Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4. Ba4 d6)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6

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. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. White is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3,307 times by this move order. White won 50%, 6% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 5. O-O (32% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5. O-O Nf6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d4 exd4)

ECO: C71
Moves: 8 plies
FEN: r1bqkbnr/1pp2ppp/p1np4/4p3/B3P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 5
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	479	53%42%
1500-1999	1,823	52%44%
2000+	1,005	46%46%
All	3,307	50%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
5. O-O Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. O-O)	1,042 (32%)	51%44%
5. c3 Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. c3)	816 (25%)	54%42%
5. d4	582 (18%)	43%50%
5. h3	426 (13%)	49%46%
5. d3	133 (4%)	50%44%
5. Nc3 Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. Nc3)	110 (3%)	59%35%
5. Bxc6+	107 (3%)	54%36%
5. c4 Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. c4)	31 (1%)	48%13%39%

Master games

723 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 24%, Black 43%). The strongest:

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2789) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2799) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-30
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) – GM Anton Demchenko (2641) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 5th May · 2020-05-05
GM Raunak Sadhwani (2627) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 1/2-1/2 · Airthings Masters Play-In · 2023-02-03
GM Vladislav Kovalev (2582) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729) 0-1 · Titled Tue 5th Sep Early · 2023-09-05
GM David Anton Guijarro (2631) – GM Eltaj Safarli (2649) 0-1 · FIDE World Blitz 2014 · 2014-06-19

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
Towser1 (2708) – slouuurps (2742) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
KhatanbaatarGM (2701) – slouuurps (2742) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense (3. Bb5 a6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6

Continuations

Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. Nc3) C71 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Nc3
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. c4) C71 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c4
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. O-O) C72 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (4… d6 5. c3) C74 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (5… bxc6 6. d4) C73 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. d4

More Ruy Lopez lines (all)

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.