Ruy Lopez: Trajkovic Counterattack

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Avatar of gxtmf1

The Ruy Lopez (also know as Spanish Game) is one of the most widely-used openings in chess. It is also one of the most complicated. To try to tackle the job of analyzing this opening, I have chosen to begin with a very specific variation rather than expanding on the position after 3. Bb5. This is because I hope to not just analyze Ruy Lopez, but because also plan on demonstrating the effects of such things as the impact of move orders, pawn structures, and positional awareness. It should be noted, of course, that I can't analyze every variation of the Ruy Lopez; that would take too much time and I doubt I am qualified to do so. I want to provide enough analysis for  beginner to be comfortable playing it. 

The variation I will begin with is the Trajkovic Counterattack. The point of this analysis will be to demonstrate the impact of the early fianchetto and an explanation of preferential move orders. 

Avatar of Elubas

Nice sharp game! Perhaps white was being a little too ambitious with d4 and e5, because the opening up of the center actually opens the diagonal, and allowed ...Ne4. That trap (with 10 Qxd4?) is known as noah's ark trap, and it's one of the big reasons that d4 is prepared via c3 because the d4 pawn can't be recaptured. You should analyze this with a computer, because in this sharp position who knows what was supposed to happen.

I'm not sure how/if white can take advantage of black's move order. It does commit black to a fianchetto on the queenside early which isn't always good (but there are alot of closed variations with it) but on the other hand it can provoke people to play as white did and open the center to black's favor. If I was playing against it I would probably transpose, but do you know what theory suggests?

Avatar of gxtmf1

No; I'm trying to find that out right now, but I think I've definitely bitten off more than I can chew here... 

The reason I chose this game was because of the opening of the Bishop's diagonal. Had Black played the more popular 7...0-0, the impact of 8. d4 would be drastically different.

Avatar of gxtmf1

Also, I forgot to address why I was having difficulties finding "what theory suggests"; this variation is considerably rare, especially if you were to compare it to other Ruy lines. There are about 200 games in the chess.com database that use this line. When I tried to search for articles that might address the line, each one neglected the idea 7. ..Bb7 and focused on either 7...0-0, 7...d6, and I think I even saw 7...Na5. If you want to see continuations, I provided a link to the games of Jonny Hector in my "Preview" forum; this particular variation seems to be his favorite.

It seems that the best ideas are for White to either prepare d4 with c3, or play d3 and gradually push the pawns forward when development is complete. Leko used the latter to create a passed e-pawn that won him a game as White against this variation. If white plays 8. d4, Nxd4 is the best response.