Ruy Lopez

also known as: Spanish Game · Spanish Opening

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5

Named after

Ruy López de Segura (c. 1530–c. 1580), a Spanish priest from Zafra, Extremadura — the strongest player of his age and confessor at the court of Philip II.

Origin

Analyzed in his 1561 book "Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del axedrez", one of the first serious chess treatises in Europe.

The story

López travelled to Rome on church business in 1560, discovered the Italians' chess literature, and came home to write a better book. In it he recommended 3.Bb5 — attacking the knight that defends e5 — as White's most testing try. The move was actually known before him, but his analysis gave it life, and outside the English-speaking world the opening still carries his homeland's name: the Spanish Game. Legend adds that he advised placing the board so the sun shone in your opponent's eyes — the man was a competitor. Four and a half centuries later, his move order remains the main battlefield of 1.e4 e5 at every World Championship.

Why it matters

3.Bb5 pressures the defender of e5 and poses a question Black must answer for the next twenty moves. It is chess's longest-running argument: virtually every classical plan — the Marshall, the Berlin, the Closed labyrinths — lives inside it.

Notable games

• Kasparov–Karpov, many World Championship games (1985–1990)
• Kramnik's Berlin Wall vs Kasparov, London 2000
• Capablanca–Marshall, New York 1918 (the Marshall Attack unveiled)