the Ruy Lopez

I am a RuyLopez addict .But I invariably play Exchange Ruy ,because I want to take my opponent to the end game quickly and atleast a draw is always there for me .

Thanks for your input Gonnosuke.

KillaBeez,

    My original question was that if the Ruy Lopez, as you say, gives White "a winning strategic position" why don't more people play it here on Chess.com, rather than avoid it?

I play both sides of the Spanish  ( Ruy Lopez) quite often, in fact I have several games going here now with both colors. Its no coincidence that almost all world champions had it in their repertoire.

Sorry Gonnosuke!  I really think that I should post after I think!  My reasons for saying this are:

1. I have seen many top level games where White slowly squeezes Black into oblivion without any real apparent mistakes made by Black

2. I have played the Ruy for a long time and have seen this take shape in my own games.

3. If Black tries to open things up, the tactics are usually favorable to White.

4. All this may open up for debate, but White usually has everything to play for and Black just tries to equalize before move 30.

5. White is beginning to find excellent resources against the Marshall Attack

6, The Berlin Wall, while still popular, is beginning to have more decisive games for White because of the slight advantages after the sequence.

I don't play the ruy as white but, I do play e5 in response to 1.e4, so I have played the black side of the ruy alot.

Black really has an up hill battle if they want to win.

The reason I don't play it as white is because there is to much theory on it, I like playing openings that are less mainstream and little more under the radar.

the ruy lopez seems to really favor white, black gets chances too, but white usually has an advantage for most of the game. 5 Qe2 the worral attack doesn't require as much theory as the main line.

Bobby Fischer maintained that the Ruy Lopez was White's best reply after 1.e4  1.e5. 

Like the man said, "If it's good enough for Fischer, it's good enough for me".

I said "in my OTB games", not in everyones. I have a positive balance with Ruy. I don't care what statistics for 2200+ says, 99% people on this site are not in this range, including me. By the way, Dan Heisman said:

"In the Ruy Lopez, the play is rich enough that the better player almost always wins."

But just because it's best doesn't mean it's the best choice. There is alot of theory to learn and other openings can probably give white a slight advantage.

I actually am of the opinion that the Ruy is all about themes with a little bit of knowledge mixed in.  It doesn't have a lot of dependent variations.  Many of them relate quite well to each other with the exception of the Marshall Attack, which dances to its own beat.

Elubas,

   I can agree with what you are saying.  It really depends on what opening a player likes best.  The Ruy Lopez does require some knowledge, experience and confidence in playing it.  Few of us (If any) on Chess.Com play at Bobby Fischer's level.  The Scotch Game is very popular, and also good for White in this venue.

Anand, Kramnik and Topalov all play the Ruy Lopez as white, so it definitely hasn't fallen off in popularity at the GM level.   As for chess.com, I think Purdy is basically right: it is difficult to win quickly as white.  If I play something off the beaten track like the Four Knight's, the King's Gambit or the Bishop's Opening, there is a fairly good chance that my opponent will blunder early, and go down in flames, but most players here are familiar enough with the Ruy or Guioco Piano/Two Knight's that they will have something prepared to get them through the opening alive.  Specializing in an offbeat system with lots of tactical tricks pays big dividends, while the Ruy is more strategic than tactical.  As someone else mentioned, it isn't forcing enough at lower levels.

Killa Beez said,

  1. "I have seen many top level games where White slowly squeezes Black into oblivion without any real apparent mistakes made by Black".

   I agree.  That is the point of playing the Ruy Lopez with White (long term pressure).  Black has about 25 variations he can play (which keeps the defense from getting boring).  If the Black Defenders had to make up that many variations they were having problems coming up with something (which also it has been played for a very long time).

I have started to play the Ruy lately, and I get plenty of takers in Live Chess.  I still have a lot to learn, but I'm liking it so far, and I don't even know much of the theory yet...

I prefer to bring my bishop to c4 or f4.

me too！

I made my greatest strides in playing development in college when a friend borrowed a chess book from the library.  He said "This is the Ruy Lopez. It is what the grandmasters play."  We played each other over and over until I beat him consistently.  Mostly, we played the Spanish Four-Knights Game. I learned about piece development, strategic control of the center, controlling open files with rooks, pins and forks, taking advantage of 7th and 8th rank weaknesses, attacking or counterattacking through the center or either wing, the power of a passed pawns and other pawn features, batteries, and more.  I didn't learn fianchettoes, the exchange variation, the Schliemann Defense, the Rubinstein Defense and more, but we had fun.

One line I like in the exchange variation plays 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dc 5. 0-0 Bg4 and now if 6. h3 then 6... h5 and Black cannot take with 7. hg because of 7... hg 8. Nh2 Qh5 losing material if not the game. White is forced to find the continuation of 7. e3 Qf6 8. Nbd2 Ne7 9. Qe1 Ng6 and now White can play 10. Nh2 where Black does well with 10... Be6 and 11. 0-0-0. 365chess.com lists it as the Alapin variation of the Ruy Lopez.