Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Pillsbury Variation

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. Qe2 Nd6 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. dxe5 Nb7 9. b3

The Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Pillsbury Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C67, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. Qe2 Nd6 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. dxe5 Nb7 9. b3. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move.

This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.

Engine evaluation: +0.53 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 9… O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. Nc3 d5 12. exd6)

ECO

C67

Moves

17 plies

FEN

r1bqk2r/pnppbppp/2p5/4P3/8/1P3N2/P1P1QPPP/RNB2RK1 b kq - 0 9

PGN

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. Qe2 Nd6 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. dxe5 Nb7 9. b3

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

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.