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The Ruy Lopez,playing open,closed,and other facts...
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 The Ruy Lopez,playing open,closed,and other facts...Other than a Sicilian Defense game,the Ruy Lopez is very popular and is played widely on most chess sites.You see it all the time.This opening dates back to as far as 1490!However popular use did not develop until about the middle of the 19th century. Do I like it?Well,not exactly!Depends.On the senior master level of play,so many of the book lines are so exhaustively deep and analyzed that the Ruy hardly becomes a challenge anymore!So many draws appear on the higher levels,not simply due to SM vs SM and equal rating levels,but that both players set their finely tuned book against one another.The books play themselves out...sometimes to move 50!!!!So this means that almost zero thought is being given to the game,and the book,not the SM is playing the game!And many of the best book lines that go to move 40-50 tend to automatically produce drawish scenarios with no appreciable advantage on either side,since most of the game is over already! Sometimes,if I post a game challenge on GK as 1.e4 and a player answers with 1....e5,I may possibly cancel the game!!!Depends upon what I see in this players past game history and his rating.I say to myself...ahhh...not another boring draw coming up!When I see my challenge answered with 1.e4,c5,then I usually accept,for the Sicilian on my level tends to lead to quicker imbalanced positions,asymmetrical positions and more.Basically,other than a scant few Lopez variations,I find the Sicilian much more of a challenge than a Ruy...as white or black.Not to say that the Sicilian does not have extensive book lines as well,but they generally do not have the true depth and extensions of variation as the well honed Ruy,dating back centuries. But that is me,not necessarily you! The Ruy is a must to learn.However,as I mentioned above,the variations are long and complex and this makes it a long learning process if you want to play it successfully.Many players do indeed shy away from the Ruy for this reason and head in the direction of a Giuoco Piano which has much less theory to learn.So,its your choice! Basically,it is best for players,say,south of 1700 to study one or at most two variations of the Ruy which are easier to learn.These would pretty much be variations that avoid 3....a6. Some examples are:The Classical,The Berlin,Cozio,Old Steinitz defense,Schliemann and a few others. Now,a bit on open Ruy vs Closed Ruy: Which one to play?Well,again,this is a matter of style,choice and your chess abilities.Its been generally accepted that open games are a better learning plateau for lower class players since they involve more tactical streams of play as opposed to closed games that tend to produce longer tern positional strategy study and have deeper unfathomable complexities that should later on be slowly tuned into.I do not always agree with this line of thought because some players simply are better at some positional strategies than others within their same class level,then others are better at tactical play.So it boils down to your own abilities and which direction you choose in the open or closed Ruy Lopez. Some open variations include: The Open variation-Exchange variation,Berlin Def-open variation,Dilworth var,La Grande Def, Steinitz Def Deferred,Arkhangelsk Def including counterthrust var,Russian Def Norwegian,Schliemann deferred,Karpov Var and many more. Some closed include: Chigorin Var.,Breyer,Smyslov,Marshall Attack,Zaitsev,Worral Attack,Averbakh Var,Trajkovic Var,and many more. Now,I usually do not give all my info away on some of my most deeply analyzed closed Ruy systems that I study and have used as a successful tool to destroy other SM's,but i'll drop the curtain just this one time,even though I do not want to openly post too much info for my upcoming opponents to be better prepared against me. One of the most complex,possibly "THE"most complex closed systems in the Ruy is called the Zaitsev Variation.Highly complicated,difficult positions,sharp,and was originally favored by Karpov and other GM's.This var. should basically be avoided by players south of 2200 in rating(master rating).Its pretty much the "Lamborghini" of closed Ruy variations and leads to supercomplex and unfathomable positions...not for the faint of heart or players below master level to have pure positional strategic success with it. TA |
