French Defense: Classical Variation (6. Bxe7 Qxe7)

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7

The French Defense: Classical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C14, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,328 times by this move order. White won 53%, 6% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 7. f4 (52% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.27 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 7. f4 a6 8. Nf3 c5 9. Ne2 Nc6)

ECO: C14
Moves: 12 plies
FEN: rnb1k2r/pppnqppp/4p3/3pP3/3P4/2N5/PPP2PPP/R2QKBNR w KQkq - 0 7
PGN: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	39	49%51%
1500-1999	666	51%44%
2000+	623	56%37%
All	1,328	53%41%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
7. f4 Classical Variation, Steinitz Variation (6… Qxe7 7. f4)	693 (52%)	55%39%
7. Nf3	221 (17%)	48%46%
7. Qg4 Classical Variation, Pollock Variation	155 (12%)	55%41%
7. Nb5 Classical Variation, Alapin Variation	74 (6%)	54%39%
7. Bd3 Classical Variation, Tarrasch Variation	65 (5%)	51%42%
7. Qd2 Classical Variation, Rubinstein Variation	41 (3%)	51%44%
7. Nce2	33 (2%)	55%39%
7. a3	19 (1%)	58%37%

Master games

67 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 27%, draw 30%, Black 43%). The strongest:

IM Alexander Alexikov (2223) – GM Pawel Jaracz (2463) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Oct Late · 2022-10-18
IM Alina Bivol (2360) – WGM Priyanka Nutakki (2292) 1-0 · World Blitz Women 2025 · 2025-12-30
FM Alberto Martin Fuentes (2372) – FM Maciej Sroczynski (2256) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Apr Late · 2024-04-23
CM Chris Briscoe (2201) – IM Peter T Roberson (2415) 0-1 · 4NCL Rapid Indiv 2014 · 2014-10-05
FM Alberto Martin Fuentes (2391) – FM Babageldi Annaberdiyev (2208) 0-1 · Titled Tue 13th Dec Late · 2022-12-13

Search all games of the French Defense: Classical Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

RoryMcCann (2673) – nguyentungquan (2732) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Zenith_Shift (2563) – IM shuriks91 (2755) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
NM Pliukha_Mikhail (2709) – flying_knights456 (2607) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

French Defense: Classical Variation, Normal Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7

Continuations

French Defense: Classical Variation, Alapin Variation C14 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Nb5
French Defense: Classical Variation, Pollock Variation C14 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Qg4
French Defense: Classical Variation, Rubinstein Variation C14 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Qd2
French Defense: Classical Variation, Steinitz Variation (6… Qxe7 7. f4) C14 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4
French Defense: Classical Variation, Tarrasch Variation C14 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Bd3

More French Defense lines (all)

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.