French Defense: Classical Variation, Alapin Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Nb5
The French Defense: Classical Variation, Alapin 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 7. Nb5. 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 74 times by this move order. White won 54%, 7% were drawn and Black won 39%. The most popular continuation is 7… Nb6 (31% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 7… Nb6 8. a3 a6 9. Nc3 c5 10. dxc5)
- ECO
- C14
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnb1k2r/pppnqppp/4p3/1N1pP3/3P4/8/PPP2PPP/R2QKBNR b KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Nb5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 42 | |
| 2000+ | 32 | |
| All | 74 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Nb6 | 23 (31%) | |
| 7… Na6 | 22 (30%) | |
| 7… Qd8 | 12 (16%) | |
| 7… a6 | 8 (11%) | |
| 7… Qb4+ | 5 (7%) | |
| 7… Nf8 | 2 (3%) | |
| 7… c5 | 1 (1%) | |
| 7… O-O | 1 (1%) |
Master games
89 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 51%, draw 23%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2725) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2777) 0-1 · Titled Tue 11th Mar Early · 2025-03-11
- IM Andrey Stukopin (2544) – GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (2653) 1/2-1/2 · 15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014 · 2014-03-05
- GM Sebastien Maze (2617) – GM Alexander Graf (2564) 0-1 · 2nd Bundesliga Sud 2016-17 · 2016-11-20
- GM Neuris Delgado Ramirez (2596) – IM Enrique Tejedor Fuente (2439) 1-0 · 1st Torrelavega GM 2021 · 2021-10-20
- IM Thibaut Vandenbussche (2402) – GM Timman, J. (2573) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-BEL 2017-18 · 2018-03-25
Search all games of the French Defense: Classical Variation, Alapin Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Jadoubovic11 (2432) – EL_Primo_De_Pacho (2400) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- ruoli (2408) – CM Starship45 (2346) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- petry70 (2403) – HansPrettus (2324) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
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
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.