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The Spanish Game — slow pressure on e5 and the most respected 1.e4 opening.
The Ruy López pressures Black’s centre without committing to an early attack. Learn the ideas behind Bb5, the a6 question, and why White so often plays a patient c3 and d4.
Understand what 3.Bb5 threatens and what it does not.
Why 3.Bb5 pressures e5 indirectly.
The patient c3 and d4 plan.
Interactive lessons, checkpoints and spaced-repetition drills — plus alerts when you leave your preparation in your own games.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb53.Bb5 attacks the knight that defends e5. It is not yet a real threat to win the pawn — after 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5, Black regains the pawn with ...Qd4. But the pin nags at Black’s position for many moves and shapes the whole game.
3...a63...a6 asks the bishop to decide. This is the most popular reply in chess history. White almost always retreats with 4.Ba4, keeping the pin, rather than trading on c6, because the bishop is a long-term asset.