Ruy Lopez:Classical Variation

One of the oldest defences to the Ruy Lopez: Black develops the bishop to c5, its most active square.

It is reached after 6 moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez.

White is to move and has 32 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 1,181,526 different games. Those games reach 386,008 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3.1 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 7 further lines after this position, such as Central Variation (4. c3) and Spanish Wing Gambit (4. b4).

The same moves can be played in 9 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. Nf3 e5 2. e4 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5, which starts as the Zukertort Opening.