… I am a chess beginner and i would like to deepen my understanding of openings. I was playing Ruy lopez: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 and my black opponent played 3...Bc5 . I have only one book for Ruy Lopez by Neil McDonald and couldn't find such a response to Ruy lopez. ...
Are you referring to The Ruy Lopez Move by Move? If so, look at page 160.
Bc5 is not inherently bad, but I would say maybe it’s a bit inferior to a6 and Nf6
Against Bc5, you will simply want to castle short, play c3, and play d4.
I took a look at pages 160-168 of The Ruy Lopez Move by Move, and GM McDonald did seem to favor 4 0-0, for the readers, as "the simplest" reaction to 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Bc5, but he also mentioned 4 c3. The GM seemed to think it would be better to avoid the potential complications, and referred readers to this game as an example:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1583278
Hi,
I am a chess beginner and i would like to deepen my understanding of openings. I was playing Ruy lopez:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 and my black opponent played 3...Bc5 . I have only one book for Ruy Lopez by Neil McDonald and couldn't find such a response to Ruy lopez. I assume it is weak. What are its weaknesses and how can I take advantage of that?
Best
... I was playing Ruy lopez: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 and my black opponent played 3...Bc5 . ... I assume it is weak. What are its weaknesses and how can I take advantage of that? ...
"... the need for Black to defend and maintain e5 is soon going to become critical. And then the question arises: is ...Bc5 a luxury that Black can't really afford? …" - GM Neil McDonald (2011)
Bc5 is a perfectly playable move, It helps black with castling (essential in the open games) and the bishop aims at the kingside the usual place of residence for white's king in the Ruy Lopez. In the Ruy Lopez black's king's Bishop will mostly go to either c5 or e7 and though there may well be stronger theoretical challenges to the Ruy Lopez 3...Bc5(C64) gives black good practical chances.
This is far from an exhaustive research because I rarely play the Ruy Lopez with white and because 3..Bc5 is not part of my repertoire with black but you can see that it is not easy for white to prove an advantage.
“... [After 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Bc5, 4 0-0] is the safe, sensible move order. 4 c3 is also possible but then 4...f5 leads to a messy position. ...” - IM John Shaw (2003)
It is known as the Classical Variation.
An interesting book is one that Ivan Sokolov wrote maybe 11 or 12 years ago dealing with sidelines in the Ruy Lopez published by New In Chess. I do not recall the exact title, and some of it might be slightly dated, but it is an interesting read and especially useful if you are playing the Ruy Lopez as White. It help you with fighting many offbeat lines, like 3...f5, where I seem to recall 5...Nf6 sacrificing a pawn but Black might still be ok down the pawn, and in the main lines, I do not recall if 7...Qg5 or 7...Qd5 is the one that is refuted.
3...Nd4 is covered in there, as are other offbeat lines.
I seem to recall the final 2 or 3 chapters is on the Classical (3...Bc5). It might not be at the end of the book, it might be in the middle (working off memory), but I do know it is covered in there.
The Ruy Lopez Revisited by Ivan Sokolov (2009)
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/931.pdf
3...Bc5 was Bobby Fischer's prefered move in the few double king pawn openings that he played and faced the Spanish. See link.
4..f5 as an answer to 4.c3 in teh Classical Ruy Lopez is theoretically dead even if it does offer practical chances for black.
The classical seems quite a good choice for club players against Ruy lopez. Some nice information here
http://jfcampbell.us/CampbellReport/hard/h990517.htm
Can later, move on to similar lines including a6, and Ba4, which Caruana used in candidates
Hi,
I am a chess beginner and i would like to deepen my understanding of openings. I was playing Ruy lopez:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 and my black opponent played 3...Bc5 . I have only one book for Ruy Lopez by Neil McDonald and couldn't find such a response to Ruy lopez. I assume it is weak. What are its weaknesses and how can I take advantage of that?
Best