Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5/3...a6/4. Ba4/4...Nf6/5. O-O/5...b5/6. Bb3/6...Bb7

=Ruy Lopez=

Arkhangelsk Variation
Black elects to fianchetto his light-square bishop in order to gain pressure against White's kingside and center. This has the added benefit of defending the rook on a8, thereby taking some of the sting out of a future a4 thrust by White. However, the activity of Black's fianchettoed bishop can be countered by White overprotecting e4. Thus the most common reply by White in recent years has been 7. d3, after which Black typically develops his other bishop to either e7 or c5. The latter leads to positions which can also be reached from the Neo-Arkhangelsk (6...Bc5), though 6...Bb7 7. d3 Bc5 is the more common order. With a pawn on d3, White does not need to bring a rook to e1 in the near term, and so his queen's knight often travels to the kingside via c3 (from where d5 also becomes an option) and e2 rather than d2 and f1, since White does not wish to spend a tempo clearing the f1 square.

7. Re1 shares the idea of overprotecting e4 and allows White's queen's knight to take the traditional route; in this variation White intends to forge ahead with c3, d4, and Nbd2-f1-g3, though this knight maneuver will require the insertion of Be3 first if Black's dark-squared bishop has come to the a7-g1 diagonal. If White is not in a rush to develop the queen's knight, his dark-square bishop may instead develop to g5. This line is the oldest variation of the Arkhangelsk, having been played in the 1950 game in which Paul Keres, as black, sprung the then-novel Arkhangelsk on Alexander Kotov.

7. d4 is an old try at immediately refuting Black's move order by preventing an immediate ... Bc5, but after 7...Nxd4, either 8. Nxd4 exd4 or the trickier 8. Bxf7+ Kxf7 9. Nxe5+ Kg8 10. Qxd4 c5 11. Qd1 Qe8 12. Nf3 Qxe4 leaves White with no real advantage.

After 7. c3, Black has scored well playing greedily with 7...Nxe4 8. d4 exd4, though the resulting positions are quite tactically complex. The more common move is 8...Na5.