Open Lopez's

Are there any Masters on this site that ever play open Lopez's?  This way of meeting the Spanish game seems much more natural to me than the closed variations and I would like to know more about it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Nobody seems to play the open lopez period. I try to get a Lopez in every single game as white and I've seen it once in a blitz game.

These sheeple only seem to play what game explorer says are the top moves.

Probably going through a phase of unpopularity. Korchnoi, Marshal and Speelman all played the open lopez as black, they would be good guys to look up if you want to look at games. I have heard the opening is meant for the tactically inclined but that may be a myth. I know that most of the fighting in the opening is who can control c5 and d4, who ever has a stronger grip there can often be said to be better.

Hope this helps.

The Open Ruy is slightly suspect at the present and some of the lines need improvement thus it is not played at the top levels.  Even at its height it was considered inferior to the standard closed ruys.  Since it is not played at the top, it tends to get overlooked lower down the food chain.  If you are playing correspondence chess, expect your opponent to find the best book moves which will require you to push the Open ruy, perhaps farther than it can be pushed.  In OTB/live chess, the Open may indeed work for you as your opponent will not know it as well and the opening is playable, if not best.

The idea of Nxe4 is to create complications, but the White doesn't have to enter them. If the White is not familiar with the Open lines he can just play it safe with Re1. I played this move a couple of times against a strong opponent who used the Open and he got somewhat annoyed. On the other hand, a White player who does play d4 probably knows the lines well and can pose serious problems. It couldn't really be bad but it might not be a good practical choice since you need precise knowledge of complicated lines and yet you may not get to use it.

After doing some research I found that most of the main lines white always has a chance to liquidate things to an endgame with a comfortable advantage if he wants. Also re1 just lets black equalize after nc5 and some more accurate moves.

I am not saying that Re1 is bad for Black, but it's not the what the Black player typically wants in the Open. For me it worked well enough to get an FM annoyed. Anyway my post contained three sentences all in all so I think it was possible to read all three before commenting.

And could you specify on this "some research" you did ? The Open lines are sharp and require precision, and "I put it into Google and it said that on move 50 White has a comfortable endgame" is just bla bla. You either know it or don't. 

Don't know why your so pissed of? Woke up on the wrong side of bed? I could explain how I did my research(if you wanted to learn!?), It would take a while and you are not worth the effort. But suffice to say they are from reliable books I own and some decent internet sources and databases.

By the way great job on getting a FM annoyed with re1. You could also pee on his leg and get him even more annoyed! If a ..e5 player isn't satisfied with easy equality, I don't know why they are playing e5 at all...

You are not giving any concrete ideas or lines just saying some vague things that you think sound smart. Even so, contrary to what you imagine, a strong e5 player doesn't aim for boring equality, if they allow the White the initiative temporarily it's because they hope to strike back at any moment. And a sharp and complicated variation like the Open Lopez is not solved by a vague proclamation that at some point someone should get " a comfortable endgame." I guess that one day you'll probably understand. Until then, try to not sound so smug at least. 

My post went:

If the White is not familiar with the Open lines he can just play it safe with Re1. I played this move a couple of times against a strong opponent who used the Open and he got somewhat annoyed. On the other hand, a White player who does play d4 probably knows the lines well and can pose serious problems.

Was this post too long to read, or which part of the post was not clear ?

Sorry I didn't know that I was supposed to spend an hour or so posting all the lines I found in a chess diagram to appease you. zdigyigy wanted to know more about the open lopez and I offered what I knew. He should know what he is getting into when he goes looking through lines and spends time studying it.

Also "boring" equality is what pretty much every player (except you apparently) is satisfied with when playing black. I don't feel like explaining to you what equalty is so I will say this: take a look at how the board is set up. I guess that one day you'll probably understand. Until then, try to not sound so smug at least.

So, you know what every player wants when playing Black ? 

Here is a chess genius, with a tie and all. You look stupid enough with your photo without trying to make it worse.

So you lost the argument and go and insult me, not my chess ability but my looks? Also the photo you are refering to is of Bobby Fischer, genius .

I won't be posting here again but everyone please have your troll gear and flame retardant suits ready.

Lol I noticed. It didn't even occur to you that putting his picture in the profile makes you look a bit dumb to start with ?

As for your chess ability, it would be beneath me to bash beginners.

Yes and he should have won a least one match with Karpov if only chess were considered, and the point?  Players pick an opening for many reasons, not always as being most sound but giving practical chances based on opponent, tournament standing, round number, etc.  The Open was more to his style than the Closed.  This does not change the evaluation that the Open was and is considered inferior to the Closed lines and is rarely played at top levels.  Yes, I remember the defection and the K-K matches, the first ones. 

Didnt Larsen also use the Open Ruy with success ?

Korchnoi, Yusupov and Sokolov are cited as top players who used the Open from Black side frequently. There is also a Kasparov-Anand game but Anand lost:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018625

Anyway the OP was asking why it is not played on this site and my response was geared to that, I wouldn't know why it is not played more frequently at top level but I don't think anyone suggested that it was unsound.

Let!  If I remember against the Open was a tourney choice and in the KK matches he played the french.  From the dim recesses of memory I remember some interview with him or a second on how the open fit his style even if it wasn't absolute best.

And yes fashion plays a big part.