Introduction to Library EditionThis collection of Ruy Lopez games illustrates how I beat intermediate chess players from both sides of the board. I give my opinion of chess strategy from games that I played online in 2021. The book has 73 games.How can you apply a simple chess strategy? You follow three steps. 1. Describe the current position. 2. Imagine how you want to improve it. 3. Plan how to get there.A chess playing friend of mine told me that his intermediate opponents never play the main lines of popular openings. He said that his knowledge of opening theory did not help.That gave me an idea for a series of books on "How to Beat Intermediate Chess Players" using popular openings.I've played chess for 50 years against lots of intermediate players. However, my rating tends to be much higher since most of my normal opponents were rated 1800 to 2400.I was a USCF Postal Chess Master. I won an International Correspondence Chess Federation Master Class event. I played Board 4 for the USA in the 10th Correspondence Olympiade 1982-84. I was an Expert in USCF tournament play. I played blitz chess in the Internet Chess Club for 22 years with standard, blitz, and bullet ratings all over 2200. My peak blitz rating was 2492 back in 1998. Now it's 2050.Intermediate players typically range from 1300 to 1799. Yes, I can beat most intermediate players most of the time with any opening. Where am I going to find such players?I chose to play 10-minute blitz game vs anonymous guests. That way I would never be in time pressure. Five to seven seconds per move is an easy pace for me.My strategy is to win games by just playing good moves. Good moves will never give you a bad position. Good moves aim to follow these two move selection principles.This book includes complete games where I played the Ruy Lopez from either side of the board. "Sawyer" is me. "Guest" is my random opponent played on the date noted.Tactics is the most important skill you need to win games. My choice of the Ruy Lopez allows me to use all the pieces which maximizes the tactical opportunities. Also, I wrote a book with 500 Ruy Lopez Tactics from master games.Do I win all the game in this book? Heck no! When I lose a game, it's usually well played by at least one of us. Those games are included so you can see how to beat me. A few draws are included where I saved games that I was losing.My opening philosophy against intermediate players is to challenge them in the center quickly with as many pawns and pieces and possible. I prefer a classical style for this.I pick a key position every few moves to make a comment. My plan is for you to be able to browse through the book looking at the diagrams and reading the comments.For those who prefer to read quickly, you can skim through the book from diagram to diagram. Note the change from the previous diagram and read any notes that interest you.From time to time, I add a line of analysis. You may wish to work out some of those lines in your head, or just note that there was an alternative way to play and keep reading.I assume that you can read algebraic chess notation. The diagrams have White at the bottom of the board. Thank you for reading my books. I hope you enjoy this one!
