The Portuguese Opening: Nc6 — Playing 3.Nf3

The Portuguese Opening (sometimes called the Portuguese Gambit or the Caldas Gambit) shares DNA with the Ruy Lopez, but here your bishop is on b5 a move earlier. After 1.e4 e5 2.Bb5 Nc6 3.Nf3, you threaten nothing immediately — Black can breathe — but every natural developing move from Black runs into a position where you have a slight pull. Your plan is simple: castle kingside, build a pawn centre with d2-d4 or c2-c3, and keep the bishop on the a6-f1 diagonal if Black challenges it. The statistics prove this is a trustworthy opening at club level: your 51.4% winning rate is solid, and the low draw rate (4.3%) means games stay decisive. You are not torturing your opponent in the opening — you are outplaying them in the early middlegame.

Here are the six most popular Black replies and how White scores against each from this position. All numbers come from over 74 million real games. A pattern jumps out: every strong move from Black gives you roughly the same healthy score. That means you can prepare a simple system and not worry about surprise lines. Remember: from this position it is Black to move, so your response depends on what they play next. Let the drill below help you practise your reactions.

Of the six most-played continuations, Nf6 is Black's best practical try — it scores 52.4% for you, the highest White win rate on the list. That might sound backwards at first: Black's most principled move (developing the knight, fighting for the centre) actually gives you your best result. The reason is that after 3...Nf6 you can reply 4.d3 or 4.O-O and reach a solid Ruy Lopez–like structure where your bishop on b5 is well placed. Meanwhile, Bc5 is the only reply that dips below 50% — it scores 49.7% for White. That is still a respectable number, but it shows Black gets real counterplay if they develop their king's bishop to the active c5 square. If you want to maximise your edge, aim for positions after 3...Nf6 or 3...a6.

Stockfish's best move from this position is 3...a6 — immediately asking the bishop what it is doing on b5. The engine then recommends 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O, reaching a balanced but pleasant position for you. Why does the engine recommend a move that scores slightly lower (51.2%) than 3...Nf6? Because in engine terms, the position after 5.O-O is very solid for Black, even if humans find it easier to play as White. The drill below shows you this exact line: you can practise answering 3...a6 with 4.Ba4, meet 4...Nf6 with 5.O-O, and see how the position develops. In practice, more than 16 million players have chosen 3...a6, so you will face this a lot — be ready with your calm retreat.