Ruy Lopez Opening Berlin Defense

Samantha212

| Sep 11, 2014 at 6:02 PM

| Posted in: Samantha212's Blog

| 4735 reads

| 10 comments

The Ruy Lopez is a favorable

opening for white with a 41% possibility of winning,
26% for black and a 32% chance for a draw, but it's
also a very complex opening with many variations
and lines. It's takes patient persistance to
become familiar with most of the opening's
possibilities; however, it's one of the most popular
openings played on the Grand Master level for over
a hundred years. Today we will focus on black's
defense against the RL called The Berlin
Defense and the lines that both white and black can
play to get a positional advantage. At the 2013

World Chess Championship between Anand and

Carlsen, the Ruy Lopez - Berlin Defensewas
played in 4 out of 10 games resulting in 3 draws and
one win for black in the 6th game by Carlsen. It was
the only opening repeated during the Championship.
It starts out as follows:
1. e4e52. Nf3Nc63. Bb5Nf6(3...Nf6 attacks the undefended
pawn on e4)

There are several variatons from here. We will start with

the Exchange Variation: White shouldn't worry about
losing the e4 pawn because white will get it back later
with a positional edge.
The Exchange Variation

1. O-O(Castling is the best move for white)

1... Nxe42. d4(White pushes the pawn to d4 to attack
the center)
2... Nd6(Attacks the bishop on b5. But this is actually
good for white positionally)
3. Bxc6dxc6(Taking with the d-pawn opens black's
diagonals for both bishops)
4. dxe5(The e-pawn attacks the knight, which is pinned
to the queen. Moving it would allow white to exchange
queens and force the king to retake, losing his ability to
castle and giving white an advantage.)
4... Nf55. Qxd8+Kxd8(White has a positional edge but
black has the bishop pair)

This position is often referred to as the "Berlin Wall

Endgame" after 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5
Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8.
The second variation to the Exchange Variation occurs with
black's 5th move of 5...a6 (The Morphy Defense) instead of
5...Nd6
The Morphy Defense
1. e4e52. Nf3Nc63. Bb5Nf64. O-ONxe45. d4a6Instead of
attacking the bishop with the knight, black opts to attack it with
5...a6. Positionally, this is OK for white who usually takes the c6
knight
6. Bxc6dxc67. Re1Attacking the knight. If the knight moves
7... Nf6(7... f5If black defends the knight with 7...f5 or
with the bishop )(7... Bf58. dxe5White takes the e5 pawn,
opening the d-file and exposing the queens to an
exchange. Since white is already castled it leaves white
with a better positional advantage 8... Qxd19. Rxd1)
8. Rxe5+The rook captures the e5 pawn and white has a
positional edge.

Next, we're going to look at the Berlin Classical

Variation where black's 4th move is a more aggressive
4...Bc5 instead of 4...Nxe4
Berlin Classical Variation
1. e4e52. Nf3Nc63. Bb5Nf64. O-OBc5Black goes for the more
aggressive line attacking f2
5. Nxe5Nxe4(If black takes the knight on e5 5... Nxe5the
d4 pawn forks the bishop and knight recapturing one of

them 6. d4Bb67. dxe5Nxe48. Qe2Bxf2+9. Rxf2Nxf210. Q

xf2Leaving white in a better
position )6. Qe2Nxe57. Qxe4Qe78. Nc3Ng6offering up a
queen exchange
9. Qxe7+white accepts the trade
9... Bxe710. Nd5threatening 11. Nxc7+ or 11. Nxe7
10... Bd611. Re1+Kd8and white has again prevented black from
castling.

Finally, we will look at the 4 Knight Spanish

Variation to the Berlin Defense
4 Knight Spanish Variation of the Berlin Defense
1. e4e52. Nf3Nc63. Bb5Nf64. Nc3Instead of castling white
defends the e4 pawn with the knight but it leaves white
vulnerable to attacks
4... Nd4Attacking the bishop
5. Ba4If black takes the knight on e5
(5. Nxd4exd46. Ne2Nxe47. Nxd4Nxf28. Qe2+White
remains with a better position after the exchanges )