Ruy Lopez Books

[Tadeo Lentz]

Igrew up in Mexico City, the child of architect parents who were obsessed with books. On weekends, adventure meant visits to second hand bookshops and flea markets searching for books that others had left behind. At a young age, I connected to stories and drawing. Books became my ticket to distant and diverse places and I was fascinated by imagery from different cultures. At age eleven, I lived for a time in England where I learned to use a printing press to create my first book.

Writing from Corpus Christi Texas, Diana Lpez is the author of numerous middle grade novels such as Confetti Girl, Nothing Up My Sleeve, and Lucky Luna. She also wrote a picture book biography called Sing With Me: The Story of Selena Quintanilla about the famous Tejano musician. The first two books of her Los Monstruos series, Felice and the Wailing Woman and Rooster and the Dancing Diablo, are now available with the third book, Ava and the Owl-Witch, arriving soon. She is a proud member of the Texas Institute of Letters, an honor society of Texas writers. She retired after a 28-year career in education at both the middle school and college levels, but she still wears her "teacher hat" as a mentor for programs like the AWP and Las Musas.

Would you like to make some new friends, too? If so, take a minute to visit my books page. You can also browse my site to see my schedule for upcoming events, contact me for a school visit, or get information for class projects.

The magical town of Tres Leches, home to the figures of Texas-Mexico border lore, has been through a lot. Most recently, the town was released from a curse that kept La Llorona, the wailing woman, haunting the shores of their river. But just when the townsfolk were preparing to return to sunny riverside picnics and barbecues, the children of Tres Leches mysteriously began to go missing. The town suspects another monstruo, the Dancing Devil, is luring kids to El Camarn Dance Hall & Arcade. The Dancing Devil's son, Rooster, who has a foot in both the human and monster worlds, feels compelled to lead the search for the missing children with the help of his friends, Ava (the daughter of La Lechuza) and Felice (the daughter of La Llorona). Their journey takes them to an old gothic mansion with a twisted family history and a pull so powerful that it's nearly impossible to resist.

Hi! I've decided to learn the Ruy Lopez as White. I'm an intermediate player (Fide Elo 2000) but have never played the Ruy Lopez, so I'm looking for a book to quickly teach me enough to start playing it in serious over-the-board games.

The only two I've found, excluding huge repertoire tomes, are "Starting Out: the Ruy Lopez" (Shaw & Palliser 2003) and "Easy Guide to the Ruy Lopez" (Emms 1999). However, 20 years seems like a long time. Are there any more recent books that could work for me? Or would one of those two books be fine despite their age?

Caruana's book is excellent for intermediate players, and more recent than the McDonald (which is also good but out of date in some lines). He emphasizes pracitcal lines to learn and keeps it concise, which is probably what you want. (For something more detailed, Swiercz's two-volume set is good.)

"would one of those two books be fine despite their age?"

++ Any book on openings is obsolete while being printed. Ruy Lopez is a popular opening and relevant games are being played with it as we speak. The best book is... a data base.

There is no one Ruy Lopez. There are many options for white as well as for black.

Black can go for the Berlin or the Marshall, but also for the Open Ruy Lopez, the Arkhangelsk, the Breyer, the Steinitz, the Delayed Steinitz, but also the Bird, the Cozio, the Smyslov, the Schliemann...

White can go for the anti-Berlin or the anti-Marshall, but also for the Exchange Variation, or the Delayed Exchange Variation.

I just checked, and there's nothing on 5. d3. The supplemental chapter I'm thinking of is a brief chapter on answering the classical setup (7 ... d6) with 8. a4. It's brief because in most cases this will transpose to his anti-Marshall chapter (against 7 ... 0-0, he also recommends 8. a4), so it's really just a few pages on independent lines in case you want to try this in order to avoid main line theory.

Check for an old book (1993, reprinted AFAIK once circa 1995) by GM Daniel King, named "Mastering the Spanish". No real theory in it, just structures, plans and stock tactics. It is excellent for intermediate players.

