The Ruy Lopez exposed

no offense to XayRay but my games with him are very good

Nxe4 by Black was probably wrong. White should first play Bxc6 follwed by d4. What do you think?

I think the Tarrasch Defense is probably just fine.

i thought Nxe4 is a book move?

 Well, I thought I'd get in one 5 min. blitz before bed. I'm real tired. Bad idea.

Anyway, my opponent gave me the opportunity to play the Ruy Lopez, which I hardly ever get to do, and I got an unexpected move 3...Nd4, which I have not seen, got forked by Black's queen, and finally ended up blundering away my rook, resigned early. How would you respond to 3...Nd4? Thanks.

Looking at it post game, I would have played 4. Nxe5. I'm not sure if that's the best move. 

Ehm, hell no, it's a book move, and a very widely known one, at that.

It's the start of the so called "open ruy".

Very sharp line.

The most common (and aggressive) continuation for white is an immediate d4.

Re1 is also possible, if less aggressive, and easier on black.

However, after 5.Nxe4, 5...Bxc6 is not so good, giving black good play. At least, if white is trying to pressure black or get any kind of advantage. Like the exchange variation (with Bxc6 immediately after ...a6), where black's two bishops and some activity on the opened files compensate for his structural weaknesses, but with the Nxe4 move thrown in, which can't be bad for black here.

Of course, it's not the end of the world for white, just seems like white isn't putting any pressure at all on black after that.

Oh, and Nxe4 Bxc6 dxc6 d4?! is not so good either, black can probably reply with simply ...exd4, with noth9ing to fear (Re1 f5)

 Thanks for taking a look at my post and providing analysis. I saved the pgn file. Great stuff!

Now, it was nice to find that I made the correct move after 3...Nd4 with 4. Nxd4. No reason to capture a pawn and lose a bishop. At least I was thinking correctly at that point.

Now here's the what if: What if after White plays 5. 0-0, Black insists on playing 5...Qg5, instead of c6? Well, I ran this by Chessmaster 11 at full strength and got the following below. It looks very unpleasant for White, even if there's equality, which I'm experienced enough to figure out, White went through a lot of trouble with that early queen attack, and I don't clike the look of White's pawns. How would you respond to 5...Qg5? Perhaps it's a novice move that strong players would not see in tournament play.

3...Nd4 is a book move but not very common