In the next posts, I am going to discuss open games, starting from one of the most topical position of chess: the Ruy Lopez opening, also known as Spanish opening, which arise after 1.e4 e5, 2.Nf3 Nc6, 3.Bb5.
There are several approaches to this position and at least five good moves. Nowadays, the most popular moves are 3...a6 and 3...Nf6, but in the past it was not unusual for Black to try to maintain the centre at all costs with 3...d6 (diagram).
The most logical follow-up for White is 4.d4 to increase the tension in the centre, with the threat of capturing in e5. After this move, Black might accept to give up the centre and play 4...exd4, which would grant White a slight advantage due to the more space. Alternatively, Black might release his knight from the pin by playing 4...Bd7 (diagram).
This very basic position is already interesting, as White has already a number of potentially valid moves. He might, for instance, decide to win space with 5.d5, or to capture in e5 (5.dxe5) obtaining a symmetric position, as well as playing a more flexible move such as 5.Nc3 or 5.0-0. How do you decide between so many interesting options when you have not studied a particularly line at home?
My suggestion is to ask yourself what would you do if you were Black in all these scenarios. Against 5.d5, you will probably have to play your knight to e7 or to b8, and later prepare a counterattack against White's pawn chain with f5. Against 5.dxe5, you will probably keep developing your bishop with Bc5 and then move your king to safety with 0-0. Both situations can be played for three results. Unless you have a specific reason to play a compromising move (such as a clear advantage, or an arising position that perfectly fits your style), you better keep playing flexible moves.
Flexibility is the quintessence of prophylaxis, as the rationale is that you want to play obvious move first, observe how your opponent is placing his pieces, and only then - after you got more information as possible - decide what is the best approach to the position. This is why my favourite moves are either 5.Nc3/6.0-0 or 5.0-0/6.Nc6 (the order does not matter). Our game continued with 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.0-0 Be7 (diagram).
Compared to a couple of moves ago, White has made progresses developing his pieces, which is extremely important when you play open positions because dynamic factors (e.g., having the initiative, making threats) are pivotal. If you think about this position, White has the chance to enter a much better version of the previous lines we were discussing. If he decides for 7.d5 Nb8, Black might have to spend some extra tempi before being able to counter attack with f5 (although this may not be fatal). If he decides for 7.dxe5 dxe5, the bishop e7 will not be optimally placed (although again this may not be fatal). Therefore, being patient pays off.
Following this exact philosophy, White continues with the flexible 7.Re1, which defending further the pawn e4, it creates the threat to win the pawn e5 after Bxc6. For this reason, Black if ultimately forced to abandon the centre that he was trying to maintain so hardly with 7...exd4, accepting that White will have more space to manoeuvre his pieces. 8.Nxd4 0-0 9.Nxc6 bxc6. Whether Black should capture with the pawn or with the bishop is an interesting dilemma. Do not expect me to give you the final answer, but I will try my best to broad your perspective. From the "quality of each piece point of view", Black might better capture with the pawn, as the bishop d7 is probably his best piece in this moment, and also because by capturing with the pawn, he wins a tempo that could be useful to catch up with White extra development. From the "space point of view", Black does better if he exchanges his minor pieces, as in this way he reduces White's attacking possibility. Moreover, by exchanging the bishops, he would free the square d7, which might be important to manoeuvring his pieces to more active squares (e.g., Nd7 idea Ne5, and Bf6). You could have spotted that Black is temporarily able to make the same manoeuvring via g4, but we will soon see that White can and should avoid this. Hence, my personal preference is for 9...Bxc6, which we will discuss in the next game. 10.Bd3 Re8 (diagram).
If you ask me Black's last move is slightly inaccurate, and he should have taken his chance to play 10...Ng4. No spoilers, White's next move is obviously 11.h3, but let's try to understand how we can ideate such a move.
If you look at the position carefully, Black has not evident weaknesses (except the pawns a7, c7, c6, but these can be defined weaknesses only in an endgame or in a position where they can be exploited, otherwise they cannot be considered real weaknesses). Without weaknesses in our opponent's position, it is difficult to formulate a plan. We might then consider to complete the development, but at the moment you might not be sure where to develop your dark-square bishop (perhaps g5, although it is not really a pin). When you don't have a specific plan because your opponent lack evident weaknesses, and you are not sure about how to continue developing because you want to maintain flexibility, you should think about what your opponent wants to do, and try to stop it. In this case, we already know that he needs to enhance the position of his pieces, and this is what 11.h3 stops him to achieve. 11...Bf8 12.Bg5 (I liked better 11...Rb8 because now the pin Bg5 is a real pin!).
12...h6 13.Bh4 Rb8 14.Rb1 (diagram). White defends his pawn without creating weaknesses on the black squares.
14...g5!? It is not really easy to understand how should Black play this position. However, he needs to take immediate action, as White is going to play f4 next with the powerful idea of e5. A cold blood solution could have been to play 15...Be7!? again, with the idea Nh7 and either exchange the bishops and release some pressure, or continue with Bf6. This is nonetheless psychologically hard to play after having played Bf8 a few moves before.
14.Bg3 g4? (diagram). A sign of stress. Clearly, Black is not in the position of being the one who attacks, and g4 is not good enough to slow down White's plan. How would you continue? Try to think for no more than 1-2 minutes.
As pawns cannot move backward, White can simply and effectively pin the knight again with 16.Bh4, after which Steinitz played 16...h5. Somehow admitting that he was kind of bluffing, as 16...gxh3 17.Qf3 looks very dangerous for him. For instance, 17...Be7 18.e5 dxe5 19.Rxe5 Rb4 (almost the only move, with the idea of defending from g4) and White has a dangerous initiative although there is no clear and easy path to the victory.
17.hxg4 hxg4 18.f4! (diagram).
Black's pawn g4 does not really help stopping White's plan (from g5 it would have been more useful indeed). 18...Be7 19.Bf2 a5 20.e5! White has finally achieved his plan and has a significant advantage. Black is not well coordinated to stop his attack. Notice that being open games dynamic positions, it only took a couple of bad (slow and inaccurate) moves to guarantee White a totally winning position. 20...dxe5 21.fxe5 Nh5 (diagram).
Time to think tactically. Exposed king, hanging knight, weaknesses everywhere. This is the moment where you have to smell blood and make use of all the tactical exercises you solve at home. No more than 5 minutes.
22.e6! Sbang 22...Bxe6 (diagram) !
23.Rxe6! Sbang! 23...fxe6 24.Qxg4+! Sbang! 24...Ng7 (diagram).
Five more minutes to prepare the fatal attack. Always look at the position of your opponent's king. Where is he weak? And look at which pieces you have at your disposal.
25.Qg6! the white squares are indefensible. Black could have already resigned, instead he played 25...Rb4. Many moves are good enough to win here. White went for 26.Rf1 Rf4 27.Qh7+ Kf8 28.Bg6 (diagram) 1-0.
To the next classic!
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