FICGS - Wikichess - Article 5617

A very useful move. Black prepares castling long and retains the possibility of playing c5. The immidiate c5 chases away the white knight, but weakens the d5 square. White can then develop accordingly and try to take advantage of this weakness.

They say develop knights before bishops, because the bishop often does not know yet where to go. In this case the bishop knows better where to go than the knight. It only has one good square, because on g4 it can be chased away by the useful move f3. The knight on the other hand could go to d7, f6 or even h6.

Black's bishop pair, his control over d5, the fact that his pawn structure has no weaknesses and the weakness of the white pawn on e4 give black an edge.

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Contributors : Mike Hoogland

[ECO "C68"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez"] [Variation "Exchange variation"]

Nc3 : 9 games, White ELO av : 1724, Black ELO av : 1862
1-0 : 22.2% , 1/2-1/2 : 33.3% , 0-1 : 44.4%

Be3 : 3 games, White ELO av : 1669, Black ELO av : 1776
1-0 : 0% , 1/2-1/2 : 66.7% , 0-1 : 33.3%

Bf4 : 2 games, White ELO av : 1694, Black ELO av : 2163
1-0 : 50% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 50%

O-O : 1 game, White ELO av : 1006, Black ELO av : 1468
1-0 : 0% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 100%

c3 : 1 game, White ELO av : 1445, Black ELO av : 1600
1-0 : 0% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 100%

c4 : 1 game, White ELO av : 1584, Black ELO av : 1493
1-0 : 0% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 100%

f3 : 1 game, White ELO av : 1400, Black ELO av : 1400
1-0 : 0% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 100%

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