Publisher: New In Chess, 2009 Edition: Paperback medium ISBN: 978-90-5691-297-0 Pages: 271 Language: English
The Ruy Lopez (or Spanish Opening) is one of the most important and oldest chess openings, forever popular with amateurs as well as professional players.
In this ground-breaking book, one of today’s greatest Ruy Lopez experts, Ivan Sokolov, presents a practical opening guide with a wide repertoire for black players who want to play for a win.
The Ruy Lopez Revisited contains in-depth but highly accessible analysis of the Jaenisch Gambit, the Delayed Jaenisch, the Cozio Variation, the Smyslov Variation, the Bird Variation and the Classical Variation.
The lines Sokolov presents are always dynamic and sometimes quite offbeat. But he has played most of them himself on numerous occasions, even against the strongest opponents.
Many of these lines turn out to be stronger than their reputation suggests, but Sokolov always remains an objective analyst. As well as numerous improvements for Black, the book also contains some crushing novelties for White!
• Great practical weapons against one of the most widely-played chess openings • Authored by a famous top grandmaster • Written in an accessible, down-to-earth style • Full of original ideas
Ivan Sokolov is a top grandmaster who was born in Bosnia in 1968. He was Yugoslav champion in 1988 and Dutch champion in 1995 and 1998. In his rich career Sokolov has beaten world chess champions like Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik as well as Viswanathan Anand.
British Chess Magazine: "A well-written, well-structured book with a lot of interesting ideas to explore. Sokolov introduces each chapter with plenty of textual material and also summarises at the end."
Sverre Johnsson, author of 'The Ruy Lopez, A Guide for Black': "My evaluation (for players interested in the Ruy Lopez from Black's viewpoint): -- for players below 1300: not a bad introduction to the Ruy Lopez (..) -- for players 1300 - 1800: a very useful book (..) -- for players 1800 - 2300: some of the suggested lines are perfect for open tournaments and this book is the ideal guide -- for players above 2300: a lot of useful ideas and some very high class analysis (..) It should be added that the book is close to indispensible for those who want to be thoroughly prepared for playing the White side of the Ruy Lopez."
Elburg's Chess Reviews: "Buy it for the excellent analyis by Sokolov!"
Uwe Bekemann, German Correspondence Chess Association: "It is quite pleasantly striking that Sokolov has written an honest and level-headed book. He does not look at the variations he treats with rose-coloured glasses, and his conclusions and valuations are always honest."
