Ruy Lopez: Noah's Ark Trap (10. Qxd4 c5)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. d4 Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4 c5

The Ruy Lopez: Noah's Ark Trap is a chess opening classified as ECO C88, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. d4 Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4 c5. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. White is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1 times by this move order. White won 0%, 0% were drawn and Black won 100%. The most popular continuation is 11. Qd5 (100% of games).

Engine evaluation: −2.86 (Stockfish, depth 29; best line 11. Qc3 c4 12. Bxc4 bxc4 13. Qxc4 O-O)

ECO

C88

Moves

20 plies

FEN

r1bqk2r/4bppp/p2p1n2/1pp5/3QP3/1B6/PPP2PPP/RNB1R1K1 w kq - 0 11

PGN

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. d4 Nxd4 9. Nxd4 exd4 10. Qxd4 c5

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

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.