French Defense: Advance Variation, Frenkel Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. b4
The French Defense: Advance Variation, Frenkel Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C02, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. b4. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 46 times by this move order. White won 30%, 9% were drawn and Black won 61%. The most popular continuation is 4… cxd4 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: −1.04 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 4… cxd4 5. a3 a5 6. b5 Nd7 7. f4)
- ECO
- C02
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pp3ppp/4p3/2ppP3/1P1P4/8/P1P2PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. b4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 7 | |
| 1500-1999 | 36 | |
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 46 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… cxd4 | 23 (50%) | |
| 4… cxb4 | 14 (30%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 5 (11%) | |
| 4… c4 | 3 (7%) | |
| 4… b6 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
3 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 67%, draw 33%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- Marleen Van Amerongen (2151) – Jip Damen (2184) 1/2-1/2 · 10th WLC Weekender 2019 · 2019-05-26
- Goran Krastev (2041) – Martin Metev (2009) 1-0 · 128th MGU Open 2014 · 2014-12-07
- Stav Brenner (2034) – Martin Gruter (1811) 1-0 · EY Boys U16 2012 · 2012-08-19
Search all games of the French Defense: Advance Variation, Frenkel Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NinjaOfRandomness (2138) – Taxenrat (2370) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 1500 + 0s
- MiguePRO (1953) – SissaThoustra (2059) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- BiagioGisoRomero (2006) – Fzdi (1997) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Advance Variation (3. e5 c5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5
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.