Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Jaffe Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. c3
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Jaffe Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C77, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. c3. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 241 times by this move order. White won 51%, 6% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 5… b5 (34% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.19 (Stockfish, depth 67; best line 5… Nxe4 6. Qe2 Nc5 7. Nxe5 Qe7 8. Bxc6)
- ECO
- C77
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/1ppp1ppp/p1n2n2/4p3/B3P3/2P2N2/PP1P1PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. c3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 66 | |
| 1500-1999 | 135 | |
| 2000+ | 40 | |
| All | 241 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… b5 | 82 (34%) | |
| 5… Nxe4 | 56 (23%) | |
| 5… Bc5 | 40 (17%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 27 (11%) | |
| 5… d6 | 23 (10%) | |
| 5… d5 | 9 (4%) | |
| 5… h6 | 2 (1%) | |
| 5… Bd6 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
34 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 29%, draw 21%, Black 50%). The strongest:
- WIM Lisa Schut (2299) – GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (2552) 0-1 · 32nd Benasque Open · 2012-07-07
- Luis Pedro Ferreira (2117) – FM Carl Strugnell (2255) 1-0 · Portugal Open 2017 · 2017-02-07
- WFM Katarzyna Adamowicz (2082) – WGM Gulmira Dauletova (2285) 1-0 · Cappelle Online Women · 2021-03-08
- FM Maria Malicka (2255) – CM Manuel Vidal del Rio (2098) 1-0 · Titled Tue 16th May Late · 2023-05-16
- Luis Pedro Ferreira (2117) – David Gomez Dieguez (2219) 0-1 · Portugal Open 2017 · 2017-02-09
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Jaffe Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Figurenklotz (2475) – sch27chess04 (2482) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- eko6 (2303) – TimChesters (2421) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- CSKA_Moscou (2071) – Ulyanka (2528) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 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.