Ruy Lopez For Black

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Bullet6422
I can understand why for white the Ruy Lopez is good opening choice, but I'm not sure of what to do as black. Could anyone explain any ideas black could use?
Bullet6422

I know the 2 main moves for black after Bb5 are a6 and nf6

Bullet6422

 

kindaspongey

Possibly helpful:
Starting Out: Ruy Lopez by John Shaw (2003)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627024240/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen53.pdf

First Steps: 1 e4 e5

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7790.pdf

https://chesscafe.com/book-reviews/first-steps-1-e4-e5-by-john-emms/

A Spanish Repertoire for Black by Mihail Marin (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626195205/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen102.pdf
The Berlin Defence by Igor Lysyj & Roman Ovetchkin (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627104938/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen159.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7076.pdf
The Ruy Lopez: A Guide for Black by Sverre Johnsen and Leif Johannessen (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627023224/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen94.pdf
Bologan's Ruy Lopez for Black by Victor Bologan (2015)
http://www.sjakkbutikken.no/produkter/bologans-ruy-lopez-for-black/
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9016.pdf
Play 1 e4 e5! by Nigel Davies (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626201436/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen80.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627083715/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen98.pdf
The Berlin Wall by John Cox (2008)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627050257/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen115.pdf
Attacking the Spanish by Sabino Brunello (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627105306/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen124.pdf
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Attacking_the_Spanish_excerpt.pdf
The Ruy Lopez Revisited by Ivan Sokolov (2009)
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Ruy-Lopez-Revisited-The-p3765.htm
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/931.pdf
Fighting the Ruy Lopez by Milos Pavlovic (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627105306/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen124.pdf
Slay the Spanish by Timothy Taylor (2011)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627040230/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen146.pdf
The Kaufman Repertoire for Black & White by Larry Kaufman (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626221508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen162.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/955.pdf
Grandmaster Repertoire 13 – The Open Spanish by V. Mikhalevski (2013)
http://reviews.dailychess.org/grandmaster-repertoire-13-the-open-spanish-qualitychess-by-v-mikhalevski/
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7234.pdf
Anti-Spanish. The Cozio Defence by Alexey Dreev (2014)
Playing 1.e4 e5 - A Classical Repertoire by Nikolaos Ntirlis (2016)
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Playing1e4e5-excerpt.pdf
The Spanish Main Road by Evgeny Solozhenkin (2016)
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7595.pdf
The Zaitsev System by Alexey Kuzmin
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9036.pdf

The Schliemann Defence: Move by Move

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7797.pdf

MiyanneDella
I've also just started studying the Ruy Lopez. I find that I like the Archangel and Breyer for black. The Marshall attack is failing to impress me right now, in spite of being a gambit player at heart. Also, I like the Berlin. I guess below master play it's not as slow or boring and actually gives me fighting chances as black.
Bullet6422

Thanks for the help. Those resources and look incredibly helpful and the Archangel is something I had never heard of before, I'll check it out

OldPatzerMike

For a practical education in how to play the Black side of the Ruy Lopez, check out the games of Paul Keres, especially collections that he annotated himself. Keres played the Ruy as Black well over 200 times in his career, which is more than 10% of all of his games in the chessgames.com database. He not only had a deep understanding of the opening, he was also a superb annotator.

IMKeto

There is a good free book on chessable.com

Ruy Lopez: Short and Sweet.

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