Ruy Lopez (Beginner)

I just started trying to learn openings and one of them I've looked at is the Ruy Lopez. I was watching a video and what the guy said didn't make sense so I figured I'd ask the forum. What has been played so far is 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6
So the guy says that playing 5. 0-0 is a bad move because then black can play 5. ...Bg4 and then White has to play 6. h3 which allows black to play 6. ...h5 and then when white plays 7. hxg4 Black plays hxg4 which allows him to later play Qh4 and Qh1+.
My question is, why doesn't white just play 6. Nc3 If black plays 6...Bxf3 then White can just play 7. Qxf3 Am I missing something?

@pds23

why did white take the horsie with the bishop at all
b-r4 gives 3% better winning chances than bxn

but if you did take bxn

then chess tempo database says 5/ 0-0 is the best move
although only epsilon better than 5/ n-qb3

if you want to draw with no losing chances and some winning possibilities then play 5/ nxp

after 5/0-0 b-kn5
white has a 7% extra chance of winning

see all the gory details of the probabilities etc here
chesstempo.com/game-database.html

Well to be honest I don't think you should be studying openings that much at your level. Just try to familiarize yourself with some opening principles, such as controlling the centre, getting your king safe etc.

But if you really want to study openings just look at some reoccurring ideas and themes that crop up in the opening that you play. For example in the Ruy Lopez white develops his knight to d2 a lot of the time rather than c3 and tries to maneuver it to g3/e3 via f1. Don't try to memorize opening variations, it won't help you much because as soon as someone plays something different then you won't know what to play.

But to answer your question I don't think that line is forced what that guy said. 5.0-0 is totally playable as Bg4 isn't even that strong because black can't really even use the pin as his knight (which might have been able to go to d4) has already been exchanged off the board. White can play 6. Nc3 as you said but even better as I said earlier is too just develop the knight to d2 rather. In this position the knight on d2 plays another role as well by protecting the knight on f3 and allowing your queen to do whatever she wants.

Hope this helps clear thing us. :)

Usually you want to get out of pins as soon as possible. If you do nothing about the pin, black will likely be able to pile up on the pin when you can't increase the defense of the knight. First black brings Qf6, then the knight Ne7-Ng6-Nh4 (ouch). Whenever you try to kick the bishop with h3, h5 works in the same way.
The only other piece that could defend the knight in time is the other knight. But it should use an akward route undeveloping with Nb1 to get it to Nd2.
If instead you choose 6. Nd2 which seems better, after properly defending the knight you still can't get rid of the pin and half of your pieces can't move.

P.S. Of course the theory allows it, but it's not a trivial way to handle the opening and more appropriate for advanced players.

5.0-0 and 6.h3 is well known-theory and White is by no means forced to blunder with 7.hxg4?? which loses on the spot. 7.d3 is the normal move.

@oldegeezer Bxc6 (The exchange variation of the Ruy Lopez) is totally playable and has been played by many grandmasters in the past so I don't know what you're talking about. Alos 3% more winning chance is basically nothing. Secondly not everything is about what Chess Tempo says. And lastly just stop using descriptive notation man it's so outdated and annoying to decipher.

It‘s pretty useless to discuss winning probabilities and using hieroglyphs. Because one thing is sure: the reading probability is less than 3%...

I recommend getting a book on the ruy lopez. John Emms - easy guide to ruy is good. I'm slowly but surely working my way through it and doing a study on it. lichess.org/study/dJOUjDiS

@oldegeezer According to Chess Tempo, 1...Na6 is the response to 1 e4 that gives black the highest winning percentage. Do you play that?

Deciding which move is "best" by looking at the winning percentage is a recipe for failure. That percentage is the aggregate of all the responses to that move. It may well be that one or two lines are very good responses to go along with several mediocre (or worse) replies. In extreme cases your "best" move has been completely refuted, but has only a few games in the database due to strong players now knowing to not play your move.

@pds23 #1
The Ruy Lopez Exchange line can be a good occasional surprise choice for a top player with excellent endgame technique (Bobby Fischer) but if you want to win with white as amateur chess player, the Ruy Lopez Exchange is not the best choice.
White gives up the bishop pair, in exchange (...) for black's mangled queen side pawn structure, and a kingside pawn majority.
In games it has been shown that the bishop pair for black can give enough piece play to secure a draw (or more) for black.

Also, personally I don't find the Ruy Lopez a very good choice for a beginning chess player, because the many lines can be difficult to grasp.
Easier imho is Scotch game, Italian game, three knights game, Vienna game.
Even the King's Gambit might be easier to understand and deal with.

... Just my 2 cents.