<Who do you think is best Ruy Lopez (white) player ever?>

It is called the Beverwijk Variation of the Berlin Defence in the Spanish opening.

It was favoured by Boris Gulko (as you can see if you click the first link). In recent years, it has been played on a few occasions by Anand, Salov and Leko.

It was previously thought that 5.Nxe5 was the best reply, but eventhough it has never been refuted, many GMs today prefer 5.c3 because it is less unclear.

A. After 5.Nxe5:

I

5..Nxe5 6. d4

black can play 6..c6 or 6..a6 .

(a) 6..a6 became popular after J J Ady vs Spassky, 1984 and is the most common move today. White oftens plays 7.Ba4 to steer it into a variation of the Ruy Lopez (C78) , but better is 7.Be2 as in Fressinet vs C Ionescu, 2001 with a good game for white.

(b) 6..c6
After the older (but perhaps better) continuation 6..c6 the best play for white is 7. dxe5 Nxe4 8. Bd3 d5 9. exd6 Nf6 and here he can chose between 10.Re1+ (as in Fedorowicz vs Kaidanov, 1993), 10. Bg5 (as in J Benjamin vs B Finegold, 1993) or 10.Qe2+ (as in Krogius vs Spassky, 1959).

II

5..Nxe4

6. Qe2 Nxe5

(a) 7.d4 Be7 8. dxe5 Nc5 and being rather drawish.

(b) 7.Qxe4 Qe2 8.d4 Nc6 (after ..Ng6 white should play Bxd7+! , see Savon vs Alburt, 1970 ) and there are some unclear complications (see some as Gulko's games, for example Huebner vs Gulko, 1987 ).

B. After 5.c3

The most common continuation is 5..O-O 6. d4 Bb6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 d6 This wasn't played much by white earlier as the game was thought to be close to equal. However, it turned out that 9.Qd3! now gives white excellent chances. There are many examples in the database , e.g. Grischuk vs D Lima, 2000 , Anand vs Leko, 2000 and Bacrot vs I Sokolov, 2004 .

Here's why I ask. Black can play ...a6 and ...b5 (maybe not right away, but at least eventually) and force the bishop to b3. I consider those pawn moves to be to black's advantage. He gains space on the queenside and is now ready to develop his queen's bishop (though he reserves the option of developing it to the kingside later instead). And white's bishop is on the same diagonal when on b3 or c4.

I'm not really sure that the bishop is better off on b3 than on c4. So I don't see white's advantage in playing 3.Bb5.

Italian:
Opening Explorer

Ruy L.:
Opening Explorer

I would say one of the main advantages for white having the B on b3 as opposed to c4 is that the sting of a d5 push by black is greatly reduced. Also the pawn on b5 is not necessarily a strength, and can become a target after an eventual a4 by white. White will simply focus on the usual c3/d4 plan, and black's options are somewhat reduced. In some lines there are also tactics with Nxe5/d4

<If white doesn't intend to play the exchange variation, why play the Ruy at all instead of the Italian game?> It's all about sustained pressure against black's center (e5 pawn) which can lead to white maintaining the initiative longer than he/she can in the Italian game. Along with threatening to destroy black's center, white plans to play c3 and d4 to dominate the central territory. In the Italian game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 (<I used to play this quite a lot. White plans to maintain pawns on d4 and e4>) 4..Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 (<white has them>) 6...Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+ 8. Nxd2 d5! (<but white can't maintain them and black should enjoy even chances in the game>)

<Here's why I ask. Black can play ...a6 and ...b5. I consider those pawn moves to be to black's advantage. He gains space on the queenside> Those moves gain space but do nothing to prevent white's best positional plan of playing c3 and d4 to dominate in the center.

<I'm not really sure that the bishop is better off on b3 than on c4. So I don't see white's advantage in playing 3.Bb5.> I'm sure you know that with 3. Bb5 white threatens to eventually capture the Nc6 (currently the only defender of e5) Black has to respond to that threat if he/she wants to maintain his share of the center (e5) and not give white a permanent positional advantage. Tarrasch showed in the 19th century (a long time ago :-)) that playing 3...d6 to guard the pawn will not allow black to hold onto his share of the center (e5) for much longer 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d4 Bd7 (<breaking the pin on the knight and after 5. Bxc6 Bxc6 attacks the e4 pawn>) 5.Nc3 (<now the threat is Bxc6 and after black recaptures with the bishop the e4 pawn is guarded and e5 falls>) Nf6 (<developing and attacking e4 again to stop Bxc6>) 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 (<now black has to play the somewhat anti-positional 7...exd4 (all of his previous moves were played according to the plan of maintaing e5) because of a forcing variation we all should memorize>) 7...O-O 8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Qxd8 Raxd8 11. Nxe5 (<e5 is gone>) Bxe4 (<black in turn captures e4>) 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 (<13. Rxe4 loses to 13...Rd1+>) 13. Nd3! (<blocking the d-file check possibility and exposing a rook skewer on the Ne4 and Be7>) 13...f5 (<protecting the knight>) 14. f3 Bc5+! 15. Nxc5 Nxc5 16. Bg5! (<wins material because black has no good answer to 17. Be7>) Tarrasch vs G Marco, 1892

<Also, why does black not play it this way often? 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Bc5 -- a standard Italian game, except black has in two free moves for queenside expansion, and white can't play the Evans gambit (bishop is blocking the b-pawn).> After that sequence I believe that White will just play c3 and d4 with more space in the center and a strong position or he/she might transpose the game to the line below after 6. O-O Nf6