Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Classical Defense Deferred
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bc5
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Classical Defense Deferred is a chess opening classified as ECO C70, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bc5. 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 2,307 times by this move order. White won 52%, 4% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 5. O-O (47% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.41 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 5. c3 Nge7 6. O-O Ng6 7. d4 Ba7)
- ECO
- C70
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/1ppp1ppp/p1n5/2b1p3/B3P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bc5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 543 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,272 | |
| 2000+ | 492 | |
| All | 2,307 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. O-O | 1,089 (47%) | |
| 5. c3 | 831 (36%) | |
| 5. d3 | 118 (5%) | |
| 5. Nc3 | 94 (4%) | |
| 5. Nxe5 | 72 (3%) | |
| 5. Bxc6 | 33 (1%) | |
| 5. Bb3 | 21 (1%) | |
| 5. d4 | 10 (0%) |
Master games
2,505 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 22%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- KomodoDragon 2885.00 (3590) – Stockfish dev15_20220302 (3612) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-18
- Stockfish dev15_20220302 (3612) – KomodoDragon 2885.00 (3590) 1-0 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-16
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2794) 1/2-1/2 · 12th Norway Chess 2024 · 2024-05-28
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2794) 1-0 · 12th Norway Armageddon · 2024-05-28
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2771) 1-0 · SuperUnited CRO Blitz 2025 · 2025-07-05
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Classical Defense Deferred and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- hadishahod (2797) – malosize (2749) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- GM sillyMASTER (2804) – GM jncool68 (2694) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Towser1 (2701) – Fools_For_Luck (2630) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 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.