Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense Deferred, Lipnitsky Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d4 Bg4
The Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense Deferred, Lipnitsky Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C79, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d4 Bg4. 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: +0.45 (Stockfish, depth 30; best line 8. dxe5 Nxe4 9. h3 Bh5 10. Qd3 d5)
- ECO
- C79
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r2qkb1r/2p2ppp/p1pp1n2/4p3/3PP1b1/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 1 8- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d4 Bg4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- IM Brodie McClymont (2311) – James Kay (1772) 1-0 · Gold Coast Open 2019 · 2019-06-30
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Steinitz Deferred (5. O-O d6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6
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.