The Ruy Lopez
One bishop move, aimed at the knight that guards Black's centre - and five hundred years of chess have not exhausted it. Step through the Closed main line below, then play White's nine moves yourself.
Last updated
- First moves
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5
- ECO
- C60
- Best for
- White
- Style
- Positional
- Theory
- Heavy
- Level
- Intermediate
The Ruy Lopez begins 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5, and the third move is a question rather than a threat. The bishop attacks the knight that defends e5; the knight cannot move without dropping the pawn; and for the next twenty moves everything both players do is shaped by that one small tension.
The threat is not real yet - 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5 runs into 5...Qd4, forking the knight and the e4-pawn. But a threat you have to keep answering is worth more than one you cash in, and that is the Spanish idea: build the position behind a question Black is never allowed to forget.
The main line
The Closed Ruy Lopez - the most analysed sequence in chess. Step through all sixteen moves.
Reading a line is not knowing it. Play White's nine moves yourself; the board answers with Black's main-line replies, and a stray gets an answer rather than a red cross.
You are White. Play the Ruy Lopez: centre, knight, bishop to b5 - then retreat it twice and castle.
The Exchange Variation: trading into a structure
If the tension is annoying, resolve it. 4.Bxc6 hands Black the bishop pair and doubles the c-pawns - and the resulting endgame has been White's plan, not an accident, since Lasker.
The Exchange Ruy Lopez: give up the bishop pair to win the pawn structure.
The Berlin Wall
3...Nf6 ignores the bishop. It is not a modern invention - Berlin players were doing it in the 1840s - but Kramnik's 2000 world championship match turned it into the most respected line in the opening.
The Berlin Defence and the endgame it forces - queens off on move eight, Black's king on d8.
The trap you must not fall for
The Ruy Lopez's famous trap does not catch Black. It catches the White player who thinks the extra pawn on d4 is free.
After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 b5 6.Bb3 Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4, Black has given back a knight and left a pawn on d4 hanging. Take it with the queen and three black pawns close around your bishop like the sides of an ark.
The pawn on d4 is free - or is it? Find the move that wins it safely and leaves the b3-bishop with air.
The plans, for both sides
White's plans. The signature manoeuvre of the Closed Spanish is Nb1-d2-f1-g3: the knight takes four moves to reach a square it could not otherwise use, because the position is closed and there is time. Behind it, d2-d4 comes when it wins the centre rather than merely opens it, and a2-a4 picks at Black's queenside chain. In the Exchange Variation the plan is simpler and older: trade everything and win the pawn ending.
Black's plans. The c6-knight is the problem child of the whole opening, so Black solves it directly: ...Na5 hits the bishop and clears the c-file, or ...Nb8-d7 rebuilds behind the pawns in the Breyer. The other half of the plan is ...c5 and ...Bb7, aiming at the e4-pawn along the long diagonal. And permanently: watch the pin on the f6-knight after Bg5, and count the defenders of e5 before every move.
If you want the same first two moves without nine moves of theory, the Italian Game puts the bishop on c4 instead and the plans are visible from move four; the Scotch Game opens the centre immediately and skips the whole discussion.
Try it
Move three. Play the move that makes this the Ruy Lopez.
The Ruy Lopez is where opening principles stop being enough and plans take over - which is exactly why it rewards a player who has already learned the principles somewhere easier. The lessons take it from there: the manoeuvres, the pawn structures, and the endings all of it is really about.
Common questions
- What is the Ruy Lopez in chess?
- The opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5, also called the Spanish Game. White develops the bishop with an attack on the c6-knight - the piece defending Black's e5-pawn - so the whole opening is built on a threat that is never quite carried out. It is named after Ruy Lopez de Segura, a Spanish priest who analysed it in 1561, and it has been a main line at world championship level ever since.
- Does 3.Bb5 actually win the e5-pawn?
- No, and that is the joke at the heart of the opening. After 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5, Black plays 5...Qd4 and forks the knight and the e4-pawn, regaining the material immediately. The threat is fake on move three - but it becomes real the moment Black stops watching it, which is why the c6-knight ends up shaping every plan Black has.
- Why do so many players answer 3...a6?
- It asks the bishop the question. After 3...a6 White must either take on c6, conceding the bishop pair and fixing Black's structure, or retreat to a4, where the bishop stays on the diagonal but Black has gained the ...b5 resource for later. Almost every top-level Ruy Lopez begins this way, and the line after 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O is the Closed Ruy Lopez - the most analysed position in chess.
- What is the Berlin Defence?
- 3...Nf6, ignoring the bishop and counterattacking e4. After 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 the queens leave the board on move eight and Black's king walks to safety on foot. Kramnik used it to take the world title from Kasparov in 2000, and it has been called the Berlin Wall ever since - solid, dry and extremely hard to break.
- Is the Ruy Lopez good for beginners?
- It is the best second opening rather than the best first one. The moves are principled and easy to play, but the positions that follow are slow, closed and plan-driven, and a beginner who has not yet learned to handle a locked centre can be left with nothing to do on move fifteen. Learn the Italian Game first, then come here when quiet positions stop feeling empty.
- What is the Noah's Ark trap?
- The Ruy Lopez's most famous punishment, and it catches White. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 b5 6.Bb3 Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4 the pawn on d4 looks free - but 8.Qxd4?? c5! 9.Qd5 Be6 10.Qc6+ Bd7 11.Qd5 c4 builds a wall of pawns around the b3-bishop and it never gets out. Three pawns, three moves, one bishop: the ark.
Ideas this opening runs on:
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