Ruy Lopez: Closed, Balla Variation
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
The Ruy Lopez: Closed, Balla Variation 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 d6 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. a4. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 11… O-O (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.41 (Stockfish, depth 27; best line 11… b4 12. cxb4 cxb4 13. Nbd2 O-O 14. Nb3)
- ECO
- C88
- Moves
- 21 plies
- FEN
r1b1k2r/2q1bppp/p2p1n2/npp1p3/P2PP3/2P2N2/1PB2PPP/RNBQR1K1 b kq - 0 11- 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 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. a4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 11… O-O | 1 (50%) | |
| 11… Rb8 | 1 (50%) |
Master games
16 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 69%, draw 25%, Black 6%). The strongest:
- GM Ivan Saric (2628) – GM Evgeny Postny (2631) 1-0 · 17th Corsican Circuit Final · 2013-10-20
- GM Marin Bosiocic (2563) – GM Davor Rogic (2557) 1-0 · TCh-CRO Final 2015 · 2015-05-24
- GM Andrei Belozerov (2460) – GM Evgeny Postny (2551) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th Feb Early · 2023-02-07
- GM Ante Brkic (2597) – IM Stefan Mazur (2368) 1-0 · TCh-HUN 2025-26 · 2026-05-10
- IM Abhimanyu Puranik (2476) – IM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi (2393) 1-0 · Philippine Open 2016 · 2016-12-09
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Closed, Balla Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- OAE59 (1827) – Pavel1962 (1831) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 3s
- FArrowMan (1676) – fioredanilo (1673) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
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
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.