Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack, Castling Line (7. Bb3 O-O)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Qe2 b5 7. Bb3 O-O
The Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack, Castling Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C86, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Qe2 b5 7. Bb3 O-O. 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 13 times by this move order. White won 46%, 16% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 8. c3 (92% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.04 (Stockfish, depth 59; best line 8. a4 b4 9. a5 Rb8 10. d3 d6)
- ECO
- C86
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/2ppbppp/p1n2n2/1p2p3/4P3/1B3N2/PPPPQPPP/RNB2RK1 w - - 2 8- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Qe2 b5 7. Bb3 O-O
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 5 | |
| 2000+ | 8 | |
| All | 13 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. c3 | 12 (92%) | |
| 8. d3 | 1 (8%) |
Master games
216 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 22%, Black 38%). The strongest:
- GM Etienne Bacrot (2725) – GM Levon Aronian (2805) 0-1 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-30
- GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2707) – GM Levon Aronian (2805) 0-1 · World Rapid 2017 · 2017-12-28
- GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2707) – GM Liren Ding (2777) 0-1 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-29
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2793) – GM Narayanan S L (2669) 0-1 · World Blitz 2022 · 2022-12-29
- GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2716) – GM Evgeny Tomashevsky (2710) 1-0 · FIDE World Cup 2017 · 2017-09-07
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack, Castling Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- orhanilu (2551) – siete7729 (2562) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- smitty77 (2357) – marsa29 (2377) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- smitty77 (2354) – AMMEXAILA (2349) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Qe2
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.