New answers tagged ruy-lopez
6
tl;dr: Wrong move order by black in the opening: the c4 advance must be prefaced with Nd7 in the played Zaitsev variation.
That said, and although your hunch about the early c4 is correct, I'm afraid there's no simple answer that immediately explains why the immediate c4 is bad and why Nd7 is so crucial, since the Ruy Lopez and the Zaitsev are highly ...
3
We can only imagine that he somehow had a human moment, and messed up.
The normal move instead of 16...c4 is 16...Nd7 17.Ra3 and only then 17...c4.
The way it was played, it was almost the forced loss of a pawn. He had the option of Qb6, but it left him with a miserable position anyway.
[FEN "r2qrbk1/1b3pp1/p2p1n1p/1ppP4/Pn2P3/5N1P/1P1N1PP1/RBBQR1K1 b - -...
0
I recently had a game against a player rated about 200 points higher. With black, after my opponents 14th move 14. Bd2, I had to make a difficult decision, as my king was still on e8, and my opponent had half-open e- and d-files.
One candidate move was 14. ... O-O, which is also the move the computer recommended later. Instead, I played 14. ... h5 !? (with ...
1
This is a fairly simple question, really.
Beyond the opening, you should always try to play the best move. Playing for traps will hinder your development. You learn by playing what you think is the best move and then analyzing why it isn't.
Your openings choices, however, should be primarily concerned with what you're learning and how you're improving ...
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