Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack (8. c3 d5)

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

The Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack 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. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. White is to move. 4 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 805 times by this move order. White won 41%, 6% were drawn and Black won 53%. The most popular continuation is 9. exd5 (89% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6)

ECO: C89
Moves: 16 plies
FEN: r1bq1rk1/2p1bppp/p1n2n2/1p1pp3/4P3/1BP2N2/PP1P1PPP/RNBQR1K1 w - - 0 9
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

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	14	57%43%
1500-1999	373	40%57%
2000+	418	41%50%
All	805	41%53%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
9. exd5	718 (89%)	41%54%
9. d3	43 (5%)	37%56%
9. d4	35 (4%)	43%46%
9. Bc2	3 (0%)	67%33%
9. h3	3 (0%)	33%67%
9. Bxd5	1 (0%)	100%
9. Qe2	1 (0%)	100%

Master games

443 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 31%, Black 32%). The strongest:

GM Hikaru Nakamura (2802) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2833) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 11th Feb Early · 2025-02-11
GM Fabiano Caruana (2789) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2025 · 2025-11-14
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2736) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) 0-1 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-16
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2736) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-16
GM Yi Wei (2751) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2801) 1/2-1/2 · 87th Tata Steel Masters · 2025-01-28

Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Sunrise34 (2904) – Chess1Love0 (2782) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Sunrise34 (2845) – FM Crew12 (2748) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Sunrise34 (2843) – AlwaysLookingForMore (2701) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Ruy Lopez: Closed (7. Bb3 O-O) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O

Continuations

Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Steiner 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 e4
Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack (10. a4 Bb7) 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. a4 Bb7
Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Modern 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
Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Original Marshall Attack 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 Nf6

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.