Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5/3...a6/4. Ba4/4...Nf6/5. O-O/5...Nxe4/6. d4/6...b5/7. d5

Richter variation Open Spanish 7. d5?! · Richter variation White leaves their bishop en prise to counterattack Black's knight instead. Black can rescue the knight 7...Ne7 and it seems then White must play 8. Bb3 anyway. However, White has the devious move 8. Re1!, where the natural move 8...Nc5?, which preserves the knight and prepares to trade off the bishop, is an error: 9. Nxe5 bxa4?? 10. Qf3! threatens 11. Qxf7#. 10...f6? 11. Qh5+!. In actual fact, allowing the trade of knight for bishop (either knight, 7...Ne7 8. Re1 bxa4 or 7...bxa4 8. dxc6) is fine for Black: After 7...bxa4 8. dxc6 d6, forget about Black's potentially slightly rubbish rook pawns, one of which is an extra pawn anyway. Black has a stable centre, a half-open b-file, a kingside pawn majority that could quite easily wallop White after ...f5 and ...Nf6 and the bishop pair: it's one of those rare positions that are just really good fun (your mileage may vary). Theory table 0 7...Ne7 8. Re1 bxa4 9. Rxe4 d6 - Richter variation 7. ... ... 8. ... Nc5? 9. Nxe5! bxa4?? 10. Qf3 f6? 11. Qh5+ +++ 7...bxa4 8. dxc6 d6 9. Re1 f5! - References See also Ruy Lopez