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Hi, welcome to my study on the Ruy Lopez (Spanish) opening in chess. This study should give you a good understanding of this very deep-ocean opening. It is one of the oldest openings analyzed in chess history. This opening is played by all sorts of chess players ranging from top grandmasters to everyday amateurs. It's a very exciting opening to play as both white and black, with many options!1e4...The most logical opening move, putting a pawn in the center and trying to develop the kingside.

Here black has two main moves, and both of them aim to stop white from conquering the center even more. c5 is more complex, so I prefer something calmer, that is e5.
1...e5Black puts their pawn in the center2Nf3...White develops a piece where it looks at two center squares.2...Nc6Black does the same thing with its knight, develops it so that it looks at the center squares. This knight also defends the e5 pawn which was attacked by the white knight last move.

Now white has a few popular continuations shown by the blue arrows, and all of them have to with either developing a piece to a good square and/or putting a piece in the center.
3Bb5...And white plays the Ruy Lopez opening. This is going to be quite a positional and interesting game.

In this chapter I'm just going to show you the pure basic ideas from this point, and in the following chapters we'll go into more depth on the specific variations available.
3...a6The most common and logical move, just nudging the bishop once4Ba4...The bishop drops back. You can see why white does not win the e5 pawn after Bxc6.4.Bxc6This is, in fact, NOT winning the e5 pawndxc65.Nxe5Qd4Because black wins the e4 pawn back straight away, and white hasn't gained any advantage in the process.6.Nf3Qxe4+7.Qe2Qxe2+8.Kxe2Bf59.d3O-O-O4...Nf6Black develops another piece, just floating the idea of b5 for a little longer5O-O...White gets their king safe5...Be7Black develops another piece, these are all very good, productive moves6Re1...White develops the rook, defends the pawn and puts the rook on the center file. It is best for black to play b5 at this point.6...b57Bb3O-OBlack gets their king safe.8c3...A multi-purpose move. This is trying to support the central break d2-d4, or just the center in general, and also gives the light squared bishop a tuck-away square on c2.

Here black can play simply with d6, or more aggressively with d5. Both are sensible because they fight for the center and aim to develop the rest of black's army, and both lead to a good game for both sides.
8...d6For example d6, keeping the game fairly closed

