Starting Out: the Ruy Lopez

Rating:
Summary: Impossible task done very badly
Review: First I would like to say I have bought two other starting out books: Kings Indian Defence and The English. Both books were insightful and were very good primers for an opening repertoire. So I thought I would buy this book too, since the Spanish is pretty standard. The first thing that put me off was that the English and KID books were between 180-190 pages long, and considering one is a book on a defence and the other is a book on a less theoretical opening, I would expect the Ruy Lopez which is loaded with theory and can deviate into numberous setups that this book would atleast be equal in legnth. But it is a paltry 140 pages! Now the meat of the book. I was first dissapointed when I noticed that he only covers 6...dxc6 but not at all 6...bxc6 for the Berlin defence which results in much more interesting games, but I figured maybe 6...dxc6 is more fashionable since Kramnik plays it all the time, still it would have been nice... But the next major, huge, blunder of this book that is unforgivable, is at the very end where he puts the Chigorin defence, the most common defence in the ruy lopez. He dedicates 6 pages to it! The Berlin defence got 12, the friggin Schliemann Defence got 10!! He should have dedicated atleast 20 pages to the Chigorin alone (again the missing 50 odd pages), and the six pages he did cover are so sparse in covering the moves played its practically useless. The notes throughout the whole book aren't too insightful and aren't of much help in explaining the first few moves of a given variation (the point of any starting out opening book!) This book was already on an uphill battle craming an opening like the Ruy Lopez in one book, but it certainly could have been done a whole lot better, a good start would have been adding 50 more pages! So, if you want to learn the ruy lopez do NOT buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Impossible task done very badly
Review: First I would like to say I have bought two other starting out books: Kings Indian Defence and The English. Both books were insightful and were very good primers for an opening repertoire. So I thought I would buy this book too, since the Spanish is pretty standard. The first thing that put me off was that the English and KID books were between 180-190 pages long, and considering one is a book on a defence and the other is a book on a less theoretical opening, I would expect the Ruy Lopez which is loaded with theory and can deviate into numberous setups that this book would atleast be equal in legnth. But it is a paltry 140 pages! Now the meat of the book. I was first dissapointed when I noticed that he only covers 6...dxc6 but not at all 6...bxc6 for the Berlin defence which results in much more interesting games, but I figured maybe 6...dxc6 is more fashionable since Kramnik plays it all the time, still it would have been nice... But the next major, huge, blunder of this book that is unforgivable, is at the very end where he puts the Chigorin defence, the most common defence in the ruy lopez. He dedicates 6 pages to it! The Berlin defence got 12, the friggin Schliemann Defence got 10!! He should have dedicated atleast 20 pages to the Chigorin alone (again the missing 50 odd pages), and the six pages he did cover are so sparse in covering the moves played its practically useless. The notes throughout the whole book aren't too insightful and aren't of much help in explaining the first few moves of a given variation (the point of any starting out opening book!) This book was already on an uphill battle craming an opening like the Ruy Lopez in one book, but it certainly could have been done a whole lot better, a good start would have been adding 50 more pages! So, if you want to learn the ruy lopez do NOT buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Useless
Review: I play the Lopez as black only, and was stunned to see that in the exchange variation, white wins all nine games in this book! 9-0! What could Shaw be thinking? He starts out the section by saying the Exchange isn't as good for white as the Ba4 lines, and then he show nine games where white wins all nine. And he doesn't really show improvements for black. Too many writers of opening manuals present one-sided results like this, and it presents a very skewed view of an opening's efficacy. By contrast, he has black winning a couple of games in the Schliemann, and everyone agrees that black should do better in the exchange than the Schliemann. I couldn't get past this stuff, as this was enough to make me forget about this book.

Rating:
Summary: Good start up book
Review: The book was simple and straight to the point. Pretty good book to help a beginner understand the ruy lopez. If you already use it as part of your repertoire then you might want a more advance book. On the downside I will say that it could use more detail explanations on some of the lines covered - then again Im no beginner. However, its my belief that we should not rely on books to do all the work for us - memorizing countless variations and openings from books is never a good idea unless you are well above class A level. The book is exactly what it says on the cover.

