Openings · C60–C99

Ruy López

Pressure on the knight that defends e5 — a squeeze rather than a threat.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5played as White

Play it through on the board below.

Practise the line

You play White; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

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Your move 1 of 30/3
  1. 1.e4e5
  2. 2.Nf3Nc6
  3. 3.Bb5

Your move. Drag a piece, or tap it and then its square.

The idea

3.Bb5 attacks the defender of e5 rather than e5 itself. It does not win a pawn and is not trying to; it asks Black to spend moves on ...a6 and ...b5, and then White builds with c3, d4 and a knight rerouted to g3.

It is the most heavily analysed opening in chess, which cuts both ways: the plans are clear and well understood, and so are Black's. The Exchange Variation, 4.Bxc6, is a genuine alternative that plays for a structure rather than an attack.

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level: named traps and the errors every coach corrects.

Believing the pin wins the pawn

After 5…Qd4
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
The mistake
Taking on c6 and then grabbing e5.
Why it costs
5…Qd4 hits the knight on e5 and the pawn on e4 at the same time; Black wins the material straight back and comes out with the two bishops for it.
Instead
5.O-O. The Exchange Variation is about giving Black doubled pawns, not about winning one.

The Noah's Ark Trap

After 8…c5
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
  7. 7.
  8. 8.
The mistake
Recapturing on d4 with the queen.
Why it costs
8…c5 hits the queen, and …c4 next shuts the bishop in behind Black's own pawns on a6, b5 and c4. It is a trap old enough to have a name, and it still catches people because every move Black plays looks like an attack on something else.
Instead
8.Bd5, hitting a8 and f7 at once, which is the known way out of the whole idea.

Walking into the Marshall

After 8…d5
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
  7. 7.
  8. 8.
The mistake
Reaching the main line against an opponent who has prepared the Marshall Attack.
Why it costs
Black gives a pawn for an attack that has been analysed for a hundred years. Defending it over the board, against someone who has looked at it and you have not, is not a fair fight — and the position is not the kind you can work out from general principles.
Instead
8.a4 or 8.h3 first. Both are ordinary moves that decline the argument, and both are why they are called anti-Marshalls.

In real games between beginners

  • 1 in 63games end with White giving checkmate by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 33.
  • 1 in 45games end with White getting checkmated by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 54.

From 9,305 Lichess games in this opening between players rated under 1200, blitz and slower, September 2026. How we counted.

What the engine says

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5, these are Black's six best moves according to Stockfish, with the bar showing Black's chance of winning. The whole list sits within 3 percentage points of win chance: none of them is a mistake, and the choice is about the positions you want to play.

  1. Nf6+0.3
  2. a6+0.4
  3. Bc5+0.4
  4. Nge7+0.4
  5. g6+0.5
  6. Nd4+0.5

The engine's main line from Nf6: Nf6 O-O Nxe4 Re1 Nd6 Bf1 Be7 Nxe5.

Stockfish 18, depth 24. Scores are in pawns from White's side. Another engine or depth will move individual numbers a little; the picture does not change. How we check.

Where it fits

The lines out of it with pages of their own: Ruy López, Berlin Defence and Ruy López, Morphy Defence.

Analyse a game you played in itAll openings