1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6
The first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) developed 3...d6 into a solid defence against the Spanish, which was played by many grandmasters for a long time. The world champions Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) and Jose Raul Capablanca (1888-1942) also often used the system before it lost much of its popularity in the 1930s when more active defences were favoured. 3...d6 gives White the opportunity to immediately become active in the centre with 4.d4, after which the pressure on e5 will sooner or later force Black to resolve the centre tension with ...exd4. White then remains with the so-called minor centre - pawn e4 against pawn d6 - which guarantees them a space advantage for a long time. After 4...exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7, for example, Black is content with a cramped but very solid position. The Steinitz Defence can also be controlled via the "improved" move sequence 3...Nf6 4.0-0 d6, which at least eliminates variations with long castling for White.
The Modern Steinitz Defence (or the Steinitz Defence Deferred) 3...a6 4.Ba4 d6 is somewhat more attractive for Black.
5.d4 can be answered here by playing 5...b5 6.Bb3 and then 6...Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4. 8.Qxd4 after 8...c5 and ...c4 leads to the loss of Bb3 (Ark-Noah trap). This is why after 4...d6 the moves 5.Bxc6+, 5.c3 and 5.0-0 have mainly been tried. 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.d4 aims to regain a space advantage after ...exd4, but here White must at least give up the bishop pair. Black can also consider 6...f6 with support for the e-pawn. 5.c3 has the disadvantage that Black can resort to the sharp siesta line with 5...f5. 5.0-0 allows the very aggressive 5...Bg4. 6.h3 can now be answered with 6...h5, after which capturing the bishop is initially out of the question because of the attack on the h-file.
The Steinitz Defence promises a firm, solid position with little theoretical effort. The Modern Steinitz Defence also offers sharper play, but also requires more preparation.