Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Wormald Attack
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2
The Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Wormald Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO C77, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 423 times by this move order. White won 52%, 5% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 5… b5 (61% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 5… b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. axb5)
- ECO
- C77
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/1ppp1ppp/p1n2n2/4p3/B3P3/5N2/PPPPQPPP/RNB1K2R b KQkq - 3 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 20 | |
| 1500-1999 | 153 | |
| 2000+ | 250 | |
| All | 423 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… b5 | 260 (61%) | |
| 5… d6 | 62 (15%) | |
| 5… Bc5 | 52 (12%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 41 (10%) | |
| 5… Bd6 | 4 (1%) | |
| 5… d5 | 2 (0%) | |
| 5… Qe7 | 1 (0%) | |
| 5… h6 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
1,951 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 20%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Peter Svidler (2723) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2772) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2019 · 2019-12-28
- GM Richard Rapport (2715) – GM Vladislav Artemiev (2701) 1/2-1/2 · 10th Gashimov Mem Rapid · 2024-09-27
- GM Eltaj Safarli (2660) – GM Ruslan Ponomariov (2743) 1-0 · FIDE World Blitz 2013 · 2013-06-09
- GM Sina Movahed (2596) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) 0-1 · Titled Tue 17th Feb 2026 · 2026-02-17
- GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2607) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2777) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Winners 2023 · 2023-07-18
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Wormald Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- josedavid321 (2666) – FM rychessmaster1 (2715) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Futurexxx (2656) – FM Artem_chess01 (2601) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Artem9630 (2613) – FM Artem_chess01 (2577) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense (3. Bb5 a6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6
Continuations
- Ruy Lopez: Wormald Attack, Grünfeld Variation C77 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. d4 d6 8. c3 Bg4
- Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack, Castling Line (8… d5 9. d3) C86 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Be7 6. O-O b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. d3
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.