French Defense: Alapin Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Be3
The French Defense: Alapin Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Be3. 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 901 times by this move order. White won 51%, 3% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 3… dxe4 (63% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.35 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 3… dxe4 4. Nd2 Nf6 5. c3 b6 6. g3)
- ECO
- C00
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3p4/3PP3/4B3/PPP2PPP/RN1QKBNR b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Be3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 127 | |
| 1500-1999 | 545 | |
| 2000+ | 229 | |
| All | 901 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… dxe4 | 566 (63%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 179 (20%) | |
| 3… c5 | 76 (8%) | |
| 3… c6 | 22 (2%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 14 (2%) | |
| 3… b6 | 8 (1%) | |
| 3… Bd7 | 7 (1%) | |
| 3… a6 | 6 (1%) |
Master games
96 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 14%, Black 43%). The strongest:
- Stoofvlees II d9 (3541) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-9057bc13 (3749) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Gambit Bonus 2026 · 2026-05-29
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-9057bc13 (3749) – Stoofvlees II d9 (3541) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Gambit Bonus 2026 · 2026-05-29
- SlowChess Blitz 2.83 avx2 (3490) – Stockfish dev15_20220302 (3612) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-27
- Stockfish dev15_20220302 (3612) – SlowChess Blitz 2.83 avx2 (3490) 1-0 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-25
- IM Matvey Galchenko (2435) – GM Matthias Bluebaum (2694) 0-1 · Titled Tue 30th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-30
Search all games of the French Defense: Alapin Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Sprockel (2379) – SS3W (2339) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- BobFleming (2333) – ZakharShevchuk (2327) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Bugfish (2326) – NM Fibromyalgia (2325) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense (2. d4 d5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (1. e4 e6) 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
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Sicilian Defense 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.