Ruy Lopez: Open, St. Petersburg 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. c3 Bc5 10. Nbd2
The Ruy Lopez: Open, St. Petersburg Variation 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 Bc5 10. Nbd2. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 63 times by this move order. White won 59%, 8% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 10… O-O (83% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 10… O-O 11. Bc2 Nxf2 12. Rxf2 f6 13. Nf1)
- ECO
- C82
- Moves
- 19 plies
- FEN
r2qk2r/2p2ppp/p1n1b3/1pbpP3/4n3/1BP2N2/PP1N1PPP/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 2 10- 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 Bc5 10. Nbd2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 11 | |
| 2000+ | 52 | |
| All | 63 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 10… O-O | 52 (83%) | |
| 10… Nxd2 | 6 (10%) | |
| 10… Nxf2 | 3 (5%) | |
| 10… Bf5 | 1 (2%) | |
| 10… f5 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
180 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 26%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2760) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2800) 1/2-1/2 · ch-USA 2021 · 2021-10-07
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2678) 1/2-1/2 · Legends of Chess Prelim · 2020-07-24
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2805) – GM Aram Hakobyan (2617) 1/2-1/2 · Chess.com Classic Div 2 W · 2024-05-10
- GM Andrey Esipenko (2678) – GM Daniil Dubov (2702) 1/2-1/2 · 75th ch-RUS 2022 · 2022-09-16
- GM Jorden Van Foreest (2695) – GM Nils Grandelius (2674) 1/2-1/2 · Bydgoszcz GM 2023 · 2023-06-28
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Open, St. Petersburg Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- TwilightX6M2200Magic (2556) – IM Ural_bogatyr (2595) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- naturedragon99 (2440) – LE_BON_BELGE (2427) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- lsir19985 (2445) – COCOChessman (2360) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Open, Italian 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. c3 Bc5
Continuations
- Ruy Lopez: Open, Dilworth 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 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Bc2 Nxf2
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.