French Defense: Advance Variation, Milner-Barry Gambit, Sørensen Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Bd7 8. O-O Nxd4 9. Ng5
The French Defense: Advance Variation, Milner-Barry Gambit, Sørensen Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C02, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Bd7 8. O-O Nxd4 9. Ng5. 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 10 times by this move order. White won 90%, 0% were drawn and Black won 10%. The most popular continuation is 9… Nc6 (30% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.77 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 9… Nc6 10. Nf3 Nge7 11. Nc3 Ng6 12. Be3)
- ECO
- C02
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
r3kbnr/pp1b1ppp/1q2p3/3pP1N1/3n4/3B4/PP3PPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 1 9- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Bd7 8. O-O Nxd4 9. Ng5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 5 | |
| 2000+ | 5 | |
| All | 10 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9… Nc6 | 3 (30%) | |
| 9… g6 | 3 (30%) | |
| 9… h6 | 2 (20%) | |
| 9… f5 | 1 (10%) | |
| 9… Be7 | 1 (10%) |
Master games
7 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 29%, draw 42%, Black 29%). The strongest:
- IM Rasmus Skytte (2341) – IM David Gorodetzky (2488) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 14th Mar Late · 2023-03-14
- CM Jose Fernando Mata Gonzalez (2164) – FM Babageldi Annaberdiyev (2208) 0-1 · Titled Tue 5th Aug Late · 2025-08-05
- FM Jacob Dreelinck (2220) – Asish Panda (1910) 1-0 · Titled Tue 18th Feb Early · 2025-02-18
- Killian Delaney (2129) – Murat Mejdini (1977) 1/2-1/2 · 29th ECC Open 2013 · 2013-10-26
- CM Jose Fernando Mata Gonzalez (2164) – Asish Panda (1935) 1-0 · Titled Tue 14th Oct 2025 · 2025-10-14
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ormenider (2235) – raulov51 (2275) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Tal-style76 (2107) – FireDragon77 (2243) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 3s
- DahhmyQueen (2070) – aandi (2045) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Advance Variation, Milner-Barry Gambit, Main Line 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Bd7 8. O-O
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.