Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Fianchetto Defense Deferred
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 g6
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Fianchetto Defense Deferred is a chess opening classified as ECO C70, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 g6. 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 91 times by this move order. White won 43%, 4% were drawn and Black won 53%. The most popular continuation is 5. O-O (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.41 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 5. c3 b5 6. Bb3 Bg7 7. d4 exd4)
- ECO
- C70
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/1ppp1p1p/p1n3p1/4p3/B3P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 g6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 13 | |
| 1500-1999 | 24 | |
| 2000+ | 54 | |
| All | 91 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. O-O | 48 (53%) | |
| 5. c3 | 18 (20%) | |
| 5. d4 | 12 (13%) | |
| 5. d3 | 8 (9%) | |
| 5. Nc3 | 4 (4%) | |
| 5. Qe2 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
982 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 24%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Veselin Topalov (2754) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2851) 0-1 · 4th Norway Blitz 2016 · 2016-04-18
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2788) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) 1-0 · chess.com QF Blitz 5m+2spm 2016 · 2016-05-10
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2767) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2802) 1-0 · SpeedChess Final 2024 · 2024-09-06
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2876) – GM Ivan Cheparinov (2670) 1-0 · Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup · 2020-03-11
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2789) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) 1/2-1/2 · Magnus Carlsen Inv KO · 2021-03-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Meatloaf927 (2705) – ramsou (2569) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- GM Grukjr (2656) – arteeeeeeeem (2597) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- FM AdamCollins (2637) – JPriest (2578) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 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.