So what does a third-highest-rated player of all time actually play? Caruana’s repertoire is a great study in balance: principled, classical main lines as White, a fortress and a fighting weapon as Black. Here’s the tour — with a link to a full guide for each opening so you can learn to play them yourself.
As White: 1.e4 and the Ruy Lopez
Caruana is a lifelong 1.e4 player, and his signature is the grand old Ruy Lopez (the Spanish Opening). It starts with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5, attacking the knight that defends Black’s e5-pawn, and it’s the deepest, most theory-rich battleground in all of 1.e4 e5.
The Ruy Lopez suits him perfectly. It rewards deep preparation (his superpower) and leads to rich middlegames where a small, lasting edge can be nursed for 40 moves — exactly the kind of patient position where his accuracy shines. He also mixes in the quieter Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4), which has become hugely popular at the top level as a slower, maneuvering alternative to the Spanish.
As Black vs 1.e4: the Petroff fortress
Facing 1.e4, Caruana’s most famous choice is the Petroff Defense (also called the Russian Game): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6. Instead of defending the e5-pawn, Black immediately counterattacks White’s e4-pawn, and the resulting positions are famously symmetrical and hard to crack.
The Petroff is the opening equivalent of a suit of armor. Caruana relied on it in the 2018 World Championship against Magnus Carlsen, where staying rock-solid with Black was mission-critical — and it held up beautifully as the classical match ran to twelve straight draws. If your priority is not losing with the black pieces, this is a battle-tested choice.
As Black vs 1.e4: the Sicilian Najdorf for the win
When Caruana wants to play for a win rather than sit tight, he reaches for the Sicilian — specifically the sharp, celebrated Najdorf variation: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6.
The Najdorf is one of the most theoretical, double-edged openings in chess, favored by attacking legends like Fischer and Kasparov. That little move 5…a6 looks modest, but it controls key squares and prepares a flexible, aggressive setup. For a deeply-prepared player like Caruana, the Najdorf is the perfect place to spring home analysis and unbalance the game.
As Black vs 1.d4: solid and classical
Against 1.d4, Caruana keeps things classical and dependable, at home in Queen’s Gambit Declined structures and other solid setups where sound piece play matters more than early fireworks. It’s the same philosophy as his Petroff: a reliable foundation that’s tough to break down, giving him a stable base to outplay opponents later in the game.
The common thread across everything he plays is that his openings are chosen to reach positions he understands better than his opponent, not just positions that look scary. A World-Championship-level repertoire isn’t about owning the “best” opening — it’s about owning openings you know cold, in every structure, from both sides. That’s why Caruana can steer a game toward a slow Ruy Lopez maneuvering battle one day and a Najdorf knife-fight the next, and feel at home in both.
Why the Ruy Lopez fits him so well
It’s worth pausing on why the Ruy Lopez in particular is such a natural home for Caruana. The Spanish is famous for its “slow burn” — White builds a big pawn center, tucks the pieces into good squares, and then maneuvers for dozens of moves looking for a tiny, lasting advantage. That plays directly to Caruana’s two greatest strengths: preparation (there’s a century of theory to master, and he’s mastered it) and patience (he’s perfectly happy to grind a small edge across a long game). Openings that reward memorization and understanding are exactly where a player of his profile pulls ahead.
What his repertoire teaches you
There’s a genuinely useful lesson hiding in Caruana’s opening choices: have a solid weapon and a sharp weapon, and know which one to pull out.
- A “no-lose” default (his is the Petroff) means you’re never in trouble straight out of the opening.
- A “must-win” weapon (his is the Najdorf) gives you something dangerous when you need the full point.
- A classical main line as White (the Ruy Lopez) rewards understanding over memorization and keeps giving you good positions for a lifetime.
You don’t need to memorize reams of theory — start by learning the plans behind one opening from each category and you’ll already be ahead of most casual opponents.
Keep exploring
See these openings do damage in his best games, learn how he uses them in his playing style, or head back to the full Caruana profile. Ready to learn one? Start with the Ruy Lopez guide or the Petroff guide.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, his FIDE profile, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Positions engine-verified for legality · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.