Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer
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
The Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer 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. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 136 times by this move order. White won 45%, 9% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 10… Nbd7 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.37 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 10… Nbd7 11. Bc2 Bb7 12. Nbd2 Re8 13. Nf1)
- ECO
- C95
- Moves
- 19 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/2p1bppp/p2p1n2/1p2p3/3PP3/1BP2N1P/PP3PP1/RNBQR1K1 b - - 0 10- 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
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 24 | |
| 2000+ | 111 | |
| All | 136 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 10… Nbd7 Closed, Breyer Defense, Zaitsev Hybrid | 136 (100%) |
Master games
11 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 27%, draw 64%, Black 9%). The strongest:
- GM Artyom Timofeev (2576) – GM Kateryna Lagno (2546) 1/2-1/2 · 76th ch-RUS 2023 · 2023-10-12
- GM Miodrag R Savic (2503) – FM Junhyeok Lee (2383) 1/2-1/2 · Orbis 2 GM 2019 · 2019-07-19
- IM Arseny Kargin (2417) – GM Abramovic, B. (2345) 1/2-1/2 · 3rd Sat Djenovici May GM · 2019-05-19
- Gaurav Kumar (2210) – IM Fabrizio Bellia (2444) 0-1 · 24th Abu Dhabi Masters · 2017-08-19
- FM Alexander Gutenev (2341) – Daniil Postnikov (2156) 1-0 · VIII Governor's Cup B · 2012-11-20
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Sunrise34 (2861) – GM cutemouse83 (2967) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Epichess95 (2845) – July16Q (2639) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- legko2019 (2666) – IM Gorbaev (2636) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense (9. h3 Nb8) 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
Continuations
- Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense, Zaitsev Hybrid C95 · 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.