I was looking for some thoughts on the best way to handle this setup of the ruy lopez (don't worry, I don't have a game going with it or anything). I ran into it for the first time the other day in blitz and had only recently become aquainted with this move in literature. I've played the Ruy many many many times, as it's one of my favorites, and hadn't seen this played by black. It goes like this:
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 f5
It's the 3. ...f5 that is giving me a headache. I understand this to be the sharpest possible black reply to the spanish. Does anybody have any thoughts as to what would be best here? I'm considering basically 4. exf5 (which is, of course, giving up the center of the board) or
4. Qe2 (which I don't see any immediate problem with but it makes me mildly uncomfortable for some reason.) Unfortunately I can't remember what I played during the blitz game. Probably something unfortunate like 4. d3. I do remember that I lost that game. A game with two minute clocks is not a good time to be taken out of your book on move 4.
Anyway, blah blah blah. Thoughts? Feelings?
Sending the Schliemann to the museum?
Tony is quite right,
4.Nc3 is the main line and very dangerous for Black,
However, recently some people hav been switchin to 4. d3 which contains a lot of venom.
3....f5 is called the schliemann, look up a recent article in the NIC yearbook ( www.newinchess.com) to find the ins and outs on this opening
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In the repetoire book "chess advantadge in black and white" larry kaufman gives the rekomendation to play 4.d3 against the schliemann (3...f5 against the ruy lopez). He claims that 4.Nc3 is probably better but is very sharp and requires a lot of learning from the white player. He says that 4.d3 is a more practical way to handle this variation as it gives white a tiny edge. Since the schliemann is so rare it seems to me as a very good advise. His main line goes
3...f5 4.d3 fxe4 5.dxe4 Nf6 6.0-0 Bc5 7.Qe2 d6 8.Qc4 Bd6 9.Nc3 Bd7 10.Ng5
Hope this was to some help!
There is a Schliemann tournament going on right now Tournament 1706. Go check out what some of your contemporaries are doing.
Originally posted by JDChess4.d3 is the safest answer wich gives for white small positional plus
I was looking for some thoughts on the best way to handle this setup of the ruy lopez (don't worry, I don't have a game going with it or anything). I ran into it for the first time the other day in blitz and had only recently become aquainted with this move in literature. I've played the Ruy many many many times, as it's one of my favorites, and hadn't seen ...[text shortened]... to be taken out of your book on move 4.
Anyway, blah blah blah. Thoughts? Feelings?
Originally posted by thesonofsaulI saw at least two games over there where 4. c3 was played. This is of course pretty common in the Ruy as the spanish bishop will eventually land on c2 and aim for the kingside. Why is 4. c3 considered to be a poorer choice than 4. d3?
There is a Schliemann tournament going on right now Tournament 1706. Go check out what some of your contemporaries are doing.
The obvious answer is the e pawn naturally but I figure (and I may well be wrong here) that even if it's captured we're probably looking at a half open e file here. Am I missing something obvious?