Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Alapin's Defense Deferred
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bb4
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Alapin's Defense Deferred is a chess opening classified as ECO C70, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bb4. 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 38 times by this move order. White won 66%, 2% were drawn and Black won 32%. The most popular continuation is 5. c3 (61% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.97 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 5. O-O Nf6 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. d4 Be7)
- ECO
- C70
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/1ppp1ppp/p1n5/4p3/Bb2P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bb4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 26 | |
| 1500-1999 | 7 | |
| 2000+ | 5 | |
| All | 38 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. c3 | 23 (61%) | |
| 5. O-O | 12 (32%) | |
| 5. a3 | 2 (5%) | |
| 5. Nc3 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
8 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 75%, draw 0%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- IM Szalanczy, E. (2237) – Andras Babits (2120) 0-1 · 30th Balaton Open · 2012-09-23
- Pogats, J. (1745) – Andras Szurkos (1787) 0-1 · FSFMB July 2015 · 2015-07-04
- Nikolajs Platonovs (1969) – Hao-Xuan Huang (1516) 1-0 · World Cadets U12 2024 · 2024-11-15
- Koppany Geher (1615) – Andras Szurkos (1787) 1-0 · FSFMB June 2015 · 2015-06-12
- Csenge Jarai (1589) – Andras Szurkos (1807) 1-0 · FSFMB August 2015 · 2015-08-08
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Alapin's Defense Deferred and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IgorMamut (2311) – Tichugott2 (2297) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 300 + 0s
- Nimzo06 (2294) – Tichugott2 (2303) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 0s
- AlbertaGenuineDraft (2303) – Tichugott2 (2255) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense (3. Bb5 a6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6
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.