Ruy Lopez: Closed, Yates Variation
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. d4
The Ruy Lopez: Closed, Yates Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C91, 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. 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 108 times by this move order. White won 46%, 4% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 9… Bg4 (69% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.11 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 9… Bg4 10. Be3 Bh5 11. Nbd2 d5 12. Bg5)
- ECO
- C91
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/2p1bppp/p1np1n2/1p2p3/3PP3/1BP2N2/PP3PPP/RNBQR1K1 b - - 0 9- 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. d4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 8 | |
| 1500-1999 | 39 | |
| 2000+ | 61 | |
| All | 108 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9… Bg4 Closed, Bogoljubow Variation | 74 (69%) | |
| 9… exd4 | 13 (12%) | |
| 9… Bb7 | 7 (6%) | |
| 9… Na5 | 6 (6%) | |
| 9… h6 | 4 (4%) | |
| 9… Nb8 | 3 (3%) | |
| 9… Re8 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
122 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 27%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- GM V Pranav (2597) – GM M. Amin Tabatabaei (2673) 0-1 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 · 2025-09-13
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2728) – FM Egor Bykov (2416) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 5th Oct · 2021-10-05
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2719) – FM Semyon Puzyrevsky (2363) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 1st Sep 2026 · 2026-09-01
- GM M. Amin Tabatabaei (2590) – IM Javokhir Sindarov (2488) 1-0 · 25th Abu Dhabi Masters · 2018-08-12
- GM Jan Smeets (2617) – IM Patrick Zelbel (2432) 1-0 · Bundesliga 2015-16 · 2016-03-12
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Closed, Yates Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- apollothedog (2680) – joobree (2538) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- smhx9 (2567) – TestoTester (2599) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- GM leva1958 (2604) – RobertoDuran777 (2407) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Closed (8. c3 O-O) 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
Continuations
- Ruy Lopez: Closed, Bogoljubow Variation C91 · 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. d4 Bg4
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.