Ruy Lopez | What an Endgame! And Let's Learn One More Move

Two puzzles stood out for me in this game. On move 14, my opponent attacks my queen with his bishop and I calculate for a while to see if I can trade queens and come out ahead. I almost got there but my calculations are not quite right. I missed something at the very end. See if you can do better and figure out why this long sequence of exchanges comes out ahead for me!

Second, in the endgame, see if you can calculate how to get my pawn to promotion. (In the game I do it successfully so pause if you want to do it ahead of time.) It's always very satisfying to coordinate your pieces in the endgame and escort a pawn down the board. In this case it was my bishop and rook.

I like playing against the Ruy Lopez but most of my experience is with the exchange variation where White immediately captures your knight. I'm not too sure how to play against the more patient variations, and it shows in this game. I am much worse out of the opening and White has plenty of opportunities to cause me issues. But it turns into a very nice endgame!

Game Review is on the long side because I need to study a little bit more of the Ruy Lopez.

I hope you enjoy and I'll see you next time.