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
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. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 213 times by this move order. White won 53%, 5% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 6. d4 (41% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.52 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 6. d4 g6 7. Bg5 f6 8. Be3 Bg7)
- ECO
- C75
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
r2qkbnr/1ppb1ppp/p1np4/4p3/B3P3/2P2N2/PP1P1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 38 | |
| 1500-1999 | 82 | |
| 2000+ | 93 | |
| All | 213 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. d4 | 88 (41%) | |
| 6. O-O | 85 (40%) | |
| 6. d3 | 19 (9%) | |
| 6. Bc2 | 11 (5%) | |
| 6. h3 | 5 (2%) | |
| 6. Bb3 | 3 (1%) | |
| 6. a3 | 2 (1%) |
Master games
1,251 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 27%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2837) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2726) 1-0 · World Rapid Final · 2012-07-07
- GM Yangyi Yu (2751) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2799) 1/2-1/2 · 2nd IMSA Basque 2017 · 2017-12-14
- GM Pentala Harikrishna (2744) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2799) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2017 · 2017-12-28
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2743) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2792) 1/2-1/2 · 7th Gashimov Mem Rapid · 2021-12-20
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2726) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2799) 1-0 · 2nd IMSA Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-13
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FNENAD (2611) – kuhmft (2861) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Cuentatorneos (2668) – Mallorca10Barcelona (2680) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- CJ58 (2482) – IM hyperreal (2637) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. c3) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3
Continuations
- Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (6. d4 Nge7) C75 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7 6. d4 Nge7
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.