As White

Ruy López (Spanish Opening)

The Ruy López (Spanish Opening) is a chess opening for White that starts with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5.

The classical opening par excellence. It puts immediate pressure on the centre.

Reviewed on November 6, 2026 · Prepared by Josep Serrano Ballestero

Basic · Elo 400 – 600

Train this level

  1. Opponent's mistake · 5...d5

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 d5 6.d3 Nf6 7.Nxe5 Be7 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.Nxc6

  2. Opponent's mistake · 4...d6

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 d6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Kf1 Bd7 8.Qa4 a5 9.a3 Nxd4 10.Nxd4

  3. Opponent's mistake · 5...Nd4

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Nd4 6.Nxd4 exd4 7.Bxf7+

  4. Opponent's mistake · 5...d6

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.d5 a6 9.Ba4 Nxe4 10.dxc6 bxc6 11.Bxc6+

  5. Opponent's mistake · 7...Bd6

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nf6 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.d4 Bd6 8.dxe5 Bxe5 9.Rxe5+

  6. Opponent's mistake · 6...Qe7

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 Qe7 7.O-O Nxe5 8.Nxe5 Qxe5 9.Re1 Ne4 10.Nd2 f5 11.Qh5+ g6 12.Nxe4 gxh5 13.Nf6+ Kf7 14.Rxe5

  7. Open, Riga Variation

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.d4 exd4 7.Re1

  8. Berlin Defense, Beverwijk Variation

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.c3 Nxe4 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4

  9. Morphy Defense

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Nxe4 7.Re1

  10. Steinitz Defense · 4.d4 exd4

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.Nxc6 Bxc6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.Qe2 Nf6 9.Nc3

  11. Berlin Defense, Rio Gambit Accepted

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.Rxe5+

  12. Steinitz Defense · 4.d4 Bd7

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.d5 Nce7 6.Bxd7+ Qxd7 7.c4 Nf6 8.Nc3

Intermediate · Elo 1000 – 1200

Train this level

  1. Opponent's mistake · 4...d6

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 d6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Kf1 Bd7 8.Qa4 a5 9.a3 Nxd4 10.Nxd4

  2. Opponent's mistake · 5...Nd4

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Nd4 6.Nxd4 exd4 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qd5+ Ke8 10.Qxa8

  3. Opponent's mistake · 5...d6

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4

  4. Opponent's mistake · 6...Qe7

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 exd4 6.Re1 Qe7 7.Nxd4 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 f5 9.Nc3 c5 10.Qd5 a6 11.Qxf5

  5. Steinitz Defense · 4.d4 a6

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 a6 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8 8.Nxe5 Be6 9.Nxc6+

  6. Berlin Defense, Beverwijk Variation · 5.c3 Nxe4

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.c3 Nxe4 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.d5

  7. Steinitz Defense · 5.d5 Nd4

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.d5 Nd4 6.Bxd7+ Qxd7 7.Nxd4 exd4 8.Qxd4

  8. Berlin Defense, Beverwijk Variation · 5.c3 O-O

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.e5

  9. Steinitz Defense · 4.d4 exd4

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.Nxc6 Bxc6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.Qe2 Be7 9.b3

  10. Steinitz Defense · 5.d5 Nb8

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.d5 Nb8 6.Bxd7+ Nxd7 7.Be3 Ngf6 8.Nfd2

  11. Morphy Defense, Caro Variation

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 d6 6.c3 Nf6 7.a4

  12. Morphy Defense, Neo-Arkhangelsk Variation

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Bc5 6.O-O Nf6 7.a4 Bb7 8.d3

Advanced · Elo 1200 – 1400

Train this level

  1. Opponent's mistake · 4...d6

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 d6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Kf1 Bd7 8.Qa4 a5 9.a3 Nge7 10.axb4 Nxb4 11.h4

  2. Opponent's mistake · 5...d6

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.d5 a6 9.Ba4 O-O 10.dxc6 bxc6 11.Bxc6

  3. Opponent's mistake · 7...Nxd4

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.d4 Nxd4 8.Nxd4 exd4 9.e5 Ne4 10.Qf3 d5 11.exd6 Nxd6 12.Qxa8

  4. Morphy Defense · 7.d4 exd4

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.d4 exd4 8.e5 Ne4 9.Bd5 Nc5 10.Nxd4 Bb7 11.Nf5 O-O 12.Nc3 Nxe5 13.Ne4

  5. Berlin Defense, Beverwijk Variation

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.e5 Nd5 9.Bc4

  6. Closed

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.d3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Re1 Bd6 13.Nd2 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Ne4

  7. Berlin Defense, Rio Gambit Accepted · 6.Nxe5 Nxe5

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.Rxe5+ Be7 8.Bf1 O-O 9.d4

  8. Morphy Defense · 7.d4 d6

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.d4 d6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Qxd8+ Bxd8 10.a4 b4 11.Bg5

  9. Steinitz Defense

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.d5 Nce7 6.Bxd7+ Qxd7 7.c4 Nf6 8.Nc3 Ng6 9.h4

  10. Open, Classical Defense

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2

  11. Berlin Defense, Rio Gambit Accepted · 6.Nxe5 Be7

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 O-O 8.Nf3 Nf5 9.d4 d5 10.g3

  12. Morphy Defense, Neo-Arkhangelsk Variation

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.axb5

  13. Morphy Defense, Graz Variation

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Bc5 6.O-O d6 7.a4 b4 8.c3

Frequently asked questions

Is the Ruy López (Spanish Opening) good for beginners?

Yes. On OpeningCraft you learn it in these levels: Basic (Elo 400 – 600), Intermediate (Elo 1000 – 1200), Advanced (Elo 1200 – 1400). It suits players who prefer long-term plans and pawn structure.

What traps are there in the Ruy López (Spanish Opening)?

OpeningCraft teaches 12 traps and opponent mistakes in this opening, for example: Opponent's mistake (5...d5); Opponent's mistake (4...d6); Opponent's mistake (5...Nd4).

How many lines of the Ruy López (Spanish Opening) do you need to learn?

OpeningCraft teaches 36, in blocks of 5. They come from real Lichess games at each rating band, and the traps and opponent mistakes most common at your level come first.

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