The Ruy Lopez is a slow, positional, maneuvering game. White has some ideas, he can play d3 or d4, h3, and maneuver this knight Nb1-d2-f1 and then jump to either the e3 or g3 squares. Black's plan is to try and create a central break or a queenside attack by moving his knight and using his c-pawn. It is a very good and interesting game for both sides.
  1. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Turn sync off
  2. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Make the Marshall in a separate chapter
  3. chauhannarayan funny are u read it
  4. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Nice job so far!! :)
  5. chauhannarayan my typing is slow sorry
  6. FunnyAnimatorJimTV That's ok
  7. chauhannarayan funny i write text u draw arrows
  8. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Ok
  9. FunnyAnimatorJimTV How is it so far?
  10. NeverBeenTimid liked. Will check it out later.
  11. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Thanks
  12. chauhannarayan Funny i pick up this game but i right text by own
  13. chauhannarayan now over i think
  14. chauhannarayan ok
  15. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Nice job. Which variation to you want to do next?
  16. chauhannarayan u give any one I love ruy lopez
  17. FunnyAnimatorJimTV How about the Berlin
  18. FunnyAnimatorJimTV It is chapter 6
  19. chauhannarayan but i am not do now sorry when i have timr i complete ok no problem ic omplete
  20. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Okay, you can do it whenever you like. Thank you for your very good help!
  21. chauhannarayan its ok
  22. chauhannarayan we are friend
  23. chauhannarayan i do for u
  24. chauhannarayan u complete which chapter
  25. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Thank you, have a good breakfast
  26. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Right now I'm doing chapter 2
  27. chauhannarayan oh wlcm
  28. chauhannarayan in 6 chapter the name is Berlin defence
  29. chauhannarayan 8.Bg4
  30. NeverBeenTimid nice
  31. NeverBeenTimid There are anti martial setups without d3. On move 8 c3 invites the marshall. Playing a4 or h3 doesn't allow it. a4 was a Kasparov favourite
  32. Water_Flame oo the ruy
  33. FunnyAnimatorJimTV I'm studying the Ruy Lopez from the black side
  34. Water_Flame Nice, lots of theory lol
  35. Water_Flame You should add the 3...f5!? variation in this study too
  36. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Schleiman? Good idea
  37. Water_Flame Yeah
  38. Water_Flame However thats spelled XD
  39. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Trying to find something about that
  40. Water_Flame Btw the usual move after f5 is Nc3 rather than d3
  41. FunnyAnimatorJimTV It seems good
  42. Water_Flame Another worth adding would be the Cozio- 3...Nge7
  43. Water_Flame perfectly sound but extremely unexplored line
  44. nidav000 ;D
  45. nidav000 can i join in?
  46. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Sure
  47. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Contributor?
  48. nidav000 gotta go to sleep
  49. nidav000 sure
  50. a_m_kavosh thanks
  51. AlKing_Chess add me plz
  52. louiedavid Hello all I'm enjoying this as I play it but never understood it LOL
  53. Milanovmilan56 hi
  54. Milanovmilan56 hello
  55. Milanovmilan56 is someone hearing me
  56. Milanovmilan56 i am a fm
  57. Milanovmilan56 fade master
  58. Risviltsov spoop
  59. Risviltsov This is a pretty good guide, I'll tell you that.
  60. KarbonOasis lol
  61. alejandrus Im pretty new on chess... I hope this will help!
  62. alejandrus You guys think itยด s better to study in deep one opening or study a little of many...
  63. alejandrus Sorry for my english by the way, I`m not an english speaker! :)
  64. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Hi everyone! Thanks for taking a look at my study
  65. FunnyAnimatorJimTV It's not 100% complete but that shouldn't matter, I have covered all the important stuff :)
  66. FunnyAnimatorJimTV If you enjoyed the study and/or found it useful, please click the heart button for support
  67. FunnyAnimatorJimTV Thanks to some of my friends for helping me, you can see their names in the members list
  68. AlKing_Chess add me plz
  69. starboystellan This is an awesome study! I was wanting to learn more about the ruy Lopez.
  70. SultanKhan Great job
  71. SultanKhan Excellent STudy
  72. SultanKhan and your English is very good too
  73. the-death-of-chess Who the hell is Ruy Lopez and how did he die?
  74. CPKevin I loved this study, this is my first oppening lession, i studied each chapter, and now my rating is 1 point better =P
  75. pranjalghimire123 dont use marshall gambit as white. clearly losing i think there needs further study
  76. Francesco_Super amazing study as always! :)
  77. AtaqueKamikaze Can I save a study as a favorite?
  78. markgalassi You have done a very good job on this study.
  79. Smayukhdey 5.. Nxe4
  80. marc77300 Not the Flohr-Zaยจtzev line, which becomes on 9...Bb7 ?... 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.a4 h6 13.Bc2 exd4 14.cxd4 Nb4 15.Bb1 c5 16.d5 Nd7 17.Ra3
  81. Play254 nice play
  82. SomeRandomAccount58 this is quite poggers
  83. SomeRandomAccount58 very epic indeed
  84. connerator something to point out here is that 5.d3 is not the mainline, it's considered inferior to the actual mainline, 6.d3
  85. connerator reason being that 6.d3 provokes black's DSB to e7, whereas in 5.d3 it can come out to the active c5 square
  86. Zukson2002 hehe
  87. Zukson2002 :P
  88. thesteamengine2 where is the exchange variation
  89. Ryanonchess hi
  90. Ryanonchess why is d4 played in the berlin variation?
  91. JaymbhOnThe8x8 idk
  92. TrickorTrack I wonder if a draw is less likely when playing the ruy lopez with 1700-1800 lichess
  93. TrickorTrack ruy lopez marshall gambit specifically
  94. codyeisert does anyone know if the author is still finishing the archangel variation? its kinda trendy right now
  95. HowHorseMove ayooo
  96. Bladeofthemind we need the exchange variation!
  97. dzikri_ayyash hi
  98. pikalink68 whatup girl
  99. sahilpmahajan hey
  100. Pushkarv12351 hey sexy
  101. Suhaib-S What even is going on in this chat?
  102. black-knight-86 where is anti marshal ?
  103. d0ornokey lmao
  104. d0ornokey yall trippin
  105. Orvol69 dfq
  106. Orvol69 no girls only chess
  107. Orvol69 cmon
  108. nishc yeah
  109. Messi_Russo boa
  110. Anubhav_4000 hey
  111. Anubhav_4000 anyone online
  112. BryanElevator euh ?
  113. Madamadam2 ake
  114. gfdgdfgdfgd do u know what czarnuch is
  115. Asdemir hello
  116. Flatuitous lichess players are so weird
  117. myNameIsWho123 hi
  118. donuty hello
  119. godlikepower hi
  120. Cv287 hi
  121. LoserNoob69 yes
  122. LoserNoob69 me online
  123. TheImplication2000 hi
  124. sychro yo
  125. alexei70 seeyuh
  126. Darshilshah66 Hiii
  127. vasudevrajesh hi
  128. reymelcambs anyone
  129. karthick7204 hiii
  130. NicholasMalilay meow
  131. kanchadhawan Hello friends
  132. SimeonSchimmel hi
  133. kiraadayoooooooooooo Hii
  134. kiraadayoooooooooooo Fuck u all doing
  135. senbonsakura2 pepe popo
  136. VIshwakkamsani ok ok ok ok
  137. VIshwakkamsani chill
  138. raisul1559 hi
  139. baonam2k17 Sun Wukong
  140. andanatarun jada abuse to system phad denge
  141. SY_Furbi hi
  142. bglonniekod On move 5 of "THE NEW MAINLINE", you say that d3 is "preferred by the masters now". The masters database says 88% of GM's use O-O
  143. RoyceChan hi anonymous
  144. RoyceChan person
  145. Christian_Fung Seems like the popularity of d3 has increased slightly in the past decade
  146. Christian_Fung 7% all time, 9% since 2020, 10% since 2022, 11% since 2024
  147. Satvik1001 d3 is more solid
  148. Satvik1001 than castle