Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rio de Janeiro Variation (5. d4 Be7)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7

The Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rio de Janeiro 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. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. White is to move. 7 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 41 times by this move order. White won 54%, 0% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 6. Re1 (32% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.35 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 6. Qe2 Nd6 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. dxe5 Nb7)

ECO: C67
Moves: 10 plies
FEN: r1bqk2r/ppppbppp/2n5/1B2p3/3Pn3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 1 6
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	4	75%25%
1500-1999	13	69%31%
2000+	24	42%58%
All	41	54%46%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
6. Re1	13 (32%)	62%38%
6. dxe5 Berlin Defense, Minckwitz Variation	12 (29%)	58%42%
6. d5	11 (27%)	36%64%
6. Bxc6	2 (5%)	50%50%
6. Qe2	2 (5%)	100%
6. Nxe5	1 (2%)	100%

Master games

33 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 43%, Black 18%). The strongest:

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2796) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) 0-1 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2017-07-01
GM Yi Wei (2741) – GM Richard Rapport (2735) 1/2-1/2 · 10th Danzhou GM 2019 · 2019-07-07
GM Zoltan Almasi (2695) – GM Vladimir Malakhov (2699) 1-0 · TCh-CRO Div 1a 2014 · 2014-10-07
GM Ruiyuan Yu (2553) – GM Vladimir Malakhov (2708) 1/2-1/2 · Chinese Teams 2013 · 2013-12-23
GM Benjamin Bok (2562) – GM Viktor Erdos (2610) 1/2-1/2 · 48th Biel Master Open · 2015-07-27

Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rio de Janeiro Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Ariel_mlr (2562) – mightysonce (2462) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
SagarSisodia (2543) – extasio (2419) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
man_man_lai (2517) – mightysonce (2418) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rio Gambit Accepted 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4

Continuations

Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Minckwitz Variation C67 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. dxe5
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Trifunovic Variation C67 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. Qe2 d5
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Cordel Variation C67 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. Qe2 Nd6 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. dxe5 Nf5
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Pillsbury Variation C67 · 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
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Winawer Attack C67 · 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. Nd4
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Zukertort Variation C67 · 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. c4
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rio de Janeiro Variation (13. Bxd4 c5) C67 · 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. Nc3 O-O 10. Re1 Nc5 11. Nd4 Ne6 12. Be3 Nxd4 13. Bxd4 c5

More Ruy Lopez lines (all)

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.