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Ruy Lopez, Closed (C96)
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5
7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d6 9 h3 Na5 10 Bc2

Number of games in database: 2269
Years covered: 1902 to 2025
Overall record:
   White wins 36.3%
   Black wins 22.5%
   Draws 41.2%

Popularity graph, by decade

Explore this opening  |  Search for sacrifices in this opening.
PRACTITIONERS
With the White Pieces With the Black Pieces
Mikhail Tal  16 games
Alexey Shirov  15 games
Efim Geller  14 games
Oleg Romanishin  133 games
Levente Lengyel  29 games
Alexander Graf  23 games
NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]
White Wins Black Wins
Anand vs Carlsen, 2007
Fischer vs Keres, 1962
Tal vs Bronstein, 1959
Maroczy vs Capablanca, 1924
Tal vs Keres, 1962
A Sherzer vs P Acs, 1998
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 page 1 of 91; games 1-25 of 2,269  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Tarrasch vs Schlechter 1-0651902Monte CarloC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
2. W Meiners vs Duras  ½-½57190331st DCA Congress, HilversumC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
3. D Przepiorka vs Rubinstein 0-1311907LodzC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
4. Schlechter vs J Berger 1-0291907KarlsbadC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
5. Maroczy vs E Cohn  1-0391907KarlsbadC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
6. Schlechter vs Salwe 1-0321908PragueC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
7. von Bardeleben vs L Prokes  0-1631908PragueC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
8. L B Meyer vs J Bernstein  1-0351910NYSCA chC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
9. Z von Balla vs Hromadka 1-0281912Bad PistyanC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
10. Yates vs A West  1-0201912British ChampionshipC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
11. Jakobowitz vs B Zidlicky  1-0351913Berlin-PragueC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
12. E Steiner vs Bogoljubov 0-1291921BudapestC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
13. Maroczy vs Capablanca 0-1571924New YorkC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
14. J J Boedijn vs E Arrias  0-1271924VAS-DDC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
15. Lasker vs W Frere 0-1411926Simul, 30bC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
16. Znosko-Borovsky vs M Monticelli  0-1151926Budapest 1st FIDE MastersC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
17. H Grob vs M Censer  1-0331927London OlympiadC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
18. R Hartnett vs E S Bensinger  1-025192953rd Oxford - Cambridge Varsity mC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
19. Keres vs G Friedemann  1-0421935Tallinn mC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
20. Panov vs L Shamaev  1-0401938URS-ch sf KievC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
21. D Rovner vs L Shamaev  ½-½501938URS-ch sf KievC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
22. A de Groot vs G Fontein  ½-½461939DD-VASC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
23. Ragozin vs Levenfish  0-1581939USSR ChampionshipC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
24. P Dubinin vs V Makogonov  ½-½861939USSR ChampionshipC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
25. R Keller vs K Junge  0-16319423rd General GovernmentC96 Ruy Lopez, Closed
 page 1 of 91; games 1-25 of 2,269  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
Dec-28-05  Rocafella: Not suprised no-one's kibitzed here. I tend to follow the old experession 'The knight on the rim is grim.' I just felt that the space on this page was unnecessarily boring! The knight on a5 presures the bishop which can easily move out of harms way and the knight then looks ridiculous with no good moves.
Dec-28-05  Rocafella: This does however carry on into lines like Chigorin defence?, which is OK for black.
Oct-06-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: I don't have access now to any larger database than we have here, but I'd like to know if 15...Re8 as my opponent just played, has any merit, or is it still book in other lines?...15...ed4 seems to be the only line in this chessgames database. I lost the game, but probably due to some wrong middle game moves on my part:-)..thanks in advance
Oct-06-06  e4Newman: exactly which position are you talking about after 10...c5 11.d4

as you know, there are a few posibilities between there and 15... in the Chigorin

Oct-06-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Joshka: After my 11.d4 my opponent went ...Nd7 then 12.Nbd2...cd4 13.cd4...Bf6 14.Nf1...Nc6 15.Be3....then he plays the Re8. I was shocked at myself that I was able to follow theory for the first 15 moves for white! All I was doing was just trying to use logic, cause there are just too many lines for me to remember anyway...thanks for responding.
Oct-19-06  e4Newman: <Joshka> sorry i forgot all about this thread

i like the logic behind many of the closed lopez lines - your memory is great, moving the QN over to the K-side

none of my references show 15...Re8 in the position mentioned although we see it in other Chigorins, don't we

maybe he was just playing with the move order or couldn't remember

the move begs for white to play d5 with unclear results as far as i can tell, perhaps just a short lived initiative...never seen it OTB

16.d5 Na5 or ...Nb4 look playable and now the black KN can jump to c5...hmmm

16.dxe5 doesn't look necessary yet, not that bad though

16.Ng3 hoping to get to f5 may be a plan, not very decisive though

how did it turn out??

Mar-13-08  whiteshark: A summary of the recent theory on this new <Marshall-Gambit>, written by Lars Schandorff, can be found here: http://www.chessbase.de/nachrichten...

Position after <10...d5> / games in this db: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

Dec-01-08  refutor: i'm excited about the 10. ...d5 move in the tchigorin. i played the tchigorin years and years ago but i found that White got an advantage without trying very hard, just playing the normal Nb1-d2-f1-g3 and going at the king. i'm happy to have the closed lopez back in my repertoire :)
Jan-17-09  refutor: after 2 months of considering 10. ...d5 is it for shock value only? the 11.exd5 e4 lines look good for Black, but 11.d4 (in particular) and some others look pretty tough for Black. if black wants to play ...d5 should he do it on the 8th move only? any theoreticians out there wishing to comment?

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