It would be like saying any book on cats is obsolete on printing - because if you were some big researcher there might be things you would need new material on cats to know. It's a farcical statement and he's been saying it for years. If he's so against verbal explanations and arguments then why is he posting and reading here?

Thank you for the recommendation. I actually disregarded Caruana's book after having read that it's just a transcription, by someone else, of his DVD lecture series. Have you studied the book, does it actually do well in that format? Practical and concise lines, as well as strategic ideas and the basic points, is definitely something I'm looking for.

"Do you think database-study and playing games is the best approach to learning the Ruy Lopez?" ++ Yes. Study grandmaster games with it. Learn from the best. Play games and analyse your own lost games. Contrary to books your own games will stick in your memory.

The Ruy Lopez is heavily played, e.g. in the last World Championship matches and in the last Candidates' Tournaments. Many new ideas have emerged that cannot be covered by printed books written before.

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It takes a bit more work for schools without ramps and elevators to set up and take down fairs for their student -- so lets offer them a helping hand! A team of 3-6 is needed to help lift boxes of books, construct/deconstruct pop-up book shelves, and organize books so they are ready for the students.

DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I am Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross. My guest, Steve Lopez, is someone I've known casually for many years because when I was a political reporter in Philadelphia in the '80s and '90s, Lopez was the star columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He was known for crafting compelling human interest stories, shining a light on unfairness and inequality, and skewering politicians with clever nicknames that stuck to them for years.In 2001, he took his talents to Los Angeles, where he became a local institution writing columns for the LA Times. He's won a host of awards and written several books including "The Soloist" about his relationship with a sometimes-homeless, Julliard-trained musician afflicted with schizophrenia. It was made into a film with Robert Downey Jr. playing Lopez.Lopez's latest book is about whether he should give all that up and just quit, retire. It's a big decision and a tough one, so Lopez decided to make it a reporting project. He interviewed a host of experts and lots of people who have retired - some love it, some don't - as well as some who never will because they love and are energized by their work - and because it's Los Angeles. Some of them are famous such as Mel Brooks and Norman Lear. Lopez takes us on the journey and shares his decision in the book titled "Independence Day: What I Learned About Retirement From Some Who've Done It And Some Who Never Will."Steve Lopez, welcome back to FRESH AIR.STEVE LOPEZ: Hey, it's so good to be with you.DAVIES: You know, a lot of people have many jobs that are a real grind. And when they hit their 60s, they can't wait to retire. You know, you have a pretty good job (laughter), you know, doing what you do. And in the book, you say how much you love it. What made you think about retiring?LOPEZ: Yeah, I do have a dream job. I feel so lucky especially working in an industry that has lost thousands of jobs. I mean, you know, since - I think just during the pandemic, 360 newspapers have closed in the United States. And so I did not take lightly walking away from something that I've done for nearly half a century. But the fact that it's been nearly half a century is part of what motivated me to look into this, to think about whether it was time. I mean, it's been a great run. It's been a privilege. It hasn't even felt all that much like work most of the time. But you start to think about how much time you have left. And you start to think about the things that, you know, you'd like to do or you wanted to test out, to see if that's something you want to spend your time on.And I began worrying that I'd be one of those people - and you hear about this all the time. Somebody retires, and a week later, they drop dead, or - you know, who knows what physical or cognitive ailments might come my way. And I'd never get a chance to do those other things. So I wanted to, before I made any decision, talk to a lot of people and see - and go to school on their experiences. So that's how it all began. And I gave myself a one-year deadline to talk to enough people that I could feel comfortable with a decision about what to do in my own situation.DAVIES: You know, one of the things about the way technology has affected journalism - and I found this when I was doing political reporting - is that there's no deadlines anymore. It's a 24-hour news cycle. I mean, if you used to - it used to be you'd