Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. Nc3)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Nc3
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C71, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Nc3. 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 110 times by this move order. White won 59%, 6% were drawn and Black won 35%. The most popular continuation is 5… Bd7 (29% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.16 (Stockfish, depth 53; best line 5… Nf6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d4 Nd7 8. Be3)
- ECO
- C71
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/1pp2ppp/p1np4/4p3/B3P3/2N2N2/PPPP1PPP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 32 | |
| 1500-1999 | 56 | |
| 2000+ | 22 | |
| All | 110 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… Bd7 | 32 (29%) | |
| 5… Nf6 | 23 (21%) | |
| 5… Bg4 | 23 (21%) | |
| 5… b5 | 16 (15%) | |
| 5… f5 | 7 (6%) | |
| 5… g6 | 2 (2%) | |
| 5… Qf6 | 2 (2%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 2 (2%) |
Master games
87 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 55%, draw 24%, Black 21%). The strongest:
- GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2604) – GM Quang Liem Le (2732) 1-0 · Esports World Cup PI 2026 · 2026-08-11
- GM Milosz Szpar (2499) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2813) 0-1 · Titled Tue 4th Nov 2025 · 2025-11-04
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2654) – GM Anton Demchenko (2628) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Oct 2025 · 2025-10-28
- GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2604) – GM Chithambaram VR. Aravindh (2677) 1-0 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 17th Sep 2026 · 2026-09-17
- GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2604) – GM Chithambaram VR. Aravindh (2677) 1-0 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 20th Aug 2026 · 2026-08-20
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Towser1 (2708) – slouuurps (2742) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Towser1 (2709) – Mallorca10Barcelona (2679) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Artem9630 (2608) – BEWATER_2005 (2504) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4. Ba4 d6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6
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.