Qd4 is a fork of the knight and the pawn on e4. The knight is obliged to move, and black will win back the pawn on e4.
It’s still playable for white, but white should probably challenge black more instead of opting for this.
the Ruy Lopez
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It's not playable for white. You are giving yourself a disadvantage.
I remember there was some beginner a while back trying to claim that it's somehow fine for white to play this way but it's just terrible. (I think he just didn't want to admit he was wrong when he said that white can just win a pawn by playing the Ruy Lopez.) The white king is in the middle of the board, black is better developed, black has the bishop pair in an open position.
Fair enough, but I would still say it’s sorta playable-ish
The underlying reason would probably be something the player would go for an endgame where the extra doesn't matter.
I think it is the best opening
l love the ruy lopez because it just has so much theory. like even the best opening for black against it (marshal defense) has its own downside. like, I know that the close variation itself has like 7 chigorin variations, 5 zaitsev variations, 4 breyer variations and so on, but I think it is worth learning all of this in chessable/chessly. (I personally chose chessable) as if you are a beginner/intermediate there is a 70% chance that your opponent isn't gonna know the ruy lopez theory for black, and even if he does, since you learned it, you are not gonna encounter any problems
LaskarRaif wrote:
l love the ruy lopez because it just has so much theory. like even the best opening for black against it (marshal defense) has its own downside. like, I know that the close variation itself has like 7 chigorin variations, 5 zaitsev variations, 4 breyer variations and so on, but I think it is worth learning all of this in chessable/chessly. (I personally chose chessable) as if you are a beginner/intermediate there is a 70% chance that your opponent isn't gonna know the ruy lopez theory for black, and even if he does, since you learned it, you are not gonna encounter any problems
Personally I’d just recommend avoiding 8. c3 in favor of 8. a4 or 8. d3 d6 9. c3, as while the Closed is better for White, Black equalizes almost instantly in the Marshall and there isn’t really much White can do about it.
Beginner Question:
Why can’t I just take the knight which is defending the pawn on e5 and then take that pawn with my knight? I mean, grandmasters lose by one pawn so why not just take a pawn, be up a point in material, and not lose tragically like grandmasters do?