Ruy Lopez: Closed (8… O-O 9. h3)

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 9. h3

The Ruy Lopez: Closed is a chess opening classified as ECO C92, reached after 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 9. h3. 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 439 times by this move order. White won 47%, 9% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 9… Na5 (41% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 9… Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. a3)

ECO: C92
Moves: 17 plies
FEN: r1bq1rk1/2p1bppp/p1np1n2/1p2p3/4P3/1BP2N1P/PP1P1PP1/RNBQR1K1 b - - 0 9
PGN: 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 9. h3

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	1	100%
1500-1999	77	56%36%
2000+	361	45%46%
All	439	47%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
9… Na5 Closed, Chigorin Defense (9. h3 Na5)	182 (41%)	51%43%
9… Nb8 Closed, Breyer Defense (9. h3 Nb8)	145 (33%)	44%46%
9… Bb7 Closed, Flohr System	62 (14%)	55%37%
9… h6 Closed, Smyslov Defense	21 (5%)	29%62%
9… Re8 Closed, Zaitsev System	12 (3%)	58%42%
9… Nd7 Closed, Karpov Variation	9 (2%)	22%67%
9… Be6 Closed, Kholmov Variation	4 (1%)	25%25%50%
9… a5	3 (1%)	33%67%

Master games

206 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 39%, Black 28%). The strongest:

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2788) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) 1-0 · chess.com QF Blitz 1m+1spm 2016 · 2016-05-10
GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2745) – GM Eric Hansen (2613) 1/2-1/2 · CGC KO 2022 · 2022-09-22
GM Alan Pichot (2637) – GM Sanan Sjugirov (2712) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess Q1Sw · 2022-11-10
GM Hans Moke Niemann (2708) – GM Vladislav Kovalev (2612) 1/2-1/2 · 6th Sharjah Masters 2023 · 2023-05-23
GM Ivan Morovic Fernandez (2510) – GM Andrey Esipenko (2713) 0-1 · Lindores Abbey Tal Mem · 2021-11-08

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
puziko52 (2851) – Vahe_S (2743) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Epichess95 (2845) – July16Q (2639) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Ruy Lopez: Closed (8. c3 O-O) 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

Continuations

Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense (9. h3 Nb8) C94 · 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 9. h3 Nb8
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense (9. h3 Na5) C97 · 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 9. h3 Na5
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Flohr System C92 · 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 9. h3 Bb7
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Karpov Variation C92 · 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 9. h3 Nd7
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Kholmov Variation C92 · 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 9. h3 Be6
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Smyslov Defense C93 · 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 9. h3 h6
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Zaitsev System C92 · 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 9. h3 Re8

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.