Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense (6. Bb3 d6)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 d6

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 b5 6. Bb3 d6. 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 323 times by this move order. White won 57%, 4% were drawn and Black won 39%. The most popular continuation is 7. Re1 (37% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.35 (Stockfish, depth 52; best line 7. c3 Be7 8. d4 O-O 9. Nbd2 exd4)

ECO: C78
Moves: 12 plies
FEN: r1bqkb1r/2p2ppp/p1np1n2/1p2p3/4P3/1B3N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 0 7
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 d6

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	31	58%39%
1500-1999	232	57%38%
2000+	60	55%43%
All	323	57%39%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
7. Re1	119 (37%)	50%46%
7. c3	80 (25%)	61%36%
7. h3	38 (12%)	53%15%32%
7. d4	34 (11%)	56%38%
7. d3	32 (10%)	72%28%
7. a4	8 (2%)	75%25%
7. Ng5	8 (2%)	88%13%
7. Nc3	3 (1%)	100%

Master games

183 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 17%, Black 33%). The strongest:

GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2732) – GM Gukesh D (2732) 1/2-1/2 · V Menorca Cerrado 2026 · 2026-04-07
GM Jorden Van Foreest (2705) – GM Gukesh D (2754) 1-0 · 8th Prague Masters 2026 · 2026-02-27
GM Dariusz Swiercz (2608) – GM Zahar Efimenko (2648) 1/2-1/2 · 6th Lublin GM 2014 · 2014-05-07
GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2603) – GM Anton Demchenko (2645) 1/2-1/2 · Fagernes GM Open Aut 2022 · 2022-10-15
GM Evgeniy Najer (2614) – IM Rudik Makarian (2524) 1-0 · 77th ch-RUS HL 2025 · 2025-06-28

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

Highest-rated Lichess games

Nightrain20 (2462) – Ke3n4n (2383) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
Sokkia (2337) – DynamoTresen (2466) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Foulagge (2384) – YouCantFindMe3442 (2310) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 0s

Comes from

Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense (4… Nf6 5. O-O) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O

Continuations

Ruy Lopez: Rabinovich Variation C78 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 d6 7. Ng5 d5 8. exd5 Nd4 9. Re1 Bc5 10. Rxe5+ Kf8

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.