Ruy Lopez Ruy Lopez The Ruy Lopez (; ), also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves: The Ruy Lopez is named after 16th-century Spanish bishop Ruy López de Segura. It is one of the most popular openings, with such a vast number of variations that in the "Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings" ("ECO") all codes from C60 to C99 are assigned to them. The opening is named after the 16th-century Spanish bishop Ruy López de Segura, who made a systematic study of this and other openings in the 150-page book on chess "Libro del
Ruy Lopez a significant advantage against it in the 18th game. It is solid but slightly passive. Confusingly 9...Nd7 is also called the Chigorin Variation so there are two variations of the Ruy Lopez with that name, but 9...Na5 is the move more commonly associated with Chigorin. This defense is also known as the Keres Variation, after Paul Keres. The Kholmov Variation, 9...Be6, was popular in the 1980s but is now rarely played. The main line runs 10.d4 Bxb3 11.axb3 (11.Qxb3 is another option) exd4 12.cxd4 d5 13.e5 Ne4 14.Nc3 f5 15.exf6 Bxf6 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Rxe4 Qd5 18.Rg4, when it has been