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. Bb3/7...d5/8. dxe5

Open Spanish C80 Spanish game → Open Spanish → 7...d5 8. dxe5 White recovers the pawn and exposes an attack on d5. Black must drop everything and defend the d-pawn. 8...Be6 is the best way. This defends the pawn, develops, and stabilises the centre. For the sake of completeness, the other ways to defend the pawn are 8...Ne7 and 8...d4. Absolutely no Brownie points for either of these moves: 8...Ne7 is the Zukertort variation. This defends the pawn but doesn't develop a new piece and is slow. White can give up the bishop pair and still have a commanding position. 8...d4? is horrible. It pulls the rug out from under the e4-knight while not particularly improving the pawns condition. 9. Re1 Nc5 10. Ng5! with the idea of Qf3, and even winning the bishop pair is not enough to keep Black in the game. Theory table References See also Ruy Lopez