Ruy Lopez
C60 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5
Pressure on the knight that defends e5, and a century of theory built on it.
Analysing from a photo?
This page needs a FEN or a board you set up by hand. The app reads a position straight from a photograph of a real board or a screenshot, and keeps your saved positions between sessions.
The idea
Bb5 attacks the knight defending e5, and the immediate point is not to win the pawn: after Bxc6 dxc6 Nxe5, Black regains it with Qd4. The real idea is long-term. White provokes a6, gains the option of exchanging on c6 at a moment of choosing, and builds slowly with c3, d4 and a knight manoeuvre to the kingside.
Typical plans
- The Closed Ruy: c3, d4, Nbd2-f1-g3, then a slow build-up against the black king.
- The Exchange Variation: Bxc6 dxc6, giving Black doubled pawns and heading for an endgame where the extra healthy pawn on the kingside tells.
- Pressure on the d-file and the e5 square once the centre has been settled.
What goes wrong
- Playing d4 too soon and letting Black equalise with an immediate central break.
- Forgetting that Black's a6 and b5 come with tempo on the bishop, which is Black's whole counterplay.
- Treating the Exchange Variation as drawish. It is a genuine attempt to win the pawn endgame twenty moves later.
Using the board above
The board starts at the position after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5. Play the continuation you normally meet, then ask the engine what it would do. That is more useful than reading a line, because it answers the question you actually have, which is what happens in the position you keep reaching.
One caution worth carrying into it: an engine evaluates an opening on the assumption that both sides then play perfectly. A line rated a tenth of a pawn better whose middlegames you have never played is worth less to you than a line rated slightly worse that produces positions you understand. More on that here.