Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (6. d4 Nge7)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7 6. d4 Nge7
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C75, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7 6. d4 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 15 times by this move order. White won 60%, 0% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 7. O-O (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.84 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 7. d5 Nb8 8. c4 Bxa4 9. Qxa4+ Nd7)
- ECO
- C75
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r2qkb1r/1ppbnppp/p1np4/4p3/B2PP3/2P2N2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7 6. d4 Nge7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 14 | |
| All | 15 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. O-O | 8 (53%) | |
| 7. Nbd2 | 2 (13%) | |
| 7. d5 | 2 (13%) | |
| 7. dxe5 | 2 (13%) | |
| 7. Bb3 | 1 (7%) |
Master games
112 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 26%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- Stockfishdev-20240413-c55ae376 (3657) – Seer2.8.0 (3499) 1-0 · TCEC 26 Premier 2024 · 2024-04-25
- Seer2.8.0 (3499) – Stockfishdev-20240413-c55ae376 (3657) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Premier 2024 · 2024-04-23
- Stoofvlees II a14 (3504) – Stockfish 202008260719_nn-82215d0fd0df (3551) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 19 Premier 2020 · 2020-09-24
- Stockfish 202008260719_nn-82215d0fd0df (3551) – Stoofvlees II a14 (3504) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 19 Premier 2020 · 2020-09-20
- SlowChess Blitz 2.9 avx2 (3418) – Ethereal 14.24 (3535) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Premier 2023 · 2023-09-06
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Ngandung (2326) – castanedastral (2455) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- patriarzo (2301) – FM MrBini (2308) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- mauroisaza (2322) – FM MrBini (2281) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (5. c3 Bd7) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7
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.