Ruy Lopez: Open, Classical Defense (10. c3 Be7)
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. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7
The Ruy Lopez: Open, Classical Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C83, 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. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7. 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 12 times by this move order. White won 58%, 17% were drawn and Black won 25%. The most popular continuation is 11. Bc2 (92% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.40 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 11. Bc2 d4 12. Nb3 dxc3 13. Nxc5 Bxc5)
- ECO
- C83
- Moves
- 20 plies
- FEN
r2qk2r/2p1bppp/p1n1b3/1pnpP3/8/1BP2N2/PP1N1PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w kq - 1 11- 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. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 11 | |
| All | 12 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 11. Bc2 | 11 (92%) | |
| 11. Re1 | 1 (8%) |
Master games
355 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 47%, Black 15%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2827) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2820) 1-0 · 43rd Olympiad 2018 · 2018-10-02
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2822) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2801) 1-0 · Saint Louis Rapid 2018 · 2018-08-11
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2844) – GM Liren Ding (2766) 1/2-1/2 · 78th Tata Steel GpA · 2016-01-31
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 1-0 · FTX Crypto Cup KO 2021 · 2021-05-26
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2779) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2804) 1/2-1/2 · Vugar Gashimov Mem 2016 · 2016-06-04
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Open, Classical Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- OlegKas222 (2481) – Shadowwarrior3000 (2498) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Evgeniy_Kuligin (2510) – Warmaster1 (2426) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Gruco977 (2314) – Warmaster1 (2378) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Open, Bernstein Variation 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. Nbd2
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.