Ruy Lopez

Hi guys, welcome to my blog! This is my first blog where I will be uploading the different types of openings. Let's get straight into it!

It starts with the king's pawn opening. 

It is called the king's pawn because you push the pawn which is front of the king.

Black responds with the natural move e5. 

White plays Nf3, attacking the e5 pawn, and black defends the pawn with Nc6.

Now white plays the Ruy Lopez/Spanish opening with Bb5.

The idea is to capture the knight and take the e5 pawn with the knight as the knight is eliminated and their is no defense for the pawn. Black can play a6, kick the bishop out which is known as "Ruy Lopez, Paul Morphy variation". Or, white can play Nf6, and play the "Berlin Defense". After a6, Ba4 will transpose into the main line, whereas, Bxc6 is the "Ruy Lopez, Exchange variation". The line in the exchange variation goes:

3. - a6, 4. Bxc6 dxc6, 5. 0-0

The main line goes:

3. - a6, 4. Ba4 Nf6, 5. 0-0, Be7 (Nxe4 is met with Re1, attacking the knight, and when the knight moves, the e5 pawn can be regained and the material is equal), 6. Re1 (defending the e4 pawn) 0-0, 7. c3 (with the idea to play d4, and relocating the knight from d2 to f1, then to g3. This is a very common idea for white) b5 (attacking the bishop), 8. Bb3 Bb7, 9. d4

Now, there are 2 lines which black can play. Nb8 to control the center with the bishop which leads to the b8 knight going to d7, or Na5, targeting the bishop, then Bc2, saving the bishop trade, keeping the pair of bishops.
So that's it for my blog! I will be making "Berlin Defense" in the future. See you in the next blog! Bye!