I respectfully disagree.
Italian over Spanish?

The ruy lopez has a FANTASTIC reputation for being a solid and steady opening with lots of pitfalls for either side.

Let me tell you something, stockfish knows absolutely nothing about what to choose in the first few moves. That's why sometimes it will show Italian, sometimes Spanish etc

The ruy lopez has a FANTASTIC reputation for being a solid and steady opening with lots of pitfalls for either side.
and i bet u suffered trying to learn these lines, no?

The ruy lopez has a FANTASTIC reputation for being a solid and steady opening with lots of pitfalls for either side.
and i bet u suffered trying to learn these lines, no?
I did, But now im a happy man and that is all that matters! Here is a mouth watering line to prove the ruy for traps:

to op thats just stockfish being stockfish, it isnt an opening oracle and probably will just switch after some time it really doesnt matter

yeah, as if LITERALLY anyone would play that
there is no use in quoting random deep lines and concluding anything
there is 20 move theory, so? not like you need to know it, for two reasons
a) what are the chances black knows it
b) you dont have to play theory to play well, and such lines can be EASILY avoided with good alternatives, its a joke
most lines have black in real pressure
and.... italian also has insanely deep lines
theres the moller gambit, traxler which also branches and you NEED the theory and black actually probably knows the theory if theyre playing it; the positional mainlines have infinite wrinkles and deep lines if you want to (you dont need to, but you also dont need to in the ruy), EVEN e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Bc5 Nc3 Nf6 d3 d6 has a bunch of lines (which arent needed at all)
i wont be all annoying and pretentious about it like you were "another "nOrMaL" day in the office" nor will i act like it matters; nor will i ignore that even if it did matter there is next to nothing separating the two (the only reason italian has these bunch of new lines is because its been revived at top level; which means it was thought to be objectively inferior before that)


i just absolutely hate when people say "xx line has theory, so it is way too complex and you must memorise it and you will face it and you have to use it, so dont use it and instead play this simpler opening!" (which also happens to be their favorite opening)

yeah, as if LITERALLY anyone would play that
there is no use in quoting random deep lines and concluding anything
there is 20 move theory, so? not like you need to know it, for two reasons
a) what are the chances black knows it
b) you dont have to play theory to play well, and such lines can be EASILY avoided with good alternatives, its a joke
most lines have black in real pressure
and.... italian also has insanely deep lines
theres the moller gambit, traxler which also branches and you NEED the theory and black actually probably knows the theory if theyre playing it; the positional mainlines have infinite wrinkles and deep lines if you want to (you dont need to, but you also dont need to in the ruy), EVEN e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Bc5 Nc3 Nf6 d3 d6 has a bunch of lines (which arent needed at all)
i wont be all annoying and pretentious about it like you were "another "nOrMaL" day in the office" nor will i act like it matters; nor will i ignore that even if it did matter there is next to nothing separating the two (the only reason italian has these bunch of new lines is because its been revived at top level; which means it was thought to be objectively inferior before that)
Yeah but they would rather play anything other than Bd3 and lose a exchange???

okay, be real here
ignoring the fact that the italian has such lines as well....
who as black plays Nxe4 and exd4 WILLINGLY, as in, having prep
i am not talking about the people who play it obliviously and those people obviously wouldnt continue with the rest of the line
and its just.... okay there are lines like this, so?
what are you trying to even prove here?
"just another day in the park for a ruy lopez player"??
implies you HAVE to know deep theory and MUST oh so immaculately memorise the smallest detail of the intricacies of a subline of a subline in order to even DARE play the ruy
.
.
.
whats the point of such clear misinterpretation and lying to prevent someone from playing a certain opening?
the truth: both are excellent openings, both have tons of lines, both have deep lines, neither require you to know these lines to play them
implying anything else is purely for personal profit... some kind of personal profit which doesnt even make sense given that for every ruy game theres like 5 italian games
Why does Stockfish prefer the Italian over the Spanish at depth 61?
Would you guys agree?