French Defense: Advance Variation, Extended Bishop Swap
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bd7
The French Defense: Advance Variation, Extended Bishop Swap is a chess opening classified as ECO C02, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bd7. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,691 times by this move order. White won 46%, 5% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nf3 (51% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 4. Be2 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nf3 Nge7)
- ECO
- C02
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/pppb1ppp/4p3/3pP3/3P4/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bd7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 451 | |
| 1500-1999 | 971 | |
| 2000+ | 269 | |
| All | 1,691 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nf3 | 857 (51%) | |
| 4. c3 | 272 (16%) | |
| 4. f4 | 173 (10%) | |
| 4. Bd3 | 96 (6%) | |
| 4. c4 | 95 (6%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 81 (5%) | |
| 4. a3 | 30 (2%) | |
| 4. Be3 | 20 (1%) |
Master games
277 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 20%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2745) – GM Sergei Shipov (2541) 1-0 · Titled Tue 14th Jun Early · 2022-06-14
- IM Reza Mahdavi (2445) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2837) 0-1 · Titled Tue 29th Apr Early · 2025-04-29
- GM Vasif Durarbayli (2612) – GM David W L Howell (2668) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Mar Early · 2025-03-18
- GM Shanglei Lu (2643) – GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2615) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2025 · 2025-12-27
- GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2576) – GM David W L Howell (2667) 0-1 · Titled Tue 4th Oct Late · 2022-10-04
Highest-rated Lichess games
- puzzled42 (2538) – ecstasyuser (2663) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- T_Dias_111 (2498) – SU-1704 (2661) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- OCristovao (2521) – colceho (2552) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: Advance Variation (2… d5 3. e5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (1. e4 e6) C00
- French Defense (2. d4 d5) C00
- French Defense: Alapin Gambit C00
- French Defense: Baeuerle Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit, Pinova Gambit C00
- French Defense: Bird Invitation C00
- French Defense: Carlson Gambit C00
- French Defense: Chigorin Variation C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit C00
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.