King Pawn Openings: Ruy Lopez

Going back to the basic principles behind chess openings, we readily point out that one of White's distinct advantages is being the first to make a move at the onset of the game. Any player can take advantage of this added initiative and bring added pressure to the opponent in form of threats on Black's pieces. Consequently this puts Black on the defensive for the very first moves in the game giving White further advantages.

One such opening in a game of chess that capitalizes on such an advantage for White is the Ruy Lopez. Among the King Pawn openings, the Ruy Lopez poses one of the biggest challenges for Black in the game of chess. This opening starts out as 1 P - K4, P - K4; 2 Kt - KB3, Kt - QB3; 3 B - Kt5. You can immediately see that White immediately capitalizes on the extra move afforded by the rules of the game.

The successive threats, first to Black's King Pawn next to Black's Knight that defends the King Pawn, puts black on a defensive stance and is reduced to reacting to White's onslaught. Another benefit White gets out of the whole deal from the Ruy Lopez is that by doing so with the idea behind it, the continuous threats also puts White's pieces on ideal squares along the way.

A sample continuation from the Ruy Lopez opening is the following: 3 ... P - Q3 4 P - Q4, B - Q2 5 Kt - B3, Kt - B3 6 O - O, B - K2 7 R - K1, P x P 8 Kt x P, O - O 9 B - B1! After going through the said continuation, players can easily notice that White's center is pretty well established compared to that of Black's. Black, on the other hand, looking at Black's position, any player can easily tell that its position is really cramped.

In spite of the given the indisputable advantage this opening gives to White, Ruy Lopez took a while before gaining a true following. If a player has to defend against the Ruy Lopez, then they can choose between any of the old defenses - strong point method or counter attack.

Other than the two basic defensive principles Black has at his disposal 3 ... P - QR3. This reply to the Ruy Lopez takes on a waiting style of game, seeing how White would react. It also can be used to ward off White's onslaught of threats to Black's chess pieces and making White lose a bit of momentum.

The Ruy Lopez is one of the chess openings that promise an action-packed start. This also becomes quite a challenge for the player who plays Black.