Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Closed Bernstein Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O d6 5. d4 Bd7 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bg5
The Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Closed Bernstein Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C66, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O d6 5. d4 Bd7 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bg5. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1 times by this move order. White won 0%, 0% were drawn and Black won 100%. The most popular continuation is 7… Nxd4 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.29 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 7… exd4 8. Nxd4 h6 9. Be3 Nxd4 10. Bxd4)
- ECO
- C66
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r2qk2r/pppbbppp/2np1n2/1B2p1B1/3PP3/2N2N2/PPP2PPP/R2Q1RK1 b kq - 4 7- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O d6 5. d4 Bd7 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bg5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| All | 1 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Nxd4 | 1 (100%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- Mehmet Alper Celebi (2175) – Luka Karlovic (2000) 1-0 · 33rd EY Open U12 2025 · 2025-11-04
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Closed Bernstein Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- nektarios_pa (1401) – OmeJoop (1374) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 3s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Hedgehog Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O d6 5. d4 Bd7 6. Nc3 Be7
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.