Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Anti-Berlin Variation, Mortimer Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Ne7
The Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Anti-Berlin Variation, Mortimer Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C65, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Ne7. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 202 times by this move order. White won 40%, 5% were drawn and Black won 55%. The most popular continuation is 5. Nxe5 (32% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.38 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5. d4 c6 6. dxe5 Nxe4 7. Bd3 Nc5)
- ECO
- C65
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/ppppnppp/5n2/1B2p3/4P3/3P1N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Ne7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 23 | |
| 1500-1999 | 81 | |
| 2000+ | 98 | |
| All | 202 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Nxe5 | 65 (32%) | |
| 5. O-O | 58 (29%) | |
| 5. c3 | 33 (16%) | |
| 5. Nc3 | 14 (7%) | |
| 5. Bg5 | 11 (5%) | |
| 5. c4 | 5 (2%) | |
| 5. Bc4 | 5 (2%) | |
| 5. d4 | 3 (1%) |
Master games
322 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 55%, draw 20%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) – GM Richard Rapport (2760) 1-0 · 9th Norway Chess 2021 · 2021-09-15
- GM Praggnanandhaa R (2749) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2793) 0-1 · Saint Louis Rapid 2024 · 2024-08-13
- GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2717) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2813) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Nov 2025 · 2025-11-18
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM So, W. (2754) 0-1 · Titled Tue 21st Apr 2026 · 2026-04-21
- GM Andrey Esipenko (2714) – GM Richard Rapport (2763) 1/2-1/2 · 84th Tata Steel Masters · 2022-01-29
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Cuentatorneos (2670) – DikiyDjo (2678) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Towser1 (2705) – Yaponets (2580) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- ARTISTIC_attacker (2596) – DikiyDjo (2669) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Anti-Berlin Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3
Continuations
- Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Anti-Berlin Variation, Mortimer Trap C65 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Ne7 5. Nxe5 c6
More Ruy Lopez lines (all)
- Ruy Lopez C60
- Ruy Lopez: Alapin Defense C60
- Ruy Lopez: Alapin Defense, Alapin Gambit C60
- Ruy Lopez: Brentano Gambit C60
- Ruy Lopez: Bulgarian Variation C60
- Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense C60
- Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense, Paulsen Variation C60
- Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense, Tartakower Gambit C60
- Ruy Lopez: Fianchetto Defense C60
- Ruy Lopez: Fianchetto Defense, Kevitz Gambit C60
- Ruy Lopez: Lucena Variation C60
- Ruy Lopez: Nürnberg Variation C60
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.