Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Closed Wolf Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O d6 5. d4 Bd7 6. Nc3 exd4
The Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Closed Wolf 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 exd4. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 14 times by this move order. White won 64%, 0% were drawn and Black won 36%. The most popular continuation is 7. Nxd4 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.59 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 7. Nxd4 Be7 8. Nxc6 Bxc6 9. Bxc6+ bxc6)
- ECO
- C66
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r2qkb1r/pppb1ppp/2np1n2/1B6/3pP3/2N2N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w kq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O d6 5. d4 Bd7 6. Nc3 exd4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 2 | |
| 1500-1999 | 10 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 14 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Nxd4 | 14 (100%) |
Master games
16 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 31%, draw 50%, Black 19%). The strongest:
- GM Nikola Djukic (2525) – GM Samuel Sevian (2660) 0-1 · 33rd Leon Blitz Open 2020 · 2020-07-14
- GM Sergei Azarov (2629) – GM Marat Dzhumaev (2549) 1/2-1/2 · 35th Nezhmetdinov Cup · 2013-06-05
- GM Federico Perez Ponsa (2566) – GM Alejandro Hoffman (2441) 1/2-1/2 · Szmetan-Giardelli Super · 2019-12-02
- IM Filip Haring (2466) – IM Samir Sahidi (2481) 0-1 · ch-SVK 2025 · 2025-07-09
- Alexei Saveliev (2339) – IM Vadim Moiseenko (2533) 1/2-1/2 · Riga Tech Open A 2016 · 2016-08-14
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Closed Wolf Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Enomiy (2048) – Lukacs_Andor (2067) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
- Leon842 (2027) – Kerdo (2030) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
- Maurofer6 (1982) – fparatcha (1918) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Improved Steinitz Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O d6
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.