Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Modern Main Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3
The Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Modern Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C89, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 239 times by this move order. White won 41%, 5% were drawn and Black won 54%. The most popular continuation is 15. Qf3 (27% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 15. Re4 g5 16. Qf1 Qxf1+ 17. Kxf1 Bf5)
- ECO
- C89
- Moves
- 28 plies
- FEN
r1b2rk1/5ppp/p1pb4/1p1n4/3P4/1BP3Pq/PP3P1P/RNBQR1K1 w - - 1 15- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 114 | |
| 2000+ | 124 | |
| All | 239 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 15. Qf3 | 64 (27%) | |
| 15. Be3 | 60 (25%) | |
| 15. Re4 | 52 (22%) | |
| 15. Bxd5 | 29 (12%) | |
| 15. Qd3 | 17 (7%) | |
| 15. Nd2 | 11 (5%) | |
| 15. Qe2 | 5 (2%) | |
| 15. a4 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
478 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 31%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2778) – GM Levon Aronian (2816) 1/2-1/2 · 5th Final Masters · 2012-10-08
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2738) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Rapid YourNextMove · 2017-06-28
- GM Ivan Saric (2628) – GM Veselin Topalov (2774) 1-0 · 2nd Danube Rapid Cup 2013 · 2013-11-02
- GM So, W. (2652) – GM Peter Leko (2737) 1/2-1/2 · 40th Olympiad Open · 2012-09-04
- GM Alexander Areshchenko (2691) – GM Zahar Efimenko (2689) 1/2-1/2 · 81st ch-UKR 2012 · 2012-08-06
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Modern Main Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM MassterofMayhem (2644) – GM AtalikS (2657) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- IM MassterofMayhem (2649) – puretraining (2598) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- joobree (2523) – AlwaysLookingForMore (2690) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Main Line 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4
Continuations
- Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Main Line, Spassky Variation C89 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Be3 Bg4 16. Qd3 Rae8 17. Nd2 Re6 18. a4 Qh5
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.