FICGS - Wikichess - Article 297

The main move. Black doesn't fear the "loss" of the e5 pawn : 3.Bxc6 dxc6! 4.Nxe5?! because of ..Qd4! with equallity at worst.

Morphy Defence, by far the most commonly played Black third move which "puts the question" to the white bishop. White has only two good options, 4.Bxc6 or 4.Ba4. The main point to 3...a6 is that after the common retreat 4.Ba4, Black will have the possibility of breaking the pin on his queen knight by playing ...b5. In fact, White must take some care to not fall into the Noah's Ark Trap in which Black traps White's king bishop on the b3-square with a ...a6, ...b5, and ...c4 pawn advance on the queenside.

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Contributors : Pablo Schmid, Thibault de Vassal

[ECO "C60"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez (Spanish Opening)"]

Ba4 : 3383 games, White ELO av : 1895, Black ELO av : 1882
1-0 : 38.9% , 1/2-1/2 : 35.3% , 0-1 : 25.9%

Bxc6 : 534 games, White ELO av : 1654, Black ELO av : 1665
1-0 : 40.8% , 1/2-1/2 : 19.5% , 0-1 : 39.7%

Bc4 : 12 games, White ELO av : 1281, Black ELO av : 1478
1-0 : 41.7% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 58.3%

O-O : 2 games, White ELO av : 1798, Black ELO av : 1976
1-0 : 50% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 50%

Nc3 : 1 game, White ELO av : 1434, Black ELO av : 1800
1-0 : 0% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 100%

c3 : 1 game, White ELO av : 814, Black ELO av : 1276
1-0 : 0% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 100%

c4 : 1 game, White ELO av : 1000, Black ELO av : 952
1-0 : 0% , 1/2-1/2 : 0% , 0-1 : 100%

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