Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense (10… Nbd7 11. Nh4)
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. Nh4
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. Nh4. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: +0.05 (Stockfish, depth 35; best line 11… Re8 12. Nf3 Bf8 13. a4 Bb7 14. Nbd2)
- ECO
- C95
- Moves
- 21 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/2pnbppp/p2p1n2/1p2p3/3PP2N/1BP4P/PP3PP1/RNBQR1K1 b - - 2 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 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nh4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
14 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 43%, Black 21%). The strongest:
- GM Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen (2472) – GM Evgeny Postny (2670) 1/2-1/2 · TV 2 Chess International · 2015-12-27
- GM Aleksandar Colovic (2443) – GM Diptayan Ghosh (2570) 1-0 · PRO League Eastern 2017 · 2017-02-01
- IM Igor Janik (2471) – GM Daniel Sadzikowski (2522) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-POL Ekstraliga 2020 · 2020-08-31
- GM Andrei Kovalev (2435) – GM Valeriy Aveskulov (2492) 1/2-1/2 · FSGM October 2023 · 2023-10-07
- GM Nijat Abasov (2561) – WFM Sonja Maria Bluhm (2276) 1-0 · Basel Masters 2017 · 2017-01-03
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense and its sub-variations
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.