Ruy Lopez: Open (8… Be6 9. c3)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3

The Ruy Lopez: Open is a chess opening classified as ECO C82, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 142 times by this move order. White won 55%, 8% were drawn and Black won 37%. The most popular continuation is 9… Bc5 (57% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.26 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 9… Bc5 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Bc2 Nxf2 12. Rxf2)

ECO: C82
Moves: 17 plies
FEN: r2qkb1r/2p2ppp/p1n1b3/1p1pP3/4n3/1BP2N2/PP3PPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 0 9
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	2	50%50%
1500-1999	31	48%13%39%
2000+	109	57%38%
All	142	55%37%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
9… Bc5 Open, Italian Variation	81 (57%)	62%32%
9… Be7 Open, Classical Defense (9. c3 Be7)	54 (38%)	44%46%
9… Nc5 Open, Berlin Variation	6 (4%)	50%17%33%
9… Qd7	1 (1%)	100%

Master games

9 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 56%, draw 44%, Black 0%). The strongest:

GM Velimir Ivic (2600) – GM Jeffery Xiong (2656) 1-0 · Titled Tue 16th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-16
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2546) – GM Humpy Koneru (2523) 1-0 · Monaco WGP 2025 · 2025-02-24
IM Gerard Ayats Llobera (2446) – IM Carles Diaz Camallonga (2490) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-CAT GpA Final 2026 · 2026-04-11
IM Davaademberel Nomin-Erdene (2371) – GM Suat Atalik (2509) 1/2-1/2 · 9th Vojvodina Open 2018 · 2018-07-27
Pavel-Alexandru Nastore (2220) – FM Jan Lundin (2350) 1/2-1/2 · Third Sat 125 IM 2020 · 2020-01-18

Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Open and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

TwilightX6M2200Magic (2556) – IM Ural_bogatyr (2595) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
chEss653447 (2553) – CJ58 (2500) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
petergo (2484) – Byvshev22 (2454) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Ruy Lopez: Open, Main Line 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6

Continuations

Ruy Lopez: Open, Berlin Variation C82 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Nc5
Ruy Lopez: Open, Classical Defense (9. c3 Be7) C83 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Be7
Ruy Lopez: Open, Italian Variation C82 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Bc5

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.