Ruy Lopez: Closed (6… b5 7. Bb3)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3

The Ruy Lopez: Closed is a chess opening classified as ECO C88, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move. 7 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,998 times by this move order. White won 48%, 7% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 7… O-O (62% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 7… O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5)

ECO: C88
Moves: 13 plies
FEN: r1bqk2r/2ppbppp/p1n2n2/1p2p3/4P3/1B3N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQR1K1 b kq - 1 7
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	62	56%42%
1500-1999	1,040	48%48%
2000+	1,896	48%44%
All	2,998	48%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
7… O-O Closed (7. Bb3 O-O)	1,862 (62%)	48%45%
7… d6	1,086 (36%)	48%45%
7… Bb7 Closed, Trajkovic Counterattack	29 (1%)	41%55%
7… Na5	7 (0%)	71%15%14%
7… d5	7 (0%)	43%14%43%
7… h6	3 (0%)	33%67%
7… Bc5	2 (0%)	100%
7… Kf8	1 (0%)	100%

Master games

1,777 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 25%, Black 34%). The strongest:

LCZero 0.31-dag-e429eeb-BT3-2790000 (3642) – Stockfish dev-20231010-00263636 (3673) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-10-12
Stockfish dev-20231010-00263636 (3673) – LCZero 0.31-dag-e429eeb-BT3-2790000 (3642) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-10-12
LCZero 0.27.0d-Tilps-dje-magic_JH.94-100 (3586) – Stockfish 20210113 (3601) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Superfinal 2020 · 2021-01-23
Stockfish 20210113 (3601) – LCZero 0.27.0d-Tilps-dje-magic_JH.94-100 (3586) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Superfinal 2020 · 2021-01-22
GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2777) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Losers 2023 · 2023-07-21

Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Closed and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Sunrise34 (2861) – GM cutemouse83 (2967) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
FM dclasby (2775) – GM gmbrewchess (2994) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Sunrise34 (2904) – Chess1Love0 (2782) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Ruy Lopez: Closed (5. O-O Be7) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7

Continuations

Ruy Lopez: Closed (7. Bb3 O-O) C88 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Trajkovic Counterattack C88 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 Bb7
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Rosen Attack C88 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. d4
Ruy Lopez: Closed (8. c3 O-O) C90 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Balla Variation C88 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. a4
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Leonhardt Variation C88 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. h3 Nc6 12. d5 Nb8 13. Nbd2 g5
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Alekhine Gambit C88 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. Nbd2 O-O 12. Nf1 Bg4 13. Ne3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3

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.