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction - with some limits
Review: The Starting Out series by Everyman Books gives a quick one volume survey of major openings and is aimed at giving players who are interested in a particular opening a taste of the associated positions, concepts, and practical play. I've read through previous titles in the series by Joe Gallagher on the King's Indian Defense and the Caro-Kann, and John Emms on the Sicilian Defense and found them to be quite useful. Bear in mind that these books are just surveys and not in depth discussions. Strong points:
1. Nearly all of the example games are taken from recent GM play (2000-2001).
2. Currently popular lines of play are discussed. Not just 'data dumps' - but offers real opinions and does warn readers when a line is volatile and involves heavy study.
3. Why certain lines of play, especially seeming natural moves which are shunned are explained - this is particularly helpful to players starting out, who may not see immediately why an otherwise natural developing move is weak or bad in the long run.
4. The major current variations are discussed: Kramnik's Berlin defense, Exchange variation, Schliemann, Moeller and Archangel variation, Open defense, 3rd and 4th move variants, Breyer, Zaitsev, and classic Chigorin.
Weak points:
1. There is little historical information unless related directly to the variation discussed. So you won't find any reference to Capablanc Marshall 1918 in the discussion of the Marshall - in fact, the author wont' even tell you who Marshall was! Also missing are Lasker Capablanca 1914, the famous exchange variation game. So those of you who like a little historical perspective in their books won't find it here. If you are interested in this aspect, you may want to get books on Paul Keres, Anatoly Karpov (early years) and of course Bobby Fischer, who were all masters of the Ruy.
2. The emphasis on current lines of play is helpful for active tournament players but for average club or serious-casual players it is less helpful. Knowing the latest Super GM lines of play does little to help if you lack the Super GM endgame or middle game skills.
3. Some of the helpful explainations are buried within the notes. To get the most of the text, you should play along with a set and be prepared to read through the notes carefully. I realize that this is what most serious players do, but more casual fans are warned.
4. Does miss some of the other variations which are not currently in vogue - Worrall attack, de-emphasizes Bird defense, Siesta, etc. The Worrall and other conservative styles of play which strong GM avoid because they are not sufficiently aggressive are quite popular in clubs and lower levels of play.
Conclusion: if you play chess seriously in tournaments, on-line, or by mail, and was curious about the Ruy Lopez, this book can help you get an idea of where current theory exists as of 2001-2002. From there you can then study specific monographs or search for games on Chessbase. If you are a casual club player, it is helpful in general and there are some fine games for your study but maybe beyond your needs. It is a tough job to survey one of the great openings in chess in a single short volume, and I believe that the author has fulfilled his mission of giving the reader 'a start'.

Rating:
Summary: A valuable introduction to the Ruy Lopez
Review: This is an excellent book about the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5).

It is for a range of players, but it is primarily for those who want to learn something about one of the most important openings in chess. And that includes near-beginners. It teaches the reader some of the characteristics of the opening, so that one can get a feel for how one would like to play it for White or Black. And it has plenty of recent games as examples. Shaw starts by telling us that if Black doesn't do something to stop it, White will simply play 0-0, Re1, c3, and d4 to dominate the center and bring her Queen Knight to the Kingside (from b1 to d2, f1, and g3).

In the chapter on third-move alternatives for Black, the book concentrates on the Berlin Defence (3...Nf6) and the Schliemann defence (3...f5). The Berlin Defence is popular these days (World Champion Kramnik has played it frequently) and it often gives Black a good endgame, so it merits plenty of space. The Schliemann is not a very sound line. However, the problem is that Black may play it anyway. Tame White responses generally give Black a chance to castle, play d6, and then launch a dangerous kingside attack. Aggressive play by White leads to complicated lines. So this is where Shaw quite properly spends some valuable pages.

Then there is a section on the Exchange Variation with 3...a6 4 Bxc6 dxc6 5 0-0. That's a good idea because White may very well want to play it, if only to avoid all the later defences. In addition, White generally gets an easy endgame out of it. This is a valuable line to learn for both sides!

Yes, Shaw barely mentions 3...a6 4 Ba4 d6 5 c3 f5 (the wild "Siesta Variation"). That's fair. He recommends 5 0-0 here, and it is unlikely that you'll get into it from either side.

Next comes the Open defence with 3...a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Nxe4 6 d4. This is a popular and very instructive line for Black, so it gets a few games. Right now, White has been doing well against it, but that could change as defenders do a little more studying. Here, Shaw mentions that Black can almost get away with 6...exd4 (the "Riga Variation"). This is an unsound but wild line that might even deserve an illustrative game.

There are seven games covering two very interesting sixth-move sidelines after 3...a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 b5 6 Bb3, the Archangel defence (6...Bb7) and the Moller defence (6...Bc5 or 5...Bc5). These are very active defences, so White will be in trouble if she faces one of them unprepared. And, of course, since they are active defences, plenty of club players will be playing them.

Now we come to the Marshall attack (3...a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 0-0 8 c3 d5 9 exd5 Nxd5 10 Nxe5 Nxe5 11 Rxe5). This is a very dangerous countergambit for Black, and it used to be very popular among club players and grandmasters. It is still popular, but less so, given that most folks with White (including Kasparov) now opt for the anti-Marshall with 8 a4. The Marshall is given four illustrative games. In all of them, Black plays 11...c6. Maybe 11...Nf6 (a weaker move) deserved at least a mention, since it is dangerous too, but it did not get one. I was glad to see the line with 11...c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Re4 included, along with the claim that Black can force a draw with 15...g5! 16 Qe2 f5 17 Bxd5+! cxd5 18 Re6 f4! The Anti-Marshalls also get four illustrative games.

That leaves only 19 games (out of 80 in the book) for the main line closed Ruy (3...a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3). And I think that is the proper balance. Main lines are worthless if one does not understand what to do if they are avoided. We see the four most popular versions: the Zaitsev (9...Bb7), the Smyslov (9...h6), the Breyer (9...Nb8), and the Chigorin (9...Na5). All are roughly equally instructive at the club level. I was glad to see four games with the Breyer, given that it gives Black very little active play but makes a White breakthrough difficult.

This is a wonderful introduction to the Ruy, and I recommend it.