Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. O-O)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C72, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,042 times by this move order. White won 51%, 5% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 5… Bg4 (36% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 65; best line 5… Nf6 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 Be7 8. c3)
- ECO
- C72
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/1pp2ppp/p1np4/4p3/B3P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 140 | |
| 1500-1999 | 523 | |
| 2000+ | 379 | |
| All | 1,042 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… Bg4 | 375 (36%) | |
| 5… Bd7 | 276 (26%) | |
| 5… Nf6 | 208 (20%) | |
| 5… b5 | 58 (6%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 30 (3%) | |
| 5… f5 | 23 (2%) | |
| 5… Ne7 | 20 (2%) | |
| 5… h6 | 15 (1%) |
Master games
3,553 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 24%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) – Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-07-31
- Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) – LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-07-31
- Stockfish dev16_202209170930 (3611) – rofChade 3.0 (3486) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 23 Premier 2022 · 2022-09-30
- rofChade 3.0 (3486) – Stockfish dev16_202209170930 (3611) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 23 Premier 2022 · 2022-09-30
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2780) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-22
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- KAVO_LIDER (2638) – Leon_Sigma_Kennedy (2735) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- puretraining (2599) – slouuurps (2758) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- IM MassterofMayhem (2652) – FM The_Fawkes (2675) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 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
Continuations
- Ruy Lopez: Closed, Kecskemet Variation C72 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Bd7 6. c3 Nf6 7. d4 Be7 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Re1 Be8
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.