10 Openings Every Chess Player Must Memorise

The Ruy Lopez, also sometimes called the Spanish Opening, is very similar to the Italian Game at first. The first two moves for both would play out in the same way: pawn to E4, pawn to E5, king’s side knight to F3 and queen’s side knight to C6.

However, whites’ third move is where things change. Instead of moving king’s side bishop to C4 to attack the F7 Pawn, white would play king’s side bishop to B5, attacking the knight on C6. While this may seem like nothing more than an empty threat, if black doesn’t know a strong counter, they can quickly lose a lot of material and leave white in a favourable position.

For black, the favourable move is to play A6, putting pressure on the bishop and attempting to force it to retreat. This is known as the Morphy Defence, ideally forcing the bishop to A4. If A4 is played, black can continue with B5, and then knight to A5. This keeps considerable pressure on the bishop while developing black’s pieces.

Most other defences from black are favourable to white. If you are playing this opening as white and your opponent doesn’t respond with A6, often the best move in response is to castle on the king’s side, getting your king safe behind the F2, G2 and H2 pawns and getting your king’s side rook into the game.