Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Schliemann Defense Deferred

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 f5

The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Schliemann Defense Deferred is a chess opening classified as ECO C70, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 f5. 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 335 times by this move order. White won 43%, 5% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 5. d3 (42% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.74 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 b5 7. Bb3 Na5)

ECO: C70
Moves: 8 plies
FEN: r1bqkbnr/1ppp2pp/p1n5/4pp2/B3P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 5
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 f5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	24	46%50%
1500-1999	130	45%51%
2000+	181	42%54%
All	335	43%52%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
5. d3	140 (42%)	36%59%
5. exf5 Morphy Defense, Schliemann Defense Deferred, Jaenisch Gambit Deferred	54 (16%)	46%46%
5. d4	50 (15%)	48%48%
5. Nc3	36 (11%)	61%39%
5. Bxc6	34 (10%)	44%56%
5. O-O	13 (4%)	46%54%
5. Qe2	5 (1%)	40%20%40%
5. Bb3	1 (0%)	100%

Master games

673 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 19%, Black 44%). The strongest:

Stoofvlees II d9 (3541) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-9057bc13 (3749) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Gambit Bonus 2026 · 2026-05-30
Reckless 0.10.0-dev-9057bc13 (3749) – Stoofvlees II d9 (3541) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Gambit Bonus 2026 · 2026-05-30
GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2727) – GM Praggnanandhaa R (2747) 0-1 · FIDE Candidates 2024 · 2024-04-06
GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2701) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2760) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 12th Jul Early · 2022-07-12
GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2701) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2760) 0-1 · Titled Tue 12th Jul Late · 2022-07-12

Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Schliemann Defense Deferred and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Epichess95 (2847) – HighQualityO (2660) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Barry_Lindon (2616) – HighQualityO (2693) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
CM Mysterious-Master (2622) – Dr_Ragin (2652) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 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, Schliemann Defense Deferred, Jaenisch Gambit Deferred C70 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 f5 5. exf5

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.