The Open Spanish by Mikhail Krasenkov

Cadogan 1995 160 D8 pages $33.00 The Open Defence to the Spanish (Ruy Lopez) Opening leads to dynamic positions with free piece play and provides enterprising players with the type of active game on which they can thrive. It has been popular at all levels of play for many decades, but probably its most notable adherents are former world title candidates Victor Korchnoi, Jan Timman and Artur Yusupov. Recently it has been utilised with great effect by the young Dutch grandmaster Jeroen Piket. "Active pieces are, indeed, the most critical element of a good chess game, the importance of which is not fully appreciated by many players of lower rank. For this reason, I think the choice of openings of players below FIDE Master should be strongly influenced by the attempt to find active piece play. A further reason for this is that positional elements come to the fore only at a high level of play. At lower levels of play, tactics and active pieces are absolutely pre-eminent, so why not pick one's openings accordingly? Fine, but what to play against the Spanish? The defence that I would recommend first and foremost is the Open, because it combines solidity and activity. Easily the best reference is Mikhail Krasenkov's The Open Spanish, Cadogan 1995, an admirable book that shares a strong player's insights as well as considerable "hard chess." - The Campbell Report