The Ruy Lopez, also called the Spanish Opening, is an old chess opening. It is named after the Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura. He may have invented the opening. These are the opening moves:
- 1. e4 e5
- 2. Nf3 Nc6
- 3. Bb5
The Ruy Lopez is one of the most common and well-liked openings. There are many ways to play it. It has always been popular in master chess. White's idea is to try and undermine the center by attacking the knight with his bishop. However, White will not be always able to win a pawn immediately:
- 3... a6
- 4.Bxc6 dxc6
- 5.Nxe5 Qd4 recovers the pawn.
For this reason White usually plays a longer-term strategy, starting with:
- 3... a6
- 4. Ba4 Nf6
- 5. 0-0
Here, Black has two main options. Black can either play with an open center, with 5... Nxe4 or play a closed, positional game with 5... Be7. These openings are called the Open Ruy Lopez and the Closed Ruy Lopez.