Ruy Lopez 8...Na5 by playing 8.a3 (8.c3 or 8 a4 are perfectly playable as well) and after 8...0-0 (the immediate 8...Na5 is also feasible) 9.Nc3 we have reached a modern tabiya of the Ruy Lopez. This position was first reached in a high-level encounter between Viswanathan Anand and Michael Adams, Grenke Chess Classic 2013. 6.d3 has gained wide popularity among the top players and has almost supplanted the Ruy Lopez main line with 6.Re1. Peter Svidler has dedicated an entire video series to the fashionable 6.d3 line. In the Averbakh Variation (C87), named for Yuri Averbakh, Black defends the threatened e-pawn with
Ruy Lopez, Noah's Ark Trap and José Capablanca at the Budapest tournament in 1929: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. d4 5... b5 6. Bb3 Nxd4 7. Nxd4 exd4 8. Qxd4?? 8... c5 9. Qd5 Be6 10. Qc6+ Bd7 11. Qd5 c4 (see diagram) A variation of this trap can occur in the Sicilian Defense after the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 (the Rossolimo Variation) a6 4.Ba4?? (4.Bxc6 is necessary and the point of 3.Bb5 itself) b5 5.Bb3 c4 (see diagram) and the bishop is similarly trapped. Bibliography Ruy Lopez, Noah's Ark Trap The Noah's Ark Trap