probably write two columns a week. When the column was in, you were done for another three days. You could catch your breath. But now, I mean, tips come in around the clock. People react to your columns around the clock. They will nitpick something around the clock. That's kind of wearing, isn't it?LOPEZ: Yeah, you know, that's a good point. I used to - when I wrote a column, you know, back in my days at the Oakland Tribune or San Jose Mercury News, Philadelphia Inquirer, later for Time magazine, you wrote it, and you knew you had that rest period coming up. But now, as soon as it runs digitally, you start to get the feedback. And you get the pats on the back and the kicks in the pants, and it's what have you - it's always, what have you done for us lately, on to the next one, the next one, the next one, and so much more competition because there are so many voices out there.So, you know, that part of the - there is a bit of an adrenaline rush, I think, with the kind of thing that I've been doing, being, like, an old-fashioned metro columnist. You get an idea. You chase it down. You just sit at the computer. You look at that blank screen. You got to create something out of nothing. You get it done. And oh, my goodness. They published it. I still...(LAUGHTER)LOPEZ: I can't believe, almost a half a century later that, you know, my words are still published. And there is a rush from that. I do get a bit of a rush and wasn't so sure what the rush would be if I left this behind. I mean, what's going to give me that sense of mattering, of being relevant?DAVIES: I want to get to some of the many people you talked to in considering this decision. But there's one other thing about your home life we should talk about. Your family situation presented you with another transition. You know, tell us about that.LOPEZ: Yeah, I have a daughter who is 19 years old. And, you know, she came - I was 50 when she was born. I had two sons a quarter of a century earlier. And I - it meant that for almost all of my adult life, I had kids in the house. And I like that. I - you know, because this was such a blessing to have, you know, this little girl come into our lives. I was very attached. And I'd - you know, I'd loved having her around and watching her grow up. And she's a tennis player. And, you know, as she made it through the junior tennis years and then the high school years, she started thinking about college.And that, for her, was a very exciting time. And for me, it was a very scary time because she was, one day soon, going to be out of the house. And I knew that, and I knew that I wasn't quite ready. I mean, of course, you want your kids to grow up and be independent and go off and discover themselves and the world. But I began to think about whether - if I retired, it was going to be at the same time that Caroline left for college. And would that double void be too much for me? Would it really be tough to adjust to that double whammy of, wow, I don't have a job to report to and I don't have my daughter around to talk to about, you know, this or that? And it's one of the things that, in the end, influenced me.There's a person I went to in the book. Her name is Rabbi Naomi Levy. She's the author of "Einstein And The Rabbi." And she warned me about that. She warned me about the importance of structure and how some people who have it in their work lives lose it and can't regain it once they retire. And she warned me, too, about that double void. And it's something that I really thought a lot about. I mean, I had no choice about my daughter going off to college, but I did have a choice about whether I left work. So that certainly influenced my decision.DAVIES: We need to take a break here. Let me reintroduce you. We are speaking with Steve Lopez. He is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. His new book about considering retirement is "Independence Day: What I Learned About Retirement From Some Who've Done It And Some Who Never Will." We'll continue our conversation after this short break. This is FRESH AIR.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. We're speaking with author and Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez. His latest book about confronting the dilemma of whether to retire or not is called "Independence Day: What I Learned About Retirement From Some Who've Done It And Some Who Never Will." Well, Steve Lopez, you know, this book is called "Independence Day." And it begins on a Fourth of July. You want to just set this up for us?LOPEZ: Yes. The book, I should say - it wasn't my idea. My agent, David Black - I think this book came about because I was writing a lousy novel. And David, who's a good friend, would ask about the novel, and he'd hear my answer. And one day we were having lunch, and I said that I was beginning to think about retirement, but I wasn't sure. And he said, oh, that's a book about identity. Ten thousand people a day turn 65 in the United States. The boomer