It is mainly used to avoid highly theoretical lines such as the Ruy Lopez, or to surprise the opponent.
If a game starts 1.a3 e5 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3, Black cannot proceed in Ruy Lopez-fashion, and if Black plays 3..
Jaenisch is best remembered for having analyzed and helped develop Petrov's Defence with Alexander Petrov, and for his work on the Schliemann–Jaenisch Gambit of the Ruy Lopez, which begins
In this period ambitious players explored the Ruy Lopez, believing it a better attempt for White to exploit the advantage of the first move.
If White plays c2–c3, the position can take some characteristics of the Ruy Lopez if his bishop retreats to c2 via Bc4–b3–c2.
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The Giuoco Piano was popular through the 19th century, but modern refinements in defensive play have led most chess masters towards openings like the Ruy Lopez that offer White greater chances for long term initiative.
A bishop so developed is characteristic of the Italian Game, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 (particularly the Giuoco Piano, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5, where both players have Italian bishops), and stands in contrast to the "Spanish" bishop on b5 characteristic of the Ruy Lopez.
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In high-level chess and correspondence chess, a player well-versed in opening theory may even use as a drawing weapon a sharp opening that has been analyzed to a drawn position in a number of lines, such as the Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez, and the Sveshnikov and Poisoned Pawn variations of the Sicilian Defense.
It may appeal to White players who wish to avoid extensively analyzed double king pawn openings such as the Ruy Lopez, and to those who favor defensive positional maneuvering battles as also often result from the Hungarian Defense.
Most grandmasters have largely abandoned the Italian Game in favour of the Ruy Lopez (3.Bb5) and Scotch (3.d4), considering those two openings better tries for a long-term advantage, but the Italian is still popular in correspondence chess, where players are allowed access to published theory, and in games between amateurs.
His name is attached to the Moeller Attack in the Giuoco Piano (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 ed4 6.cd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.O–O Bxc3 9.d5) and the Moeller Defense in the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O–O Bc5).
In the second part, López introduces the word gambit and gives some openings that had not been previously published: the King's Gambit, some variations of the Bishop's Opening, and what is now known as the Steinitz Defense in the Ruy Lopez.
As white, he opens with 1.e4 and as black, prefers the Ruy Lopez and Slav/Semi-Slav variations of the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Chigorin has several chess openings or variations of openings named after him, the two most important being the Chigorin Variation of the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7) and the Chigorin Defence to the Queen's Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6).
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Indeed, he went on to add to the development of the concept through the work he carried out with closed variations of the Ruy Lopez.
Black's most common reply is 2...Nc6, which usually leads to the Ruy Lopez (3.Bb5), Italian Game (3.Bc4), or Scotch Game (3.d4), though 3.Nc3 Nf6 (the Four Knights Game), often played in the late 19th to early 20th century, or, less commonly, 3....g6, (the Three Knights Game), are other possibilities.
The Black counterattack in the centre also avoids the Ruy Lopez, Giuoco Piano (and other lines of the Italian Game), and the Scotch Game.
The opening is now considered inferior to 3.Bb5, the Ruy Lopez, and 3.Bc4, the Italian Game, and is accordingly rarely seen today at any level of play.
In contrast to the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5), by delaying Nf3, White leaves the f-pawn free to move and retains the possibility of playing f2–f4.
The more popular Ruy Lopez opening looks like a Richter–Veresov Attack mirrored on the queenside, but the dynamics of play are quite different.
Ruy Lopez, one of the oldest and most popular chess openings, also known as the "Spanish Opening"
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Ruy López de Segura, 16th-century Spanish priest and early chess master
::Alexander Alekhine recommended this move in the tournament book for New York 1924 as a means for White to draw, but it is a mistake that loses material.
Tarrasch Trap refers to two different chess opening traps in the Ruy Lopez that are named for Siegbert Tarrasch.
More recently, grandmasters Garry Kasparov and Jan Timman helped to re-popularize the Scotch when they used it as a surprise weapon to avoid the well-analysed Ruy Lopez.
Steinitz Defense Doubly Deferred to the Ruy Lopez: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 d6 (also called the Russian Defence)
The resulting positions take on some characteristics of the Ruy Lopez if White plays c3 and retreats the bishop to c2 via Bc4–b3–c2.
Jennifer Lopez | Ruy Lopez | Antonio López de Santa Anna | George Lopez | Barry Lopez | Omar Rodríguez-López | Juan López de Padilla | Francisco Solano López | Antonio López García | Oscar Lopez | Mario Lopez | Jesús López-Cobos | Héctor López | Al Lopez | Rosa López | Lopez Island | Eugenio Lopez, Jr. | Steve Lopez | Ruy Guerra | Ruy Blas | Miguel López de Legazpi | Marc López | Lopez | Kamala Lopez | José María López Lledín | Iñigo López de Mendoza | Gerry Lopez | Eugenio Lopez, Sr. | Diego López de Cogolludo | Vito Lopez |