Ruy Lopez: Classical Defense, Boden Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 Qe7
The Ruy Lopez: Classical Defense, Boden Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C64, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 Qe7. 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 87 times by this move order. White won 45%, 2% were drawn and Black won 53%. The most popular continuation is 5. O-O (80% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.14 (Stockfish, depth 45; best line 5. d4 exd4 6. O-O Ne5 7. Nxd4 c6)
- ECO
- C64
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1b1k1nr/ppppqppp/2n5/1Bb1p3/4P3/2P2N2/PP1P1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 Qe7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 55 | |
| 2000+ | 28 | |
| All | 87 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. O-O | 70 (80%) | |
| 5. d4 | 9 (10%) | |
| 5. Bxc6 | 3 (3%) | |
| 5. d3 | 2 (2%) | |
| 5. b4 | 1 (1%) | |
| 5. Qa4 | 1 (1%) | |
| 5. Qe2 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
14 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 79%, draw 14%, Black 7%). The strongest:
- GM Szymon Gumularz (2591) – FM Lucian Gilea (2273) 1-0 · 25th ch-EUR Indiv 2025 · 2025-03-15
- IM Anastasia Bodnaruk (2333) – WFM Kavitha J E (2134) 1-0 · Swiss Queens Wed #47 2024 · 2024-12-18
- Nicolas Kulik (2111) – WGM Thi Bao Tram Hoang (2163) 0-1 · Titled Tue 5th Aug Early · 2025-08-05
- FM Damir Sulc (2208) – Boris Pesusic (2018) 1-0 · Zadar Open B 2016 · 2016-12-12
- Andrey Skorobogatykh (2073) – FM Elek Szurovszky (2070) 1-0 · TCh World Deaf 2014 · 2014-06-23
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Classical Defense, Boden Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IllTellYaHwat (2227) – amrasd123 (2276) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 0s
- Alex-Russia (2218) – ascaandlmca (2267) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 600 + 0s
- blitzchaser (2186) – Gray-Istari (2197) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Classical Variation, Central Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3
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.