Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation, King's Bishop Variation

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bd6

The Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation, King's Bishop Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C69, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bd6. 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 2,128 times by this move order. White won 52%, 5% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 6. d4 (50% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.06 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 f6 8. Re1 Ne7)

ECO: C69
Moves: 10 plies
FEN: r1bqk1nr/1pp2ppp/p1pb4/4p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 2 6
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bd6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	611	49%45%
1500-1999	1,236	54%42%
2000+	281	52%41%
All	2,128	52%43%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
6. d4	1,074 (50%)	56%38%
6. d3	248 (12%)	48%46%
6. c3	233 (11%)	50%45%
6. h3	202 (9%)	51%42%
6. Nc3	180 (8%)	42%53%
6. Re1	126 (6%)	48%50%
6. b3	29 (1%)	52%45%
6. c4	18 (1%)	39%56%

Master games

840 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 25%, Black 34%). The strongest:

GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2683) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2850) 1/2-1/2 · 20th European Teams · 2015-11-21
GM Tigran L. Petrosian (2611) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2851) 0-1 · chess.com QF Blitz 3m+2spm 2016 · 2016-06-23
GM Luke J McShane (2675) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2772) 1/2-1/2 · Bundesliga 2019-20 · 2021-10-16
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2726) – GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2715) 0-1 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-29
GM Gadir Guseinov (2665) – GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2726) 1/2-1/2 · European Online CC PlayB · 2021-03-29

Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation, King's Bishop Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

NeuroChess-Academie (2668) – KhatanbaatarGM (2734) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
IM liczner (2723) – shashist26 (2572) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
pushistaya_kiska (2682) – D4Cact4 (2612) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation, Normal Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O

More Ruy Lopez lines (all)

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.