Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5/3...a6/4. Ba4/4...Nf6/5. O-O/5...Be7/6. Re1/6...b5/7. Bb3/7...d6/8. c3/8...O-O/9. h3/9...Bb7

Ruy Lopez Zaitsev Variation
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) r2q1rk1/1bp1bppp/p1np1n2/1p2p3/4P3/1BP2N1P/PP1P1PP1/RNBQR1K1
Parent: Ruy Lopez

Ruy Lopez, Zaitsev Variation

This is the main theoretical battleground in the Ruy Lopez today. Black's bishop aims at the White e-pawn, which will be ganged up on through moves like ...Re8 and ...Bf8, followed by taking on d4 to maximize the pressure. Meanwhile Black maintains maximum flexibility for the queen's knight: it may go to the traditional square a5, or to b4 once the c-pawn captures on d4. Karpov favored this line in his glory days of the '70s and '80s. Now it has greatly decreased in popularity in the last twenty years, but still leads to very complex, difficult positions.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables see theory table and for notation see algebraic notation.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8

	11	12	13	14	15
Main Line	a4 h6	Nbd2 Bf8	Bc2 exd4	cxd4 Nb4	Bb1 c5	+=
	Nbd2 Bf8	Bc2 g6	d5 Nb8	b3 c6	c4 Bh6	=
	Ng5 Rf8	f4 exf4	Bxf4 Na5	Bc2 Nd5	exd5 Bxg5	=

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References

• Modern Chess Openings 15th ed, 2008. Nick de Firmian. Random House, New York. ISBN 0-8129-3682-5.