Ruy Lopez & Opening Stats

I could go about explaining the history of the Spanish, but I am to lazy (if you couldn't tell). So I will just suggest you go look at the history of the opening. Every opening has a wide history, when it rises and falls and rises again. Famous players also make the opening more popular, like Magnus almost solely responds 1. ...e5 against 1.e4. Or the era when Garry lost to the Stonewall against Kramnik or so on. Do not look just at the stats, look at the history.

dont know y ?but i like ruy lopez..though i dont play it correctly but my winning percent is prety good in this opening.

"'Black proclaims by his symmetrical reply 1 ... e5 his firm decision to cross swords as quickly as possible with his adversary and (in spite of 'the move') to meet him on an equal footing in the centre of the board, whereas a passive reply such as King's or Queen's Fianchetto (1 ... g6 or 1 ... b6) would allow White to occupy the centre immediately and for good by 2 d4.'

'After the typical moves 1 e4 e5 we frequently see a lively struggle, seeking in particular to gain the mastery in the centre.'

'Each move in the initial stage must be telling, in other words, it must contain some threat of an immediate nature (attack on a pawn, an effective pin of a piece, unpinning, counter-attack, etc.), and a game of chess of this type resembles an encounter between two fencers where thrust and parry follow and offset each other.'

Savielly Tartakower (A Breviary of Chesss)

1 ... e4 is arguably the simplest and most logical reply to 1 e4, taking space in the centre and opening diagonals for the queen and bishop. It has been played by every world champion in the history of the game, and many of them played nothing else. ...

... [After advice from Soviet Champion Lev Psakhis,] I resolved to start playing more games with 1 e4 e5 and to to phase out the Modern Defence, with which my results against strong players were lackluster. My results with Black against 1 e4 improved and within two years I gained the Grandmaster title." - GM Nigel Davies (2005)

“The most significant phenomenon of the last few years has been the Berlin Variation, putting an end to nothing less than the move 1.e4.” - GM Sergey Shipov (~2013)

Can black equalize in the maroczy bind?

Can white do more than equalize in the Maroczy Bind?

Well considering white is better in all variations, I think so.

I dunno. I used to play it ages ago and had to struggle to get out of my own position to do anything active. The light squared Bishop is a shut-in and if Black is content to squirm around, he can hold out quite a while.

The November 2015 issue of Chess lists the top twenty openings compiled from a list of 1452 September games where both players were rated over 2400 Elo. One can not take position on this list too seriously because it is greatly influenced by how the openings are grouped. For example, all the Retis are grouped together, while English is separated into 1 ... c5, 1 ... e5, etc. Nevertheless, for what it is worth, the list reports 71 Slavs, 61 Caro Kanns, 56 Najdorf Sicilians, 56 Declined Queen's Gambits, 55 King's Indians, 49 Ruy Lopez Berlin Defences, 46 Nimzo-Indians, 40 1 ... c5 Englishes, 39 Queen's Indians, 37 1 ... e5 Englishes, 37 Gruenfelds, 31 1 ... Nf6 Englishes, 26 Kan Sicilians, 25 1 ... e6 Englishes, 24 2 Nf3 sideline Sicilians, and 24 Taimanov Sicilians.

Black's stats in the line are awful, something like 19-20% wins. That's one of the worst stats I've seen in any sound opening with a drawing percentage less than 40.

 smh @ studying openings for years let alone studying any chess for years and having a sub 1200 rating. How? And why on earth do so many of you study openings books as amateurs? They're so useless for people under 1600 it's a joke. Study openings by reviewing your games and comparing them to databases etc. Go through different lines and variations with a chess engine and see what each one is called. Watch videos, try different ones out in blitz and rapid chess. Why read a book on the opening when you still hang pieces? That's just never made any sense to me.

Agreed, forget opening theory until you understand the game to a decent level and even then theres no point in feverishly studying particular lines unless you are a professional. Not wishing to sound too harsh, and I'm no master level player myself, but I dont really understand how these people with 1200 ratings or whatever even enjoy chess (excluding beginners). The greater your understanding of the game the more you will enjoy it. Clearly to be playing at this level means you are not quite getting it. This would include all facets: the opening, the middlegame and the endgame, in addition to failing to kick the habit of hanging pieces. Its like me saying I enjoy a game of tennis even though I cant serve well, cant figure out a plan to attack my opponent, cannot anticipate his shots well, and often hit the ball out of court for no good reason. And then I post on a tennis forum asking innane questions like 'Which is the best service technique for a player ranked 897,656th in the world?'. The ruy lopez is as good a response to 1.e4 as any other black defence. The key as always for black lies in understanding what your opponent is trying to achieve and how you can stop him from achieving it whilst also furthering your own plans for counterplay.

"If you find an opening [in this book, Discovering Chess Openings,] that appeals to you and you wish to find out more about it, the next step would be to obtain an introductory text devoted entirely to that subject." - GM John Emms (2006)

As far as statistics go, it appears to me that statistics can not be depended upon to give accurate predictions for what will happen with any one individual.

Very well said.

Now I see where that sub-1200 stuff came from. I have never played a game on this site but toyed around with the tactics trainer one day while working, last year. It says 1186. I have never ever been rated 1186. My last USCF rating was 1725, and I have ratings over 1600 on several sites. I just never played on this one. I entered this one and only post just to get some responses in the opening forum. Instead I get mean spirited folks saying that if I were any good, I wouldn't be so concerned with openings. I'm sorry I asked. All over the world, chess players are notorious poor sports, especially on-line. Rest In Pieces!