Chess Openings: Ruy Lopez

The Ruy Lopez is one of the most popular openings in chess. Today we look at some of the common themes you might see when playing the Ruy Lopez.

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470 Comments

  1. Towards the end of the video you discussed a few variation trading the knights on the E file and delivering check. Why not just make the moves so we can see what you're talking about?

  2. but why are the king and queen the wrong way round????

  3. they say with pawns always capture towards the center. Shouldnt Black be responding with Pawn C7 takes bishop and not Pawn D7? …. or does it really matter

  4. I'm so sad thechesswebsite dropped so soon. Please come back soon Kevin! We will donate

  5. who else played the italian opening and thought it was called this since it's SO similar?

  6. always take. it opens up so many attacks

  7. why is b7xBc6 bad at 2:53? The engine says it's bad too, just not sure why.

  8. Demetrius Demarcus Bartholomew James III Jr. says:

    Music too loud

  9. hard to listen to him keep saying roy lopez

  10. This is the shittiest video I've ever seen.

  11. Damn!! This video is 12 years old ? N here I thought it was at most 5 years ago. Bruuuuh. Ruy Lopez must be an old opening.

  12. i just wanted to capture the pawn on e5 so i play Bb5 to remove the knights defense

  13. Grandmasters still use this opening in many tournaments (Magnus plays it alot) and the voice over makes it sound like it's a blah opening with nothing special you haven't seen before. Lol OK

  14. In the exchange variation (3:00), Black's e5 pawn is left hanging. Why doesn't White just take it?

  15. Calling it a 'pin' before black has moved his d pawn is idiotic

  16. Sweet video. Wha tis your intro tune? Love it

  17. this is one of the most legendary openings in my opinion. i got 200 free elo in a span of a month from this opening.

  18. Please choose a better orator for your videos.

  19. The guy the whole time: ummm yeah because the uhhhhh pin in the knight and ehhhh

  20. Why do you say that the knight is pinned when there is a pawn between knight and king?

  21. What if instead of dc at 2:56 you take bishop as bc with d5 in the future? For me this does not look too bad. As an icing on the cake you have active play on the queens side.

  22. I have trouble understanding what advantages the spanish bishop has as opposed to the italian bishop. Whenever I play against the Ruy lopez I always go for Morphy's defense and if you don't play the exchange variation a6 and b5 allow black free development just for the spanish bishop to move to the same file that the italian bishop starts out on while seemingly just conceding free development. Not only did black gain free queenside expansion but he can easily develop his light squared bishop to b7 if he doesn't want to develop on the c8-h3 diagonal. Can someone help me understand what advantages this gives white as opposed to the italian game except the small fact that the spanish bishop on b3 is defended as opposed to the italian bishop on c4.

  23. Great video, weird you keep referring to the player as a he though.

  24. Man I used to watch this when it was first posted Kev!👑 Thank you for your vids!

  25. I was taught this opening when I first learnt to play chess when I was a kid many years ago and always thought it was named the "Spanish opening"

  26. Very slow at commentating the moves man, I was like “yeah okkk cmon what’s next” … then you talk for another 30 second explaining how you like this move… bruh just tell us the moves

  27. in the opening, before i unleash my bishop, i do Nb3 protecting my pawn, THEN i release my bishop. Is it still called the ruy lopez or is it a new opening all together?

  28. I was playing a while ago and the enemy did the ruy lopez opening so i tried it the next match and i loved it

  29. If black moves knight to a5, you can kiss your bishop goodbye 👋

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