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Ruy Lopez

Moves

White scores

52.9%

Wins more
Loses moreEvenWins more

50.4% won4.9% drawn44.6% lost

Theory 53.3% · Stockfish +0.4

Every level and clock · 57M games

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
3.Bb5
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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

White’s score holds about the same all the way up.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
52.0%50.1%2.7M
53.3%51.4%6.3M
52.9%51.0%10.0M
52.8%50.8%12M
53.0%50.8%11M
53.0%50.6%8.2M
52.8%50.1%4.7M
53.2%49.8%2.3M
52.9%28.9%829K

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does Black play next?

Black's most played reply is 3…⁠d6, the Steinitz Defense.

Is the Ruy Lopez good?

Yes, for White, across every level and clock.

Everyone52.9
Stockfish53.3

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.4 for White

Floor 52.9 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

17th of 66 families White can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 58.3% · 2000–2199 classicalWorst 42.5% · under 1000 ultrabullet

Faint, hatched: few games, never the best or worst. –: too few to score. Tap a cell to set your level and clock.

Average game length

How do you score in your own openings?

Leaks reads your recent games and lists the openings you score worst in.

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More Ruy Lopez lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 182 Ruy Lopez lines, ranked

182 variations · ranked by floor

Floor — the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

1
Ruy Lopez: Open, Skipworth Gambit19K games
66.7%Floor 66.1%
2
Ruy Lopez: Retreat Variation16K games
63.1%Floor 62.5%
3
Ruy Lopez: Central Countergambit14K games
62.2%Floor 61.5%
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Alapin's Defense Deferred8.3K games
60.9%Floor 60.0%
Ruy Lopez: Pollock Defense37K games
59.7%Floor 59.3%
Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense Deferred, Lipnitsky Variation1.6K games
60.8%Floor 58.8%
Ruy Lopez: Brix Variation2.7K games
60.0%Floor 58.5%
Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation, Lutikov Variation978K games
58.2%Floor 58.1%
Ruy Lopez: Bulgarian Variation26K games
58.6%Floor 58.1%
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Mackenzie Variation99K games
58.4%Floor 58.1%
Ruy Lopez: Alapin Defense163K games
58.1%Floor 57.9%
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rosenthal Variation4.9K games
58.9%Floor 57.7%
Ruy Lopez: Classical Variation, Zukertort Gambit726K games
57.6%Floor 57.5%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Kholmov Variation33K games
57.5%Floor 57.1%
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Tarrasch Trap13K games
57.7%Floor 57.0%
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Cordel Variation443 games
60.2%Floor 56.5%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer1.4K games
58.5%Floor 56.4%
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Closed Showalter Variation6.1K games
57.4%Floor 56.4%
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Norwegian Variation, Nightingale Gambit13K games
57.1%Floor 56.3%
Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation, King's Bishop Variation513K games
56.4%Floor 56.3%
Ruy Lopez: Spanish Countergambit270K games
56.2%Floor 56.1%
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Caro Variation1.5M games
56.1%Floor 56.0%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Smyslov Defense35K games
56.2%Floor 55.8%
Ruy Lopez: Open, Riga Variation23K games
56.2%Floor 55.6%
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Nyholm Attack25K games
56.2%Floor 55.6%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Averbakh Variation80K games
55.8%Floor 55.5%
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Neo-Arkhangelsk Variation399K games
55.6%Floor 55.5%
Ruy Lopez: Rotary-Albany Gambit70K games
55.7%Floor 55.4%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack, Castling Line17K games
56.0%Floor 55.4%
Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense, Center Gambit16K games
56.0%Floor 55.4%
Ruy Lopez: Open, Motzko Attack768 games
58.1%Floor 55.2%
Ruy Lopez: Open, Bernstein Variation26K games
55.3%Floor 54.8%
Ruy Lopez: Nürnberg Variation784K games
54.7%Floor 54.6%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Borisenko Variation11K games
55.4%Floor 54.6%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Pilnik Variation74K games
54.8%Floor 54.5%
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Rio Gambit Accepted917K games
54.6%Floor 54.5%
Ruy Lopez: Classical Defense, Boden Variation20K games
55.0%Floor 54.4%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack, Delayed Castling Line6.8K games
55.4%Floor 54.4%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Delayed Exchange35K games
54.8%Floor 54.4%
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Closed Wolf Variation62K games
54.7%Floor 54.4%
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Wing Attack11K games
55.1%Floor 54.3%
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Wormald Attack91K games
54.6%Floor 54.3%
Ruy Lopez: Vinogradov Variation182K games
54.5%Floor 54.3%
Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense, Nimzowitsch Attack47K games
54.6%Floor 54.2%
Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense, Improved Steinitz Defense1.4M games
54.1%Floor 54.1%
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Worrall Attack2.2K games
55.7%Floor 54.0%
Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Jaffe Gambit94K games
54.2%Floor 54.0%
Ruy Lopez: Brentano Gambit6.7K games
54.9%Floor 53.9%
Ruy Lopez2.8M games
53.9%Floor 53.8%
Ruy Lopez: Alapin Defense, Alapin Gambit4.8K games
55.0%Floor 53.8%
Every Ruy Lopez variation, by name182
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the Ruy Lopez family scores 52.9% for White, with a range running from 52.9% to 53.0% around that figure, from 57M rated Lichess games across 182 variations. Win rate, draw rate and loss rate come from games played September 2023 to August 2026.

How the figures are made
Whose games these are
57M rated games played on Lichess (2023-09 to 2026-08). The games are Lichess’s and free for anyone to use. What is ours is the reading of them. Last rebuilt September 2026.
Which games we count
  • Rated games only — nothing casual.
  • Both players within 200 rating points of each other. A mismatch tells you about the gap, not about the opening.
  • At least 2 moves played.
  • A game is filed under White’s rating.
Why every number comes with a range
A number off a few hundred games is a guess. The same number off millions is a fact. The range is what tells them apart, and it is what the lists rank on — so an opening cannot reach the top on a lucky run of forty games. The more games behind a figure, the narrower its range.
What the Floor and Edge at worst are
The Floor is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident: the low end of a figure’s range, not its average. Edge at worst is how far wins run ahead of losses, 90% confident, so above zero, that side wins more than it loses even on a bad day. Each is stated for the rating and clock shown, over the games that reached the position. They are on different scales: a score sits at 50 when the sides are level, an edge at zero.
How much we need before we say anything
An opening page needs 100 games. A figure on it needs 100 games at its rating and clock: short of that the answer reads a wider scope and says so, a table row shows only its count, and a map cell shows a dash. Under 1.0K games a figure is drawn faint, and never leads a list or counts as the best or worst place the line wins. The chaos and trap lists need 500 games overall and 250 games at one rating or clock.