Three Cheers for Blagojevic

It's difficult to make a valid novelty in the main line of the Ruy Lopez, nay, nearly impossible. That's what makes D. Blagojevic's 17^th move in the following game so remarkable. Glenn Flear, in his book on the Ruy Lopez main line, credits Blagojevic with a "meritorious novelty." After the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Nd7 10 d4 Bf6 11 a4 Bb7 12. Na3 exd4 13 cxd4 Re8 14 axb5 axb5 15 Bf4 Na5 16 Bc2 b4 17 Nb5 …

And now… the novelty … Nf8! Flear says that Blagojevoc is trying to avoid the beaten path here. Look here http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1255082 for the full game.