Tree path 5 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Normal Variation › Ruy Lopez › Alapin Defense
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game C20
- King's Knight Opening C40
- Normal Variation C44
- Ruy Lopez C60
- Alapin Defense C60 you are here
Ruy Lopez: Alapin Defense
Overview
Ruy Lopez: Alapin Defense is a variation within the Open Games family, indexed as ECO C60.
The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.
It is reached after 6 plies of play, with the move sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bb4.
It is a variation of Ruy Lopez, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.
It continues primarily into one named line, Alapin Gambit.
Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.
This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.
Statistics from Lichess
65,747 games · White 55.1% / Draw 4.4% / Black 40.6%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| c3 | 30,352 | |
| O-O | 20,346 | |
| Bxc6 | 10,749 | |
| a3 | 2,814 | |
| Nc3 | 1,110 | |
| c4 | 62 | |
| Qe2 | 57 | |
| a4 | 55 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:27:21
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