Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense (12. Bc2 c5)
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 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 c5
The Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C95, 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 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 c5. 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 5 times by this move order. White won 60%, 0% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 13. Nf1 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.37 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 13. d5 c4 14. b3 Qc7 15. bxc4 bxc4)
- ECO
- C95
- Moves
- 24 plies
- FEN
r2q1rk1/1b1nbppp/p2p1n2/1pp1p3/3PP3/2P2N1P/PPBN1PP1/R1BQR1K1 w - - 0 13- 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 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 4 | |
| All | 5 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 13. Nf1 | 3 (60%) | |
| 13. d5 | 2 (40%) |
Master games
167 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 27%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2828) – GM Pentala Harikrishna (2726) 1-0 · Champions Showdown Rapid · 2019-02-21
- GM Hua Ni (2713) – GM Weiqi Zhou (2646) 1/2-1/2 · 3rd China Mind Team · 2015-08-30
- GM Sanan Sjugirov (2657) – GM Zahar Efimenko (2697) 1/2-1/2 · 20th TCh-RUS 2013 · 2013-04-13
- GM Ivan Saric (2678) – GM Evgeny Postny (2658) 0-1 · 24th TCh-CRO Div 1a 2015 · 2015-10-09
- GM Martyn Kravtsiv (2641) – GM Gawain C B Maroroa Jones (2676) 0-1 · 1st Sharjah Masters 2017 · 2017-03-28
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Steuben (2265) – kpttr441 (2284) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- NicolayYu (2252) – BD34_ut (2200) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 3s
- NicolayYu (2256) – JohannesEliasAlder (2145) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 3s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense, Zaitsev Hybrid 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 10. d4 Nbd7
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.