Ruy Lopez Classical Defense by Cordel

The Classical Defense to the Ruy Lopez is also called the Cordel Defense because Oskar Cordel was a player who used this system. The idea of the Cordel Defense is to play 3...Bc5 which is more active than Be7. White is invited by the position of the bishop on c5 to play for d4. Black can also play 3...Nf6, as in the Berlin Defense, and transpose to the Cordel with 4...Bc5. However, 3...Nf6 blocks the possibility of playing f5, which otherwise is playable on move 4 or 5. Chess is a game of information. Just as 3...Nf6 asks White to think of the Berlin Defense, when Black continues 4...Bc5, White knows f5 is not coming. By first playing 3...Bc5, Black retains the option of 4...f5 or 4...Nge7 and then 5...f5. Here is a game played by Oskar Cordel himself in which he uses the second option.