Marvol wrote: KillaBeez wrote: It is a MUST to learn theory on the Marshall Attack because you will lose if you don't. 

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Sorry but I disagree. If you're playing against a sub-1800 player the chances that (s)he knows the necessary 20 moves of Marshall theory are slim. Someone clever enough to do will not be sub-1800. Then again, someone clever enough to be over 1800 will realise that memorising 20 moves of Marshall is pretty useless because the chances of encountering someone else of around 1800 playing these 20 moves as white are also pretty slim.

And if you, after all is said and done, do meet such a rare specimen, you lose only the first game. The next time you play one of the anti-Marshall-systems. Or 5.d3. Grandmasters

If the White player does not know theory on the Marshall, he will probably play moves that are tactically incorrect.  While the Black player may not need to use the theory that he has learned, he can exploit White's inaccuracies with tactics that give him at least a fairly decent advantage.  I understand that Anti-Marshalls are a good option, but they do not try to give White much of an advantage.  They have their plusses to be sure, but only really acheive a microscopic edge.

Well, I always did this opening... And I didn't even knew its name!

Thanks for all your help.

A couple comments from C.J.S. Purdy on the Ruy.

Boiling water is the most efficeint for washing dishes, but it will scald you if you're not very careful.  The Lopez is like that.  White has certain theoretical assets that he has purchased at the cost of development.  White must try not to give Black a chance to capitalize on his gain in development with a sharp attack-unless, as in the Marshall, White thereby gets a pawn or something, with a good chance of holding it.

Hove you noticed that the Lopez tends to win long games and to lose short ones?  There's a reason.  In the Lopez, White sacrifices development for long term theoretical advantages.  Sometimes Black's advantage in development tells quickly.

Sounds a little like some variations of the sicilian.

Horowitz's Chess Openings : Theory and Practice has a lot on the Ruy. It uses descriptive notation, so it can be a real challenge to someone who has never used that. The RL and the sicillian have probably the most extensive research and books written on them. Wikipedia has a good article on the RL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruy_Lopez. 

You need some practice? Just play 1e4 e5 in any game. 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 follows almost ALL THE TIME. Other tid bits you may want to skim though are 2.d4, 3.d4 and 3.Bc4 but they don't have too much theory to them.

Here is an overly complicated answer to your simple question:

 

It should be pronounced

Roo-ee  Loh-pehs

 

Ruy is pronounced as only one syllable, so try to roll these vowel sounds together. The point of putting the h's is because english speakers pronounce there vowels more harshly. The 'o' sounds like our 'o', and the 'e' sounds like our 'a', but it is not pronounced Low-pays. The final point is that the z's are pronounced like s's.

 

Hope that helps. 

Silman is a good player.. I have seen his work about endgames..

If you are a Ruy player as white and want to avoid the Marshall, but dont like any of the anti-Marshall lines then play 5 d4 !  This move is fully playable and avoids both the Marshall and the Open Ruy that Korchnoi , and others, championed. Also, 5 d4 is less closed than the main lines of the Ruy and there is a lot less theory to learn on it as its not very popular/fashionable. Its called the center attack ruy lopez or : C.A.R.L.  , it has served me very well for more than a decade.

Didn't Carlsen play the Center Ruy?

KillaBeez wrote: Didn't Carlsen play the Center Ruy?

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I don't know.

Personally I wouldn't recommend playing the ruy as a beginner, because their is so much theory behind it. I would play the Giuco Piano it is a lot simpler to play, but if you don't mind learning all the theory the Ruy is  good.

Thanks for all your feedback. It turns out I do not have too much time to do many of the stuff I was planning to do, but I still intend to learn how to play this opening.

NM Reb, can you elaborate on what to do when you play 5.d4, just so I do not typically mess it up?

Getting "Modern Chess Openings" should suffice. I don't believe putting time into learning "theory" can be helpful to your game pre-2000 rating, but if your looking to "just learn" how to play the Ruy Lopez, then any general opening manual (MCO) would work well. It'll save you cash also.

MCO isn't bad, but if you really want to learn an opening, you need to understand the theory not just memorize

A very nice,aggressive dynamic and quite easy line of Ruy Lopez is Arkhangelsk(Archangelsk,Archangel etc) variation. The main line runs:

 

As White i prefer to avoid Ruy by playing 3.d4 which is called Scotch game.

Interesting variation.