Ruy Lopez Tournament

This Wednesday, January 19, we are having a tournament that is featuring an opening first documented in 1490 in the writings of the Gottingen manuscript.  Ruy Lopez de Segura, a priest, then studied the opening and his name became associated with it after he published a book in 1561.  The game begins with 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.  Bb5 . .  and this will be the starting position with black to start the game.  Due to time consraints all games will be G/10 and will start at 3:45 pm.  Here is a link that shows many of the variations of the Ruy Lopez.

Although it is one of the oldest openings, it is still popular among the elite today.

The opening is also called the Spanish and there are many variations and counters that folks have devised with mixed results.  The overall theory suggests that the e5 pawn immediately receives pressure, but be careful 3. . . a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. Nxe5 Qd4 puts white in a difficult position (the exchange variation).  Move 5 is better with 0-0 or even d4.  Black doesn't have to play a6 and can open up a tremendous range of possibilities which has given chess writers lot's of opportunity to publish their ideas.  The main line includes:  1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 0-0 9. h3  where white then looks to make a d4 push.





Here is one of the traps to watch out for.