What is the best way to learn an opening?

I want to know the Ruy Lopez inside out...what is the best way to do it ? 

captain_trips wrote:

What is the best way to learn an opening?

I want to know the Ruy Lopez inside out...what is the best way to do it ? 

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 As do I! I play the Ruy Lopez a lot, but didn't even know it had a name! Would love to know how to really educate myself with the in's and out's of it.

The best way is to make a move and have a partner (or computer) tell you if it was a book move or a good move.  If it wasn't in any book or database, then it may not be a good move.  It could be a good move, and you are the first to play it.  But then, you need to test it in actual play against a strong player or computer.  To know it inside out, you need to know as many traps and short games associated with that opening.  There are thousands of miniatures (25 moves or less) in the Ruy Lopez since it has been around so long.  I wrote 500 Ruy Lopez Miniatures a few years ago and could have written 1000 Ruy Lopez Miniatures easy enough.  Download the miniature games collection in the downloads section and go over all the PGN games with the Ruy Lopez.  Figure out what variation you want to play.  The world chess championship going on right now has had at least 6 Ruy Lopez games.  Anand, as White, has won two Ruy Lopez games (one a Marshall Gambit), but he plays it as Black as well.

There are many free resources for opening training on the internet. you might want to have a look here - http://www.chesspositiontrainer.com

For an assistaint to training many openings not just the Spanish. 

thanks

 

If you really want to master the Ruy Lopez (and it's no easy task), I would consider starting by reading... Mastering the Spanish by King and Ponzetto, which explores  the Ruy variations through the various pawn structures.

It's probably the only way to get an overall grasp of such a complex opening. 

captain_trips wrote:

What is the best way to learn an opening?

I want to know the Ruy Lopez inside out...what is the best way to do it ? 

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 very ambitious!

best of luck with it however you do it! 

I recommend complete memorization of the book Winning Chess Openings by Bill Robertie.  It lists the theory behind the major openings, as well as the suggested counter to each opening.  It definitely improved my opening moves, and suggested some interesting counters.

chessgames.com is a comprehensive opening database. thousands of actual games linked on this and every opening. Playing through complete games shows you why you play each move. To see how to play the white pieces study games of Fischer. To play the black pieces study games of Spassky, Petrosian, Gligorich.

Playing the black pieces of the Ruy can be lots of fun, preferably the Marshall or the Open positions as black. I find the white pieces to be quite a drudge to play as I prefer very open games.

I would like to add my 2 cents worth to Fotoman’s suggestion on chessgames.com.

 

Duke it out with Little Chess Partner from Lavasoft; which is located at the bottom (center), where it says 'analyze.'

 

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/explorer?node=132066&move=5.5&moves=e4.e5.Nf3.Nc6.Bb5.a6.Ba4.Nf6.d3&nodes=21720.21721.21722.21723.21724.21725.21726.34841.132066

 

Alison

 

Fotoman wrote:

chessgames.com is a comprehensive opening database. thousands of actual games linked on this and every opening. Playing through complete games shows you why you play each move. To see how to play the white pieces study games of Fischer. To play the black pieces study games of Spassky, Petrosian, Gligorich.

Playing the black pieces of the Ruy can be lots of fun, preferably the Marshall or the Open positions as black. I find the white pieces to be quite a drudge to play as I prefer very open games.

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If you prefer more open positions with the Ruy try 5 d4 ! and you might find yourself liking the Ruy afterall.

The best way to learn any opening is to just play it! Get a book on the opening, but don't read it. Just use it as a reference, and compare your games to what's covered in the book to see how you could have played better. Just play lots of games in the opening, looking up specific lines as they come up, and eventually you'll be an expert not only in the opening, but also in the types of middle game and endgame positions that come from it.

 

--Fromper 

"Winning Chess Openings by Bill Robertie"

 

It's funny you should mention Robertie. I brought up one of his books, Master Checkmate Strategy, once in a discussion at chessgames.com and was pretty much ridiculed. But I found that book very well written and organized, covering an often ignored aspect of chess - how to mate. Bill Wall put a small entry on Robertie in chessopedia - http://www.chess.com/chessopedia/view/robertie-william .

There is a web site called ChessOps I have looked at a few times. However, I find it somewhat frustrating because it doesn't explain why (exactly) you should or shouldn't do certain moves.