Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack, Delayed Castling Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Qe2 b5 7. Bb3 d6
The Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack, Delayed 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 d6. 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 69%, 8% were drawn and Black won 23%. The most popular continuation is 8. c3 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.07 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 8. c3 O-O 9. Rd1 d5 10. d3 Re8)
- ECO
- C86
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/2p1bppp/p1np1n2/1p2p3/4P3/1B3N2/PPPPQPPP/RNB2RK1 w kq - 0 8- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Qe2 b5 7. Bb3 d6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 6 | |
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 13 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. c3 | 5 (38%) | |
| 8. Rd1 | 3 (23%) | |
| 8. h3 | 3 (23%) | |
| 8. a4 | 2 (15%) |
Master games
120 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 56%, draw 27%, Black 17%). The strongest:
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2793) – GM Vincent Keymer (2690) 1-0 · Airthings Masters Play-In · 2023-02-03
- GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2707) – GM Ernesto Inarkiev (2689) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-30
- GM Alexei Shirov (2662) – GM Nikita Vitiugov (2724) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2021 · 2021-07-19
- GM Sergei Tiviakov (2659) – GM Tomi Nyback (2598) 1-0 · Bundesliga 2012-13 · 2013-02-03
- GM Nigel D Short (2659) – IM Javokhir Sindarov (2488) 1/2-1/2 · 25th Abu Dhabi Masters · 2018-08-14
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Cagnuz_Marlsen (2267) – MorbMorb (2263) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Pastil-Brain (2238) – AyaxTelamonio77 (2236) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Pastil-Brain (2267) – Ranpen (2197) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 0s
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.