The Scotch is the only serious (read: with real chances of an advantage) alternative to the Ruy, and has less theory.
The pure Vienna (with 3.f4) is not bad. White may equalize, but it's not so easy...
I don't really agree that the Scotch is the only serious alternative to the Ruy, what about the Scotch endgame? Is there anyway White can avoid it? I think the endgame is just equal.
What about the vienna lines with Bc4 or g3 instead of the immediate f4, pfren?
@ Pfren
Evans Gambit seems fairly decent..
General consesus should be that Scotch is easy to equalize with if black knows his lines.
Anyhow what do you think of Bb2 as I suggested and evaluated as better for white instead of Bd2 in the previously dicussed position? How would you think both sides to proceed with best play?
Actually, for those that "know" how to draw Tic-Tac-Toe, playing the corner first is the best way to sometimes trip those people up. Play one corner, they will of course play the center...then play the diagonally opposite corner; if they are on autopilot they will choose a corner, because everyone knows that choosing a middle side square is bad ;).
If they then choose a corner square, you win...
That is a good point. I do see that in every line you can say black will equalize if he knows his stuff. I guess pretty soon people will decide that h3 is the best try for advantage because it gets black out of his prepared lines and avoids the marshall attack
The Scotch is the only serious (read: with real chances of an advantage) alternative to the Ruy, and has less theory.
The pure Vienna (with 3.f4) is not bad. White may equalize, but it's not so easy...