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Any player who defends the black side of the Ruy Lopez (Spanish Game) will do themselves a big favor by reading this book. Attacking the Spanish works well as a piece of independent analysis as well as a hub for reference material for defending the Black side of the Ruy Lopez. The three lines delivered are the Schliemann (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5), the Gajewski (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 d5!?) and the Marshall (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5).
The author comments that after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 Nf6 White has two main choices: 6.Qe2 and 6.Nxf6. However, he starts with a brief look at 6.d3 which he says is a passive move. Continuing, 6.d3 d5 7.Nxf6+ Qxf6 8.Bg5 Qf5 Brunello now suggest a pair of moves that attract the eye immediately 9.c4! Kf7! This whole idea with 6.d3 had been passed over by previous works, with good reason as the more common lines demanded attention, yet this shows that the author is finding fresh material in many hidden corners. Another line he gives some time to is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.exf5 e4 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.Qe2 Qe7 7.Nd4 which had been concluded by previous authors as a “draw” following 7…Qe5 8.Nf3 Qe7 9.Nd4. Brunello provides the move 7…Nh6 aiming to eliminate the f5 pawn without forfeiting either the two bishops or the chance to play for an advantage. It appears that 7…Nh6 isn’t Brunello’s discovery, he quotes a game played with the line, but to bring it to the public’s attention and give some analysis to it is very good news for players who like the Schliemann as Black. The Gajewski is the newest of the lines, being credible for less than a decade. I say “credible” because it seems that 9…Na5 and 10…d5 were played before, but not with the interesting ideas of the Polish player Gajewski. This is one place where Brunello’s work makes a strong impression. I played this line a couple of times and had found only fragments of analysis over the internet, so I would think that the bulk of material in this line is from games Brunello was able to work through. White could look to the move 11.d3 thinking that a slow form of the “Spanish torture” is better than giving Black the fun, yet the author demonstrates that after 11… dxe4 12.dxe4 Qxd1 13.Rxd1 Bb7 or 13…Bd6 Black is away from the long struggle for equality. Another line where questions are cleared up is in the “full acceptance” 11.exd5 e4 12.Bxe4 Nxe4 13.Rxe4 when the grouping 13…Bb7 14.d4 Re8 with Qxd5 and Rad8 gives plenty of activity in the center. My personal experience were that these two lines specifically threw some cold water on the aggressive Black player; now I would feel more at ease playing the Black side with a clear direction to equality on my mind. Brunello devotes a chapter to the now fashionable 11.d4 which leads toward positions similar to more standard lines of the Lopez for Black, thus more direction available to the uninitiated. All in all, this seems a fine line to play when looking for equal chances with the Black pieces. Which brings us to the Marshall. With the attention the Marshall has received at the highest levels during the past 20 years many of the lines in the Marshall are well documented. In fact, there are Anti-Marshall lines that have a wealth of experience at the super GM level. This is the weakest part of the book; in fact there is a misquote in the long mainline on page 198. At move 20 in the mainline (after 17…Re6 18.a4 Qh5 19.axb5 axb5) Brunello mentions in note ‘c’ that 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 “is not a serious option for White, who has needlessly ceded the two bishops for nothing”. The comment is true, but then Brunello quotes a game Parma-Geller Sukhumi 1966 that went 20.c4 bxc4 21.Nxc4 etc. This must have been two notes that got turned into one as White cannot play both 20.Bxd5 and 20.c4. The author does offer his own valuable suggestions in some lines.
This
book comes across very well. The author does a great job of presenting
current material and adding his own ideas. Explanation of ideas and motives
comes through in a clear and simple manner. Players who already defend the
Lopez are again recommended to get this book. From the Publisher's website: International Master Sabino Brunello is one of the leaders of the youthful revival in Italian chess. Brunello is still a teenager, but his rating is already 2550 and increasing daily. By the time this book is printed he will probably be a grandmaster. PDF excerpt.
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The
Schliemann is likely as old as the Lopez itself. Popular through IM-levels
for decades, it took a serious upward turn via the use by GM Radjabov. In
introducing the Schliemann Brunello mentions that despite its age there are
still plenty of improvements and new ideas to be had. This is reflected by
a number of new proposals by the author, two of which I will mention.
