Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense (4… Nf6 5. O-O)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O

The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C78, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move. 10 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 11,962 times by this move order. White won 50%, 6% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 5… Be7 (37% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.16 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 5… Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3)

ECO: C78
Moves: 9 plies
FEN: r1bqkb1r/1ppp1ppp/p1n2n2/4p3/B3P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 3 5
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	1,133	55%43%
1500-1999	5,351	51%45%
2000+	5,478	48%44%
All	11,962	50%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
5… Be7 Closed (5. O-O Be7)	4,456 (37%)	49%44%
5… b5	4,027 (34%)	50%45%
5… Nxe4 Open (5. O-O Nxe4)	1,256 (10%)	50%44%
5… Bc5 Morphy Defense, Møller Variation	1,172 (10%)	53%43%
5… d6 Morphy Defense, Steinitz Deferred (5. O-O d6)	896 (7%)	50%45%
5… d5 Central Countergambit	49 (0%)	61%39%
5… Bd6	44 (0%)	70%27%
5… h6	14 (0%)	50%50%

Master games

3,285 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 24%, Black 26%). The strongest:

Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-10
Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-09
LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) – Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) 1-0 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-31
Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) – LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) 1-0 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-31
Integral7.0.0-dev-0d55bc02 (3576) – LCZero0.31-dag-4d98c58-BT5-3700000 (3692) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-03

Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Sunrise34 (2861) – GM cutemouse83 (2967) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
FM dclasby (2775) – GM gmbrewchess (2994) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
GladiatorDefence (2802) – GM cutemouse83 (2917) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense (3. Bb5 a6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6

Continuations

Ruy Lopez: Brix Variation C78 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O g6
Ruy Lopez: Central Countergambit C78 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d5
Ruy Lopez: Closed (5. O-O Be7) C84 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Møller Variation C78 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Steinitz Deferred (5. O-O d6) C79 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6
Ruy Lopez: Open (5. O-O Nxe4) C80 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense (6. Bb3 d6) C78 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 d6
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Arkhangelsk Variation C78 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Neo-Arkhangelsk Variation C78 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Wing Attack C78 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. a4

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.