wave is cresting. You know, there are 70 million boomers. This is a book. It's a book about work, about retirement, about identity.And so it began - that was his idea. And I wasn't sure that I was buying in. But on Fourth of July, I was sitting in my backyard in L.A. and started writing. And I emailed him, and I said, hey, I've got an idea for the title - "Independence Day." I'll give myself a year. So that's how it got its name. And I spent one year from Fourth of July to Fourth of July trying to figure it out.DAVIES: You're in the business of researching subjects that you want to know more about, so you certainly found new experts, but you've talked to a lot of really interesting people over the years, and you went to people whose lives and opinions you respect. One of them was Father Greg Boyle, who is the founder of Homeboy Industries. He's worked with former gang members for decades to start them on - you know, help them get started on new paths. He's quite a remarkable person. He's been a guest on this program several times. You visited him. What did you observe? What did you learn?LOPEZ: Well, Father Greg is my age. Father Greg is a local hero. He's a saint. He redirects the lives of young men and women who have gotten into trouble related to the circumstances that they've grown up in. They go to - you know, they end up in prison, and after prison they knock on his door to try to get some job training. So I've known him for many years, and I know that he loves his job. And I went to see him and told him that I had been thinking about retirement. And he gave me kind of a strange look - like, why? You know, why? And I said, there are things that I think maybe I should try, and I've done this for a long time, and - but I'm just not sure. I'm not sure whether I'll be fulfilled in retirement.And he said, life is about, you know, being connected to something, being connected to a loving God, feeling as though you're relevant, as though you have a purpose. And he said that in his case, he'd never considered retiring. And he said to me, I'm a Jesuit. Jesuits retire in the graveyard. And that meant a lot to me, in part because I don't do what Father Greg does. But I think that social justice, economic justice has been a big part of what I've focused on. And I thought, boy, he's sticking - you know, he's going to - he's going all the way to the end with this. And here I am walking away. I felt quite feeble after talking to Father Greg.DAVIES: (Laughter) Yeah. It's easy to feel smaller than someone who's accomplished what he has, you know? But he kind of - he did say, you know, go where life is. Find meaning, and hold on to that as long as you can.LOPEZ: And that is such - well, I mean, I think that's the trick. That's the key. And if you can do that by continuing to work, I think that's great. And I certainly found people who have made that choice. But other people have found meaning in trying new things. And, you know, I've always had this idea that I wanted to learn language. My father's parents are from Spain. I speak a little Spanish, but have never been fluent. My mother's parents are from Italy, and I always wanted to learn Italian. I've never had the time for these things.And I thought in retirement what I would do is get fluent in a couple of languages, maybe spend, you know, months rather than, you know, seven days in those countries on vacation. And also music - I wanted to pursue music, and I love to cook. I thought, wow, what if I were living in Barcelona, and I'd wake up and go to Spanish class and then go to a cooking class and then study guitar somewhere. That all - you know, all of that appealed. It still appeals. And I haven't gotten to that, quite, but maybe one day.DAVIES: Yeah, well, hopefully there's time to get some years in of both. You talked to Mel Brooks, who is - what is he? - 96. Mid-90s, I think, right?LOPEZ: Yeah, mid-90s.DAVIES: And keeps doing what he's doing. What did you hear from him?LOPEZ: Well, I wanted to talk to Mel Brooks and Norman Lear, who just turned 100, because they were in their 90s doing creative work and not slowing down. Now, these are exceptional cases. Of course, these are Hollywood legends, and maybe they can never really escape who they are. Their identity is pretty much set. But I did have this concern. I don't know that you could call what I do terribly creative, but you do stare at a blank screen, and you've got to figure out what to fill it up with.And I wondered if for people like Mel Brooks and for Norman Lear, work is oxygen. And when you stop, you suffocate. And is that what's keeping them going? And is that how I'm going to be? Am I going to, you know, have the going-away party and retire, and then just, you know, start gasping, trying to figure out what I could find that's more fulfilling than what I've done? And Mel Brooks - you know, asked me a lot of - Mel Brooks sort of became my life coach. And in the end, he said, well, you like to