Скачать или смотреть A complete guide to the Closed Ruy Lopez

The strategy behind every variation of the Closed Ruy Lopez; Chigorin, Breyer, Zaitsev...
Annotated Ruy Lopez repertoires:   / spanish-opening-150080716  
Books on the Spanish: https://chessreads.com/spanish-opening
Here is what I use to study openings: https://chessbook.com/hanging-pawns
Practice the Ruy Lopez repertoire for black based on the Chigorin: https://go.noctie.ai/ruy-lopez-black

The Closed Ruy Lopez is the most important opening in chess. It can be divided into 9 separate variations. In this video I'm covering the strategy behind each of them.

Chigorin Variation in depth video:    • Ruy Lopez, Chigorin Variation (Closed Span...  
Na5 is the beginning of the Chigorin. The move makes perfect sense if we consider what white is trying to do, play d4. We free up the c-pawn with tempo on the bishop, preparing to fight against d4 by playing c5. The drawback compared to other closed Spanish lines is that black is moving the same piece twice instead of developing with Bb7 or Re8.

Breyer Variation:    • Ruy Lopez, Breyer Variation (Closed Spanis...  
The Breyer is, along with the Zaitsev and the Chigorin, one of the main lines of the entire Ruy Lopez. It was introduced by Gyula Breyer in 1911, and since then, almost every strong grandmaster used it. Today, every top player has the Breyer in their repertoire, including Magnus and all other top 10 Super GMs.

Zaitsev Variation:    • Ruy Lopez, Zaitsev Variation (Closed Spani...  
The opening was introduced by the great Igor Zaitsev in 1960. It was a new, improved system in the Closed Ruy Lopez based on a tactical idea that proved that h6 (Smyslov's main line in the Closed Spanish) was in fact an unnecessary prophylactic move, and that black can start putting pressure on white's e4-pawn immediately with Bb7 and Re8 without having to worry about Ng5.

Kholmov Variation:    • Ruy Lopez, Kholmov Variation (Closed Spani...  
The move 9...Be6 is called the Kholmov because the great Soviet Grandmaster, Ratmir Kholmov began playing the variation in the early 1950s. It was employed as early as 1904, at the Cambridge Springs tournament by Mikhail Chigorin, and then later on by Schlecher as well.

Karpov Variation:    • Ruy Lopez, Karpov Variation (Closed Spanis...  
Karpov's Nd7 in the Spanish is waaay worse than the more famous Karpov variation, Nd7 in the Caro-Kann. In the Spanish, his novelty is definitely flawed and it allows white to gain an opening advantage very easily. Compared to the main lines of the Closed Ruy Lopez, the Karpov variation is definitely suboptimal.

Smyslov Defense:    • Ruy Lopez, Smyslov Defense (Closed Spanish...  
The Smyslov Variation is a reliable system for black but it's out of fashion today. Black’s pieces occupy similar positions to the Zaitsev Variation (Bb7 and Re8 without h6) but the tempo spent on 9...h6 has far reaching consequences.

Keres Variation:    • Ruy Lopez, Keres Defense (Closed Spanish w...  
Paul Keres played 1...e5 on the highest level for decades. In the Closed Ruy Lopez, he employed the Chigorin, and the Karpov (Nd7), sometimes actually called the Keres. But, his main contribution to Closed Spanish theory is the move 9...a5. He played a5, the Keres Defense, in 9 games from 1955 to 1961. Before and after that, he employed Nd7.

Yates Variation:    • Ruy Lopez, Yates Variation (Closed Spanish...  
It's the main alternative to h3. It was considered to be a positionally poor choice for white since it allows black to play Bg4 unimpeded, but there's a theoretical upside to allowing that. By playing the Yates on the high level, most masters are trying to avoid the Marshall Attack with the move order 7.0-0 8.d4.

Pilnik Variation:    • Ruy Lopez, Pilnik Variation (Closed Spanis...  
The move d3 is very flexible, and white achieves their main strategic aim of transfering the knight to the kingside without undefending the e4 pawn by playing d4. White's ultimate goal is to play d4 eventually. Starting with d3 is a loss of tempo if white plays d4 in the future, but the upside is that there are no strategic or tactical problems with e4 in the meantime.

00:00 Introduction
00:28 Basics of the Closed Ruy Lopez
10:23 Chigorin Variation (Na5)
18:45 Breyer Variation (Nb8)
26:36 Zaitsev Variation (Bb7)
33:31 Kholmov Variation (Be6)
44:45 Karpov Variation (Nd7)
54:49 Smyslov Variation (h6)
01:09:46 Keres Variation (a5)
01:20:28 Yates Variation (d4)
01:29:56 Pilnik Variation (d3)