Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Cozio Defense
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nge7
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Cozio Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C70, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nge7. 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 243 times by this move order. White won 40%, 8% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 5. O-O (56% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.39 (Stockfish, depth 56; best line 5. c3 Ng6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5)
- ECO
- C70
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/1pppnppp/p1n5/4p3/B3P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nge7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 26 | |
| 1500-1999 | 71 | |
| 2000+ | 146 | |
| All | 243 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. O-O | 136 (56%) | |
| 5. c3 | 47 (19%) | |
| 5. Nc3 | 25 (10%) | |
| 5. d4 | 23 (9%) | |
| 5. d3 | 9 (4%) | |
| 5. h4 | 1 (0%) | |
| 5. Qe2 | 1 (0%) | |
| 5. Bb3 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
3,450 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 25%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- ScorpioNN 3.0.8.3 (3448) – Stoofvlees II a14 (3504) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 19 Premier 2020 · 2020-09-12
- Stoofvlees II a14 (3504) – ScorpioNN 3.0.8.3 (3448) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 19 Premier 2020 · 2020-09-09
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2816) – GM Anish Giri (2782) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2018-06-15
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2831) – GM Quang Liem Le (2739) 1-0 · Titled Tue 29th Oct Early · 2024-10-29
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2789) – GM Praggnanandhaa R (2771) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2025 · 2025-10-30
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Cozio Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- bombokobombo123456 (2715) – kuhmft (2819) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Master1970 (2717) – doyoulikedonuts (2655) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- tryandprepme (2671) – doyoulikedonuts (2653) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 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.