh rank," according
to Martin.} 22. Be1 Rxb2 23. Nd4 Qf4 24. Bg3 Qd2 25. f4 c5 26. f5 cxd4 27. cxd4
Qd3 28. f6 gxf6 29. Rf1 Rg8 30. Rxf6 Rxg3+ 31. hxg3 Qe3+ 0-1
My assessment of this product: Great (five out of six stars)
Sample lecture: Andrew Martin – The Open Ruy Lopez
Andrew David Martin (born 18th May 1957 in West Ham, London)
is an English chess player with the title of International Master. He has won
various national and international tournaments and has been playing for years
in the Four Nations Chess League, at present (July 2009) for Wood Green Hilsmark
Kingfisher, previously for the Camberley Chess Club. Martin received his IM
title in1984. He earned his first grandmaster norm in the British Championship
of 1997 in Brighton. Martin was a commentator on the chess world championship
between Kasparov and Kramnik in 2000.
On the 21st February 2004 Martin set a new world record for simultaneous chess.
He faced 321 chess players at the same time. His result was: 294 wins, 26 draws
and only one loss. Martin is known as a professional chess teacher and head
trainer of the English youth team. He trains eight schools (Yateley Manor, Aldro,
Millfield, Sunningdale, Waverley School, St Michael’s Sandhurst, Wellington
College, Salesian College). Martin is a chess columnist, an author of chess
books and the author of various instructional videos. He was the publisher of
the series Trends Publications. Martin lives in Sandhurst, England, is married
and the father of two daughters and two sons. His present Elo rating is 2423
(as of July 2009).
Most players prefer to attack rather than defend. But what is the correct way to do it? GM Dr Karsten Müller has compiled many rules and motifs to guide you, along with sharpening your intuition for the exceptions.
Videos: Caro-Kann with 2.Nf3 d5 3,d3 by Christian Bauer and Saemisch Benoni by David Navara. "Lucky bag" with 45 annotated games - analyses by Anish Giri, Alexander Motylev, Romain Edouard et al. Update service with 43,000 new games.
Looking for some action against the Ruy Lopez? The Delayed Jaenisch, arising from the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 f5, will be your choice from now on!
2nd Move Anti-Sicilian Powerbase 2023 is a database and contains a total of 10131 games from Mega 2023 or the Correspondence Database 2022, of which 847 are annotated.
In a total of 6 chapters, we look at the following aspects: the right decision based on tactical factors, decisions in exchanges and moves, complex and psychological decisions in longer games and in defence.
Start of the Bundesliga season 22/23 with analyses by Eljanov, Van Wely, McShane, l'Ami and many others. "Special" on Mikhail Tal, opening videos by Ponomariov, King and Marin. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
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