Open games & French

Portuguese Opening

1.e4 e5 2.Bb5

The Portuguese Opening starts with 1.e4 e5 2.Bb5 and is catalogued under ECO C20, in the open games & french half of the book. The catalog indexes 3 lines inside it, grouped into 3 named variations.

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Current setup

Move ideas

  1. 1.e4

    Claims the center with a pawn and opens lines for the queen and king’s bishop.

    Idea: Build quick development and make early castling possible.

  2. 1…e5

    Meets White’s center directly and opens lines for Black’s queen and bishop.

    Idea: Fight for equal central space in a balanced, open position.

  3. 2.Bb5

    Develops the bishop to b5, bringing it into the game.

    Idea: Improve piece coordination and clear the back rank for castling and the rooks.

  4. 2…Nf6

    Develops the knight to f6, bringing it into the game.

    Idea: Improve piece coordination and clear the back rank for castling and the rooks.

  5. 3.d4

    Advances to d4 to claim central space and control nearby key squares.

    Idea: Give the pieces room to develop behind a durable central foothold.

Book continuations

Waiting for Lichess game popularity.

0 moves
This is the end of the indexed line.

Named variations

Each line below is an indexed entry under Portuguese Opening. Open one to load it on the board and keep exploring from that position.

Openings from the same volume

ECO groups openings by the structures they lead to, so these families tend to share plans with the Portuguese Opening.