Ruy Lopez: Open, Main Line
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Statistics from Lichess
147,518 games: White 46.4% / Draw 7.7% / Black 46.0%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Ruy Lopez: Open | 62,94963K | |
| Ruy Lopez: Open, Bernstein Variation | 37,94738K | |
| Ruy Lopez: Open, Howell Attack | 12,12412K | |
| 11,07911K | ||
| 8,0538,053 | ||
| 6,2826,282 | ||
| 4,0934,093 | ||
| 1,9611,961 |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 29, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.20 The position is about equal
Best play: 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 d4 11. Bxe6 Nxe6 12. cxd4 Ncxd4 13. Ne4 Qd5
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
Overview
Ruy Lopez: Open, Main Line (ECO C80, Open Games) is a variation of the Ruy Lopez: Open, 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 (8 moves).
In 147,518 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 46.4%, Black 46.0% and 7.7% were drawn. White's most played move here is 9. c3, in 43% of those games.
It branches into 3 named variations; the most played are Ruy Lopez: Open and Ruy Lopez: Open, Bernstein Variation. In all, 18 named lines continue from it.
Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.
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How to play against the Ruy Lopez: Open, Main Line
9. Qe2 (Ruy Lopez: Open, Howell Attack) scores best for White: 55.0%, with White winning 50.6% and Black 40.6% of 12K games. The most played, 9. c3, scores 49.9% in 63K games, and 9. Re1 scores lowest: 44.1%. Stockfish's first choice is 9. Nbd2.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings
Variations (3)
All 18 named lines that continue from here
- C82 Ruy Lopez: Open 9 moves
- C80 Ruy Lopez: Open, Bernstein Variation 9 moves
- C81 Ruy Lopez: Open, Howell Attack 9 moves
- C82 Berlin Variation 9 moves
- C80 Luther Line 10 moves
- C83 Ruy Lopez: Open, Classical Defense 10 moves
- C83 Classical Defense 9 moves
- C81 Howell Attack 10 moves
- C81 Ekstrom Variation 12 moves
- C82 Italian Variation 9 moves
- C80 Ruy Lopez: Open, Karpov Gambit 11 moves
- C83 Ruy Lopez: Open, Breslau Variation 11 moves
- C83 Ruy Lopez: Open, Malkin Variation 11 moves
- C82 Ruy Lopez: Open, Motzko Attack 10 moves
- C82 Ruy Lopez: Open, St. Petersburg Variation 10 moves
- C83 Ruy Lopez: Open, Tarrasch Trap 13 moves
- C82 Ruy Lopez: Open, Dilworth Variation 11 moves
- C82 Nenarokov Variation 10 moves
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “Ruy Lopez: Open, Main Line (C80)”. Lichess data as of 29 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/ruy-lopez-open-main-line