Ruy Lopez vs Scotch
Sort:
Which one do you prefer? I personally prefer the Scotch because it directly attacks the center and in a Ruy Lopez you basically get them to push your Bishop back twice, costing you development time and giving them a nice little pawn chain on the side. But I’ve heard that the Ruy Lopez is a very popular opening. Am I missing something? Is one typically better than the other or is it personal preference? And what are the positives and negatives of each?
Nov 21, 2020
0
#2
mninp wrote:
Which one do you prefer? I personally prefer the Scotch because it directly attacks the center and in a Ruy Lopez you basically get them to push your Bishop back twice, costing you development time and giving them a nice little pawn chain on the side. But I’ve heard that the Ruy Lopez is a very popular opening. Am I missing something? Is one typically better than the other or is it personal preference? And what are the positives and negatives of each?
If he plays b4 too early black could be in a world of pain. For instance:
And playing b4 is putting white's bishop on a better diagonal actually.
Both are great top shelf openings. I played the scotch for years and loved every minute of it. It was only a few months ago that I gave the Ruy some serious attention. I was told playing the Ruy would have a positive impact on my game as a whole. It took a while to set up but I am already seeing a benefit. If you are looking to make the switch, expect a temporary dip in performance.
i think one merit of the scotch over the spanish is that you basically force an open center with exd4 since everything else is bad. in the ruy black does not have to concede the center so there's a lot more to study.
king5minblitz119147 wrote:
i think one merit of the scotch over the spanish is that you basically force an open center with exd4 since everything else is bad. in the ruy black does not have to concede the center so there's a lot more to study.
You could always split the difference and play some of the less popular lines... The center attack is pretty open and cuts out quite a bit of theory.
black has far more options on move 3 in the ruy that white needs to know and there is no universal recipe to handle each one, not to mention more options on move 4 and so on. i think it is still too much compared to 3 d4.