French Defense: Advance Variation, Steinitz Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5
The French Defense: Advance Variation, Steinitz Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C02, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5. 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 2,187 times by this move order. White won 43%, 3% were drawn and Black won 54%. The most popular continuation is 4… Bxc5 (89% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.27 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 4… Nc6 5. Nd2 Bxc5 6. Nb3 Bb6 7. Nf3)
- ECO
- C02
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pp3ppp/4p3/2PpP3/8/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,053 | |
| 1500-1999 | 949 | |
| 2000+ | 185 | |
| All | 2,187 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Bxc5 | 1,938 (89%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 228 (10%) | |
| 4… Nd7 | 6 (0%) | |
| 4… Qa5+ | 4 (0%) | |
| 4… Qb6 | 4 (0%) | |
| 4… Qc7 | 1 (0%) | |
| 4… Bd7 | 1 (0%) | |
| 4… Nf6 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
142 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 32%, draw 16%, Black 52%). The strongest:
- IM Julio Benedetti (2247) – GM Andrew Hong (2542) 0-1 · Titled Tue 27th Feb Late · 2024-02-27
- IM Sergey Smolin (2260) – IM Mikhail Demidov (2485) 0-1 · European Rapid 2015 · 2015-12-19
- FM Dmitrii Marcziter (2243) – GM Ermes Espinosa Veloz (2485) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 24th Aug · 2021-08-24
- IM Julio Benedetti (2252) – GM Jiner Zhu (2467) 0-1 · Titled Tue 19th Dec Late · 2023-12-19
- IM Julio Benedetti (2282) – IM Gulnar Mammadova (2382) 0-1 · Worldwide Chessteam Apr · 2021-04-17
Search all games of the French Defense: Advance Variation, Steinitz Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Karlskoga (2532) – Lightlike (2545) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- hierasousse (2536) – KARSENIY (2533) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- great_nezhmetdinov2 (2523) – Zakharov_s_d (2379) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 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.