Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Norwegian Variation, Nightingale Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Na5 6. Bxf7+
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Norwegian Variation, Nightingale Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C70, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Na5 6. Bxf7+. 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 69 times by this move order. White won 43%, 6% were drawn and Black won 51%. The most popular continuation is 6… Kxf7 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 6… Kxf7 7. Nxe5+ Ke7 8. d4 d6 9. Nd3)
- ECO
- C70
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/2pp1Bpp/p7/np2p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Na5 6. Bxf7+
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 13 | |
| 1500-1999 | 34 | |
| 2000+ | 22 | |
| All | 69 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Kxf7 | 69 (100%) |
Master games
47 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 28%, draw 8%, Black 64%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2789) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2707) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2017 · 2017-12-27
- GM Anuar Ismagambetov (2528) – GM Maxim Vavulin (2556) 1-0 · World Rapid 2019 · 2019-12-27
- GM David Paravyan (2584) – IM Harsh Suresh (2457) 1-0 · Oskemen Open Masters 2026 · 2026-07-27
- GM Velimir Ivic (2622) – IM Mai Narva (2414) 1-0 · Titled Tue 5th Nov Late · 2024-11-05
- IM Semen Khanin (2521) – GM Arseniy Nesterov (2514) 1/2-1/2 · Speed Chess Super Swiss · 2021-10-16
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Ristic58 (2434) – andrey_chess77 (2470) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- Nicofdez (2390) – Hollypope17 (2449) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- ErnstStavroBlofeld96 (2349) – andrey_chess77 (2465) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Norwegian Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Na5
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.