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unusual facts about Ruy Lopez, Tarrasch Trap



Alapin's Opening

It is mainly used to avoid highly theoretical lines such as the Ruy Lopez, or to surprise the opponent.

Anderssen's Opening

If a game starts 1.a3 e5 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3, Black cannot proceed in Ruy Lopez-fashion, and if Black plays 3..

Carl Jaenisch

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

Four Knights Game

In this period ambitious players explored the Ruy Lopez, believing it a better attempt for White to exploit the advantage of the first move.

Giuoco Piano

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.

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.

Glossary of chess

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.

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.

Inverted Hungarian Opening

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.

Italian Game

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.

Jorgen Moeller

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).

Libro de la invencion liberal y arte del juego del axedrez

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.

Michele Godena

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.

Mikhail Chigorin

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).

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.

Open Game

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.

Petrov's Defence

The Black counterattack in the centre also avoids the Ruy Lopez, Giuoco Piano (and other lines of the Italian Game), and the Scotch Game.

Ponziani Opening

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.

Portuguese Opening

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.

Richter-Veresov Attack

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 López

Ruy Lopez, one of the oldest and most popular chess openings, also known as the "Spanish Opening"

Ruy López de Segura, 16th-century Spanish priest and early chess master

Ruy Lopez, Noah's Ark Trap

::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.

Ruy Lopez, Tarrasch Trap

Tarrasch Trap refers to two different chess opening traps in the Ruy Lopez that are named for Siegbert Tarrasch.

Scotch Game

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 Variation

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)

Two Knights Defense

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.


see also