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 Flohr System 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 Ruy Lopez Ruy Lopez, Flohr System 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 . 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 11 12 13 14 15 d4Re8 a4h6 Nbd2Bf8 Bc2exd4 cxd4Nb4 Bb1c5 1 ...... Nbd2Bf8 Bc2g6 d5Nb8 b3c6 c4Bh6 equal ...... Ng5Rf8 f4exf4 Bxf4Na5 Bc2Nd5 exd5Bxg5 equal Ruy Lopez References