Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5/3...a6/4. Ba4/4...Nf6/5. O-O/5...b5/6. Bb3/6...Bb7

Ruy Lopez
a b c d e f g h
8a8 black rookb8 black kingc8 black kingd8 black queene8 black kingf8 black bishopg8 black kingh8 black rook8
7a7 black kingb7 black bishopc7 black pawnd7 black pawne7 black kingf7 black pawng7 black pawnh7 black pawn7
6a6 black pawnb6 black kingc6 black knightd6 black kinge6 black kingf6 black knightg6 black kingh6 black king6
5a5 black kingb5 black pawnc5 black kingd5 black kinge5 black pawnf5 black kingg5 black kingh5 black king5
4a4 black kingb4 black kingc4 black kingd4 black kinge4 white pawnf4 black kingg4 black kingh4 black king4
3a3 black kingb3 white bishopc3 black kingd3 black kinge3 black kingf3 white knightg3 black kingh3 black king3
2a2 white pawnb2 white pawnc2 white pawnd2 white pawne2 black kingf2 white pawng2 white pawnh2 white pawn2
1a1 white rookb1 white knightc1 white bishopd1 white queene1 black kingf1 white rookg1 white kingh1 black king1
a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN)
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7
Parent: Ruy Lopez

Ruy Lopez

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Arkhangelsk Variation

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Black elects to fianchetto his light-square bishop in order to gain pressure against White's kingside and center. This has the added benefit of defending the rook on a8, thereby taking some of the sting out of a future a4 thrust by White. However, the activity of Black's fianchettoed bishop can be countered by White overprotecting e4. Thus the most common reply by White in recent years has been 7. d3, after which Black typically develops his other bishop to either e7 or c5. The latter leads to positions which can also be reached from the Neo-Arkhangelsk (6...Bc5), though 6...Bb7 7. d3 Bc5 is the more common order. With a pawn on d3, White does not need to bring a rook to e1 in the near term, and so his queen's knight often travels to the kingside via c3 (from where d5 also becomes an option) and e2 rather than d2 and f1, since White does not wish to spend a tempo clearing the f1 square.

7. Re1 shares the idea of overprotecting e4 and allows White's queen's knight to take the traditional route; in this variation White intends to forge ahead with c3, d4, and Nbd2-f1-g3, though this knight maneuver will require the insertion of Be3 first if Black's dark-squared bishop has come to the a7-g1 diagonal. If White is not in a rush to develop the queen's knight, his dark-square bishop may instead develop to g5. This line is the oldest variation of the Arkhangelsk, having been played in the 1950 game in which Paul Keres, as black, sprung the then-novel Arkhangelsk on Alexander Kotov.[1]

7. d4 is an old try at immediately refuting Black's move order by preventing an immediate ... Bc5, but after 7...Nxd4, either 8. Nxd4 exd4 or the trickier 8. Bxf7+ Kxf7 9. Nxe5+ Kg8 10. Qxd4 c5 11. Qd1 Qe8 12. Nf3 Qxe4 leaves White with no real advantage.

After 7. c3, Black has scored well playing greedily with 7...Nxe4 8. d4 exd4, though the resulting positions are quite tactically complex. The more common move is 8...Na5.

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References

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