Ruy López de Segura Ruy López de Segura Rodrigo (Ruy) López de Segura (c. 1530 – c. 1580) was a Spanish priest and later bishop in Segura whose 1561 book "Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez" was one of the first definitive books about modern chess in Europe, preceded only by Pedro Damiano's 1512 book, Luis Ramírez de Lucena's 1497 book (the oldest surviving printed book on chess), and the Göttingen manuscript (authorship and exact date of the manuscript are unknown). He was born in Zafra near Badajoz, and he studied and lived in Salamanca. In 1560 he won
Ruy Lopez Morphy, and it is named for him. Steinitz did not approve of the move; in 1889, he wrote, "on principle this ought to be disadvantageous as it drives the bishop where it wants to go". Steinitz's opinion did not prevail, however; today, 3...a6 is played in over 65 percent of all games beginning with the Ruy Lopez. After 3...a6, the most commonly played line is the Closed Defence, which goes 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7, discussed in the two following sections. Alternatives to the Closed Defence described in this section are: In the Exchange Variation, 4.Bxc6, ("ECO" C68–C69) White damages Black's