Two great books from the Everyman Chess Library, Fighting the Ruy Lopez
by Milos Pavlovic and Open Ruy Lopez by Glenn Flear, brought together in
one volume. The Ruy Lopez is a hugely popular opening, and anyone who
plays 1 e4 e5 as Black needs to have a reliable answer ready. This book
provides a solution. Drawing upon his years of experience facing the
Lopez, Grandmaster Milos Pavlovic devises a sound yet ambitious
repertoire for Black based on the legendary Marshall Attack. The
Marshall is a perfect counter-attacking weapon, as it avoids passive
positions and the so-called 'Spanish torture'. Furthermore, Black's
tactical and positional goals are usually clear-cut and often involve a
direct attack against White's king. The effectiveness of the Marshall is
clear if you consider that the last two world champions have both
suffered crushing defeats on the white side (Kramnik vs Leko, Brissago
2004; Anand vs Aronian, Morelia 2008) whilst Garry Kasparov always
avoided it with White. The Open Ruy Lopez (also known as the Open
Spanish) has always been a popular choice at both club level and at
grandmaster level, where it has withstood the test of time after decades
of close scrutiny. It offers both sides the opportunity for a sharp
clash of forces in which the better prepared player will often come out
on top. It is therefore no surprise that fighting players such as Victor
Korchnoi and Jan Timman have always used the Open Ruy Lopez as an
important weapon in their armoury.