write. You like working for the LA Times. He said he read my column. That was flattering. He said, but you want to, you know - you want to live in Barcelona. You want to do something else. Why not go to the editors of the LA Times and say, look; I want to keep doing this but not so much. Why don't you get the best of both worlds? And of course, it was pretty good advice and pretty close to what I ended up doing.DAVIES: Right. I mean, they also - I think both Mel Brooks and Norman Lear looked at what you did and said, you know what? You may think you're going to stop doing it, but your brain is going to keep working the way it always works. And, in fact, you describe going on a little vacation to Laguna Beach, I think, with your wife and happening upon somebody there and thinking, this will be a great column. And you ended up working it (laughter).LOPEZ: Yeah. I wonder - I do wonder if I'm wired, if there is no escaping this. And I think I want to find out. I think I want to, for a time in my life, maybe do nothing. I mean, planning is great. And it's important to figure out how you're going to be relevant and matter to somebody. But I've never been able to slow down enough to just clear my head entirely. And that's something I might like to do. What - you know, what Mel Brooks said was that he's motivated still. And it's as simple as that.And Norman Lear, more of the philosopher, said that life is about - you're in a hammock, he said. You're swinging between what's over and what's next. And if something tugs at you, something motivates you - you get up out of bed because an idea is just burning and you've got to get to the computer and start writing - then that's life. That's - you don't need to think beyond that. You know, his philosophy of living in the moment is great for a lot of people. And I took that to heart. But, you know, I'm not independently wealthy. And I needed to make some choices. And so I wasn't so sure that I didn't want to completely break away from what I've been doing.DAVIES: You know, I'll just note for listeners, if they want to hear more of Mel Brooks' take on his life, we're going to be replaying one of Terry Gross' interviews with him on tomorrow's show. So you might want to listen to that. You know, it's interesting. I've known a lot of people who had jobs that they liked, some in journalism, who, you know, took a buyout offer from the newspaper they were working for because, you know, it was a good chance to get a little head start into a retirement or a new life.But they figured, I'm going to keep working. I'm going to freelance for this place and that place. And then I would run into them six or eight months later. And they would discover, actually, I like spending time with my spouse and having days that I can do what I want. When you were around, you talked to a lot of different people. Did you find people who said, actually, yeah, stopping work was great?LOPEZ: I - you know, I had some pen pals at a retirement community. When I started this project, I had been to Leisure World Seal Beach, which is just south of Los Angeles. And it's mostly a retirement community of several thousand people. And I asked them if I could write a guest column for their newspaper. And they said, sure. So I wrote it. And I said...DAVIES: For the retirement home's newsletter?LOPEZ: Yes. Yes.DAVIES: Yeah.LOPEZ: And I wrote it and said, I'm thinking of retiring. I'd like to go to school on your experiences. Please, share any wisdom that you've got. And it was across the board. It was isolation and depression. It was, I wished, you know - this has been so great. It's been better than I ever would have imagined. And these are people who had been, you know, health care administrators. And there was one woman who was a law clerk in the patent office of a toy company who so looked forward to her retirement that she'd look - you know, they threw her a big going-away party on a Friday. And she drives home - and I'm free, I'm free, free at last; Independence Day - and, Saturday, has a good day. Sunday's pretty good - Monday, wakes up with nothing to do and by the end of the first week of her retirement, called her boss and said, I think I made a big mistake. Can I go back to work? So you've got those people.And also from that retirement community, I had trouble getting hold of a woman, who one day finally picked up. And she was on her boat off the coast of California. And she said that they had just - she and her husband had just bumped into a fishing boat. And the fishermen offered her some of the fresh catch. And she said, it's almost cocktail hour and that we're going to grill the fish on this boat. And she said to me, do not wait. Do not wait until you're too old to do these things. Retire today. So I got it, you know, across the board from those with regrets and those who wish they'd done it sooner.DAVIES: Yeah, helps if you can afford a boat, I suppose.LOPEZ: Yes (laughter).DAVIES: We need to take another break here. Let me reintroduce you. We are speaking with Steve Lopez. He is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. His new book about considering retirement is "Independence Day: What I Learned About Retirement From Some Who've Done It And Some Who Never Will." He'll be back to talk more after this short break. I'm Dave Davies, and this is FRESH AIR.