The Spanish Opening-Traps
The Spanish Opening is a powerful opening. It is aggressive and played by Grandmasters. It starts with 1. e4 e5. So it's a King's pawn opening. 2. Nf3 Nc6. A very common position. White then plays Bb5, immediately attacking the knight. This threatens to win a pawn, double pawns, a bunch of stuff.
White won a pawn in the example above. So after the bishop gets active, they play a6, the Morphy defense, because they don't like the aggression of the bishop. You usually don't take the knight, since your bishop is more active than the knight. If you play the Exchange Variation, as seen in the example above, stockfish says the game is a draw. So you play Ba5. Your opponent defends the pawn with a move like d6, the Steinitz defense.
You castle now(The Modern Steinitz). They play b5, to stop the pin on the knight. If you hadn't noticed this opening has a bunch of variations. This is why it is commonly played by masters. Bb3 saving your active bishop. They might play Bg4, pinning the knight to the queen. Play h3 to ask your opponent what the bishop wants to do.
If they take the knight, take with the queen. You threaten Qxf7 mate, your queen gets active and life is good. Now they could also drop back to h5, maintaining the pin. Who said you care? Sacrifice the Queen! With Nxe5!!
Because if they don't take your queen, instead taking your knight, you take the bishop. A bishop is usually better than a knight. If they take you queen, Bxf7+. Ke7 is forced. Nxc6+! A fork of the Queen and King! King takes your bishop on f7, take back your queen. Rook takes the knight. Your rook takes the bishop. The king is exposed while yours is castled. It even has an escape square!
You can only do this sacrifice after h3 because The knight can take your knight whilst defending the bishop.
What if they just never pin your knight with Bg4? Instead they play a move such as Nf6, attacking your e4 pawn. Don't worry about the pawn. Play c3, preparing d4, to be dominant in the center.
The pawn is actually poisoned. If you know the Fried Liver Attack you can do a similar thing here. I won't go into a lot of depth but it basically goes like this:
Back to the very start... They don't have to play the Morphy defense, with a6, they can just play d6. The Knight is pinned so break open the center with d4. You threaten d5, winning material. They play the natural move exd4, take with the knight. They relieve pressure with Bd7. Just develop with Nc3. If they want to release even more tension, by playing something like Nxd4, take back with the queen. They take your bishop with theirs, take back with the knight.
Nf6 is a common move after that sequence. But it is a mistake. e5 breaks open the center. They take with the d pawn, don't make them lose castling rights, take back your pawn. You attack c7 trying to fork. They block the check and you fork the king and rook. If they blocked with the queen trade, then take the rook. The King is stuck in the center and you're up material, what more could you want?
They never had to defend the pawn with a pawn though. In comes the bird variation, with Nd4. They counterattack the bishop and the knight. Trade the Knight and castle.
It's unpleasant to say the least for black. They can't get the d-pawn out because of the bishop pin and if they play Nf6, e5 kicks it away. They probably attack your bishop with a6. Move it to c4, creating something similar to the Italian game. If they play Bc5, a natural move, take on f7 with the bishop, yet another brilliant. When the king takes, Qh5+ forks the King and bishop.
The King can no longer castle and you're up a pawn. Okay, some people might know Bc5 is a mistake, what if they kick my bishop again with b5? They have a strong center and more pawns out! Sacrifice the bishop on f7 once more. King takes. Qh5+ again! The goal is to fork the king and the rook on a8. They should block with g6.
This is not forced, however. They might play Kf6 the next lines are Qf5+, Ke7 is forced, Qe5+, Kf7 is forced. Qd5+ can now be played.
The Center attack
The Center Attack starts after the Morphy defense, with d4. They take your pawn and you castle. They can't take on e4, since it's poisoned (Nxe4, Re1 pins the Knight to king. If they cover with the queen, attack the knight with a pawn). A common response is b5, kicking the bishop. Bishop to b3. You threaten e5, kicking the knight, and Ng5, forking the the rook and queen, with no real defense. Bc5, preparing to castle. Don't play Ng5. Play e5, kicking the Knight.
Ne4 fails because the knight is bad there. Ng4 is the only logical move as it keeps the knight somewhat centralized, and active. Play c3, a likely move is to take, don't develop the knight from the pawn. Attack more with Qd5. This threatens mate on f6, attacks the bishop and pins the knight! The best response is Qe7.
White has a very active position. If black castles, you play Bg5, winning blacks bishop on c5.
Instead of b5 they should play Be7, to castle. Push e5 to kick the Knight. The Knight can go to e4 now because it's less cramped there. you can take back on d4 with your knight, and the game is pretty much equal. e5 is still poisoned. If Nxe5 after that long sequence, Re1.
If they counter attack the bishop:
When they likely castle in the position above, take the bishop with the knight (Nxe7+) The king runs to h8. Qh5 just brings the heavy artillery to the fight. You have a strong attack on the king. From here you can sacrifice the queen for a nice Anastasia's Mate.
As you can see the Spanish/Ruy Lopez opening is a very complex opening. You can probably see why mainly masters play it. This is why if you are a beginner you should play the London system, or something like the French Defense for black. If you would like to watch a video on the Spanish I recommend you watch GM Igor Smirnov's video. It's wonderful.
Puzzles
How do you start the Spanish Opening?
How does white play the Exchange Variation?
Instead of playing the Exchange Variation, how can black play after the Morphy defense?
After d6, the Steinitz defense, what does white play?
After the Bishop pins the Knight to the Queen? How does white ask the opponent what the Bishop should do?
What if black doesn't trade?
What if there is no pin, and black played Nf6, then Nxe4?
What if there is no Morphy Defense?
We have a pawn trade. Trade and then what?
In comes the Bird.
What now?Â
Instead of Bc5, they play b5. What then?
The Center Attack:
Next? b5 was played.
If instead of Bc5 they play Be7.
You skewered the Knights in the last puzzle. What do you do if the e4 knight attacks the b4 bishop?
