Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense, Panov System
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 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4
The Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense, Panov System is a chess opening classified as ECO C99, 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 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4. 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 30 times by this move order. White won 43%, 7% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 13… Nc6 (57% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.29 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 13… Nc6 14. a3 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Nf3)
- ECO
- C99
- Moves
- 25 plies
- FEN
r1b2rk1/2q1bppp/p2p1n2/np2p3/3PP3/5N1P/PPBN1PP1/R1BQR1K1 b - - 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 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 5 | |
| 2000+ | 25 | |
| All | 30 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 13… Nc6 | 17 (57%) | |
| 13… Bb7 | 7 (23%) | |
| 13… Bd7 | 3 (10%) | |
| 13… Rd8 | 2 (7%) | |
| 13… Be6 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
633 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 29%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2734) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) 1/2-1/2 · Saint Louis Blitz 2023 · 2023-11-17
- GM Yi Wei (2721) – GM Yangyi Yu (2763) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2019 · 2019-09-17
- GM Pentala Harikrishna (2716) – GM Richard Rapport (2762) 1/2-1/2 · Charity Cup Prelim · 2022-03-19
- GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2736) – GM Pentala Harikrishna (2740) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-ESP Div Honor 2015 · 2015-08-17
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2865) – GM Eric Hansen (2606) 0-1 · Airthings Masters Prelim · 2022-02-21
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense, Panov System and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Hayden859 (2405) – TestoTester (2584) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- VinkelPernik (2476) – abobaraa77 (2467) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- Carcelario85 (2443) – abobaraa77 (2443) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Chigorin Defense (11. d4 Qc7) 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 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7
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.