Why is it called the Ruy Lopez?

After the Spanish priest Ruy Lopez de Segura, who wrote about 3.Bb5 in a book on chess in the sixteenth century. In most of Europe the opening is simply called the Spanish, and English-language sources use both names for the same three moves. The modern understanding of it dates from the nineteenth century, long after the name was attached.

Does 3.Bb5 threaten to win the e5 pawn?

Not yet. After 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5 Black plays 5...Qd4, forking the knight on e5 and the pawn on e4, and the material comes straight back. The threat only becomes real later, once White has castled and played c3 and d4 so that the knight on e5 is properly supported. That delay is what makes the opening subtle.

Is the Ruy Lopez good for beginners?

It is sound but it is not the place to start. The Italian gives you an attack you can see; the Ruy gives you a small structural advantage that pays off in the endgame, and the main lines run past move ten before either side commits to anything. Play it once you can win a game without a tactic on move eight.

The Ruy Lopez (Spanish) explained

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5. The bishop attacks the knight that defends e5, and every beginner who sees it thinks a pawn is about to fall. It is not, and understanding why is most of understanding the opening.

The Ruy Lopez after 3.Bb5. The bishop hits c6, the knight on c6 holds e5, and White is ready to castle next move.

What the bishop is really doing

Three things at once, none of them urgent.

It attacks the defender of e5, so the pawn on e5 is permanently a little loose and Black has to keep an eye on it for the next twenty moves. It prepares Bxc6, which doubles Black’s pawns on the c-file and leaves White with a healthier structure for an endgame. And it clears the back rank, so White castles on move four or five and the rook on f1 supports the e4-e5 push later.

There is a fourth thing that only turns up later. The moment Black plays …d6 the pawn leaves d7, the diagonal b5-c6-d7-e8 is clear, and the knight on c6 is genuinely pinned against its own king.

If Black plays 3…a6, the bishop steps back to a4 and then b3, where it sits on the a2-g8 diagonal pointing at f7 and does the same job the Italian bishop does, only with an extra tempo gained on the way. That is the main line: 3…a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O and White has a position that has been analysed for well over a century and is still not exhausted.

No, it does not win the pawn

From the start: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5 Qd4, forking the knight on e5 and the pawn on e4. After 6.Nf3 Qxe4+ Black has the pawn back with check.

That little sequence is worth playing through on a board, because it is the reason the Ruy is a slow opening. The pawn grab does not work on move five. It starts to work around move twelve, after White has castled, played c3 and d4 and given the knight on e5 something to stand on. Until then the bishop on b5 is applying pressure, not making a threat, and the difference between those two words is what club players mean by positional play.

Black’s own main plan is to gain space with …b5 and …d6, hide the king, and eventually break with …d5 or …c5. It is one of the most balanced fights in chess, and there is a good reason it appears in world championship matches decade after decade.

When to take it up

After the Italian. Both begin 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6, so nothing is wasted, and the Italian teaches you the f7 square and open-position tactics first. Once you are winning games by plan rather than by trap, move the bishop to b5 instead of c4 and see how differently the same position plays.

Whichever you choose, the three jobs do not change, and an hour of opening puzzles will do more for your rating this month than a third opening will.