ruy lopez

after b5 in the ruy lopez should I play the bird's defence, the classical defence, or should I kick the bishop with the a-pawn?

I think I'll try bird's defence because I like the idea of them fleeing their bishop and how it's protected by the pawn.

If you choose to play ...a6, prepare to play 90% of your games in the exchange variation, which seems to be the only thing people play below 1800.

Know, in particular, the line that goes 4.BxNc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5 Qd4, since it's the white error that seems to feature in a disporportionately huge number of games.

In the Berlin Defense after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 d3 what kind of compensation does Black have for the Pawn after 4 ... Ne7 5 Nxe5?

Thanks every-body do much for your advice. As I've played trying to open with the Ruy lopez, most people don't move their bishop, but actually a pawn. In these games I still continue to play the opening like a ruy lopez and not only have I won or dominated most of those games but now I'm on a little winning streak, and my ratings up nearly 80-100. And those are either off the Bird's or Berlin-like structure.