Ruy Lopez: Open, Howell Attack, Ekstrom 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. Qe2 Be7 10. Rd1 O-O 11. c4 bxc4 12. Bxc4 Qd7
The Ruy Lopez: Open, Howell Attack, Ekstrom Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C81, 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. Qe2 Be7 10. Rd1 O-O 11. c4 bxc4 12. Bxc4 Qd7. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. White is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: +0.44 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Rfd8 15. h3 Qc8)
- ECO
- C81
- Moves
- 24 plies
- FEN
r4rk1/2pqbppp/p1n1b3/3pP3/2B1n3/5N2/PP2QPPP/RNBR2K1 w - - 1 13- 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. Qe2 Be7 10. Rd1 O-O 11. c4 bxc4 12. Bxc4 Qd7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
10 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 40%, Black 20%). The strongest:
- GM Bassem Amin (2682) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2740) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2022 · 2022-12-28
- GM Eltaj Safarli (2644) – GM Pavel Kotsur (2552) 1-0 · Nakhchivan Open A 2013 · 2013-04-24
- GM Murali Karthikeyan (2498) – GM Sundar M. Shyam (2481) 1/2-1/2 · 53rd ch-IND 2015 · 2015-11-20
- FM Jan Klimkowski (2305) – GM Mustafa Yilmaz (2630) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 15th Dec · 2020-12-15
- FM Kirill Shevchenko (2373) – GM Victor Mikhalevski (2535) 1-0 · European Blitz 2015 · 2015-12-18
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Open, Howell Attack, Ekstrom Variation and its sub-variations
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Open, Howell Attack (8… Be6 9. Qe2) 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. Qe2
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.