Friday, February 19, 2010

Ruy Lopez Berlin Defense

Get ready to play in a chess tournament this weekend.

Here's a little video to help you get your engine started. (-or to just learn a little more about the game.)



After White sets up the Ruy Lopez, Black faces the question: kick the Bishop with pawn to a6 or move the King Knight immediately to f6? (This assumes not playing the unusual responses.) Kicking the Bishop forces White to either retreat it to a4 or to capture the knight.

This video looks at just leaving the Bishop on b5. The advantage of the main line (kicking the Bishop) is that Black can eventually follow up with b4, breaking the pressure on the Queen Knight for good. The disadvantage is that the Bishop retreats to a great diagonal, a2 - f7. So, Berlin players ask - why not just leave the Bishop where it's at and let it take the Knight on c6? No more pressure on d5, e6 or f7 because there's no more Bishop to make it.

In short, this is a perfectly viable choice for Black.

Chess events in your area . . . and visit jrobi who created these wonderful videos.

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