(SOUNDBITE OF DAVE MCKENNA'S "A SHINE ON YOUR SHOES")DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. I am Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross. We're speaking with author and Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez. His latest book is about confronting the dilemma of whether to retire in his '60s after a long and rewarding career in journalism. He consulted experts and plenty of people who've retired and others who won't like Mel Brooks, who's kept working into his 90s. Lopez's book is "Independence Day: What I Learned About Retirement From Some Who've Done It And Some Who Never Will."One of them said, don't think that you're going to - that retirement will be rewarding because - trust me - it really isn't.LOPEZ: Yes, that was, I think, a former college professor who had really been struggling with creating that new identity. I mean, when you're - he would - you know, you stand before a classroom of young people, hungry minds. And then, all of a sudden, you're at the retirement home, you know, wondering how to spend your day. He really struggled.You know, there's another guy who, for me, stands out. There was - there's a gentleman in the book. I ended up calling this guy and his wife Ralph and Alice. They reminded me a little bit of "The Honeymooners." And Ralph had a good job for a utility company, kind of a middle manager. And there was a merger. And he took a buyout and thought, I'm set. And it was a little bit early, but he thought, I'm set. And then, the market crash really knocked him, you know, sent him for a loop. And after that, he was diagnosed with cancer. And the medical bills started piling up. And this guy who had his retirement mapped out, you know, travel the world and - he's a nature lover as is his wife - ends up applying for jobs in his 70s and having trouble getting anything. And he ended up working as a cashier at a big-box store near Disneyland.And when I went to see him, there he was. I mean, he had one of these jobs where it's the self-checkout but there needs to be some monitoring, and somebody needs to hand you the bag that you just bought for a nickel. And that's the guy. And he was standing there. And he said that his foot hurt and he had to see a doctor. And he did not look very happy. This is not the picture of, you know, his golden years that he had in mind. It reminded me so much of something my mother used to say - the golden years are not so golden, necessarily.DAVIES: Yeah. Gosh, you know, it reminds me of my father who lost a job in his early 50s and just never found his feet again and ended up - last time I saw him, he was working a shift at a 7-Eleven and died at age 59. You never know where things are going to take you. But family sure helps if you have people that you love and count - and you can count on.LOPEZ: My parents' experience was very much a part of my decision-making process. They both ended up - I mean, they lived into their 80s. But the last, you know, 10, even 15 years were difficult with physical issues, with cognitive loss. And that influenced me quite a bit especially because I appear to be on the same health care calendar as my parents. Things have happened to me that happened to my parents when they were, you know, the same age. And, you know, they both had this cognitive loss. My last conversation with my mother, she didn't remember who I was or my sister was. And I thought that, you know, I don't have many years before I'm her age. What am I going to do with this time? And I also have the heart issues that each of my parents had.DAVIES: You know, as you mentioned, one of the things you need to consider when you're trying to make this decision is, you know, how many years do I have? And how many healthy years do I have? And, you know, you have an interesting profile here because you almost bought the farm once. You know, tell us about this moment.LOPEZ: And I am back from the dead. It's a small club, and I'm in it. I went in for a knee replacement about 10 years ago and, in post-op, went into cardiac arrest and flatlined, had to be resuscitated. I remember, you know, waking up and looking at - wow, that's a lot of nurses and doctors. What's going on? And they said, you flatlined. I knew I had an arrhythmia just as my parents both had arrhythmias and, you know, gradual heart failure. I didn't know I was in such - you know, such bad shape that I would go into cardiac arrest. And I left the hospital with both a pacemaker and a knee replacement.And that's - you know, that is a real slap in the face. It's that - you know, that mortality wake-up ca