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In the exchange variation of Ruy Lopez, why doesn't black capture using the B-pawn? As per good strategy shouldn't we capture towards the center of the board?

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Ian Bush
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codaddict
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1 Answers1

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there are a handful of reasons why dc6 gives black better chances than bc6:

  1. the d pawn is blocking black's c8 bishop so its transfer to c6 opens the diagonal for our bishop's development and also opens space for our queen

  2. bc6 leaves black with a weak isolated pawn on a6 which can be fatal in the endgame bc6 is not a horrible move but dc6 is much more precise according to the theory

Brian Towers
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Amirhossein Hooshmand
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    I agree with :"2.bc6 leaves black with a weak isolated pawn on a6 which can be fatal in the endgame" but not with:"the d pawn is blocking black's c8 bishop so its transfer to c6 opens the diagonal for our bishop's development and also opens space for our queen" since you only need 1 move to push the d-pawn to open up your c8 bishop and white in this variation is very much undeveloped so you have the time. – Cerise Sep 06 '23 at 13:56