A number of times I've indicated that White tends to gain an advantage in space in the Ruy Lopez. As always, opening study should be connected to the study of general chess themes. This is an extremely effecient way to improve our overall understanding of the game.
Let's make an in-depth introduction of the space advantage using the following common structure which can arise form the Ruy Lopez:
I should note that the properties of the structure would be essentially the same if Black had not yet played ...d6 - though this would tend to be an improvement for Black.
It's easy to see how this formation might occur. White has played a rapid d2-d4 (without first supporting it with c2-c3) and Black has responded with ...exd4 rapidly. Understanding this structure is critical for many reasons.
But before we connect it to any of our other learning goals, I'm going to take a moment to explain exactly what a space advantage is and how it functions in great detail. Beginners will benefits most of all from this analysis but if you think this is just for beginners, you're absolutely crazy. Taking a very basic look at some of the concepts we take for granted is always an extremely (perhaps necessary!) exercise. I engage in this kind of thinking all the time, even during battles with players of the highest standard.
Strictly speaking, a space advantage simply refers to the posession of more squares than our opponent. There are a few ways you can measure this. Before I introduce the more effecient ways I'm going to start with the simplest and most accurate so there's no question what a space advantage is. How do we do it? We simply count and compare the number of squares each side has under threat.
The first diagram is a position which contains our structure we're analyzing right now. In the second diagram I've merely circled all the squares which are under attack by a White piece. I simply went for square for square across the chessboard and asked "does a White piece attack this square?". If the answer was yes, I "counted" it. In this example White's pieces attack 41 squares. In the third diagram I underwent the same procedure for Black. Here the Black pieces attack only 32 squares. Thus we can conclude that White has an advantage in territory. We'll discuss how this information helps us in a moment, but for now we've identified one no-fail way of establishing who has control over more territory, or space.
That was a little time consuming, but completely easy and also very instructive. If white's pieces have access to nine more squares than Black's, the implications are endless. His pieces have more squares on which to maneuver, and they bring a greater portion of the opponent's position under threat thereby minimizing his options.
Next, we'll look at shorcuts to help us assess who has a space advantage more quickly, and continue to explore what these means in terms of our strategy.
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