Ruy Lopez
Chess opening · ECO C60 · 5 half-moves
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5
The Ruy Lopez is reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5. It is Black's move in the position shown.
It branches from the King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation with 3. Bb5.
How often it is played
The Ruy Lopez and its variations appeared in 1.7% of games — 50,320 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 28 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 51%, 5.4% were drawn and Black won 44%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.
What the engine thinks
Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.28 — a small edge for White. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.
Similar openings
The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.
| Opening | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Italian Game | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 | 4.6% |
| Scotch Game | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 | 2.0% |
| Three Knights Opening | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 | 1.3% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 | 0.44% |
| Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 | 0.35% |
| Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 | 0.34% |
| Ruy Lopez: Classical Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 | 0.20% |
| Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 | 0.09% |
| Ruy Lopez: Bird Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 | 0.08% |
| Ruy Lopez: Schliemann Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 | 0.05% |
| Ruy Lopez: Nürnberg Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f6 | 0.02% |
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