Italian, Spanish (Rui Lopez) or London system

The Ruy Lopez was the first opening I learned. I believe it's quite instructive, because it directly shows how pawn and piece development can be combined with attack and defense.

White develops his king pawn, occupying the center and opening lines for his king bishop and queen.

Black does the same, regaining equality and blocking White's pawn from advancing further.

White develops his king knight, attacking Black's central pawn.

Black develops his queen knight, defending his pawn.

White develops his king bishop, attacking the defender of the pawn.

And so on, and so forth ... there's very direct and clear logic to the Spanish game.

In something like the London, on the other hand, the purpose of the moves are less clear. The bishop goes on f4 for what reason? What is it pointing at, and for what purpose? Why does the c-pawn go on c3 and not c4? Why does the e-pawn go on e3 and not e4? Where does the king bishop go - e2, d3, c4, b5, or g2?

Often the answer is "Well ... because in the London those pawns / pieces usually go here." The explanation doesn't necessarily help the player understand better.

So players often learn the general setup of the London (the pawn triangle and such), but they aren't so much thinking about attack or defense - they're mostly thinking about trying to attain a specific structure. It's useful to learn in some ways, but also not ideal in others ...

london players mainly only focus on development and thats it

Thank you for sharing, Ralph.

Very interesting line for sure.

Italian is best for new players imo. You will learn the most about chess. To play the Spanish properly you will have to memorize theory and you won’t know what to do with the positions that you get. Once you get better then you can switch to the ruy Lopez which is pretty similar to most positions you get in the Italian. Or just play the Italian because it’s a good opening (played in the world championship today).

I don’t think mindlessly setting up pieces (the London system) is good for chess improvement. I only just recently started playing it as white at 1700 and I do like it and it’s a great opening. But I learned how to play chess first before messing with it.

Yeah, After seeing the Wormald variation, I have decided to double down on my original statement.

The Ruy Lopez is to complicate for beginners to play.

The Ruy Lopez - Wormald Variations looks even more complicated to play.

Looking at the game Rhys posted just reinforces how complicated the position.

Bxh6! Crazy Tactical Shot with a Qg6 move exploiting the pin f7 pawn.

And people want beginners to do the above?

No Chance!

It doesn't have to be.

When I was a beginner, playing against other beginners, a lot of my Spanish games went like this, more or less:

Not really theoretical ... just developing pieces and responding to basic tactics.

I think your example further supports what I have been saying.

Bxc6 is kind of an unforced capture tho u can js develop further

For me (not speaking to beginners) the italian is the easy choice here.

- london is just boring / lame. I would recommend the Jobava though

- Ruy Lopez is too theoretical and you have to deal with the Berlin.

- exchange ruy lopez or other equalish ruy sidelines... okay but if I'm gonna play an equalish position to avoid theory I'd rather play the vienna game, both the g3 and Bc4 variants are quite good... this changes the nature of the position more radically... four knights spanish is another option which has alot of transpositional value.

You never heard of it because it is actually called the Worrall Attack (5.Qe2 in the Ruy Lopez with 3...a6)

Italian requires the medium level of theory.

Ruy Lopez takes 10 years to study

London system is a systematic opening, which means if you premove it, you’ll likely lose all your pieces.

Yeah, I have heard of the Worrall Attack because I remember Paul Keres playing it in a game if I’m not mistaken.

Not sure if Wormald & Worrall transpose into each other or not.

I think the W. Attack is 6.Qe2.

The main move is 6.Re1 defending e4 pawn.

The Worrall Attack defends the pawn with the Queen 6.Qe2 instead of the Rook.

It looks like the Wormald Variation is trying to avoid the Open Ruy Lopez with 5.Qe2.

Most people don’t defend the e4 pawn at that juncture because it’s not really hanging.

If Black tries to take it, Black often has to give the pawn back to avoid getting into trouble.

Its still a playable position for Black the Open - Ruy Lopez. Not extremely popular as it use to be.

I have heard of the Anderson variation which plays 5.d3 to avoid Open Ruy Lopez.

So I am guessing the Wormald has to be trying to play in a similar spirit.

The d4 square is a lot weaker for sure.

Ruy López Opening: Morphy Defense, Wormald Attack - Chess Openings - Chess.com

Ruy López Opening: Morphy Defense, Worrall Attack - Chess Openings - Chess.com

US master Thomas Herbert Worrall was a well-known and fairly strong chessplayer.

But there was also the less known British player Robert Bownas Wormald (he died at just 42) which apparently gave his name to the variation.

Funnily enough, British GM Nigel Davies names the line after Worrall at his chesspublishing surveys. There are no records on Worrall playing it.

Here is the first recorded game on the variation. White played horribly, and lost.

I teach beginners to play the ruy Lopez exchange variation - it's a great opening because you have such an easy plan as white which you can continue the entire game, swap off all the pieces and win the endgame

I'm too!

ok now you're just exaggerating how long the ruy lopez takes to study.

i dont mind dealing with berlin as long as they go back to the main line