Lopez Opening Lopez Opening The Lopez Opening (or MacLeod Attack) is a chess opening characterized by the moves: The opening was played frequently by 19th century Scottish–Canadian chess master Nicholas MacLeod but has otherwise arisen rarely in tournament play. White's second move prepares to push a pawn to d4, establishing a strong center. Play can potentially transpose to other openings, most likely the Ponziani Opening or the Göring Gambit in the Scotch Game. However, Eric Schiller states in "Unorthodox Chess Openings" that the opening is too slow; that Black can respond vigorously with 2...d5! to eliminate transpositional possibilities and solve all of
Ruy Lopez e5 and placing the queen on the c-file which may later become open after ...cxd4. Other Black moves in this position are 11...Bb7 and 11...Nd7; the latter was adopted by Keres a few times in the 1960s. The Chigorin Variation has declined in popularity because Black must spend some time bringing his offside knight on a5 back into the game. The Chigorin is divided into four "ECO" classifications. In C96, Black or White deviate after 10.Bc2, and do not reach the classical main line position 10...c5 11.d4 Qc7. In C97, White proceeds from the diagram with 12.a4, 12.d5, 12.b4, or