French Defense: Classical Variation, Burn Variation, Morozevich Line
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6
The French Defense: Classical Variation, Burn Variation, Morozevich Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C11, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 252 times by this move order. White won 57%, 5% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 7. Nf3 (74% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.24 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 7. Nf3 f5 8. Nc3 a6 9. g3 b5)
- ECO
- C11
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp1bp1p/4pp2/8/3PN3/8/PPP2PPP/R2QKBNR w KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 38 | |
| 2000+ | 214 | |
| All | 252 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Nf3 | 186 (74%) | |
| 7. c3 | 26 (10%) | |
| 7. Qd2 | 17 (7%) | |
| 7. Bd3 | 4 (2%) | |
| 7. Qd3 | 4 (2%) | |
| 7. Nc3 | 4 (2%) | |
| 7. g3 | 3 (1%) | |
| 7. f4 | 2 (1%) |
Master games
2,253 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 26%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2750) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017 · 2017-11-21
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2760) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2792) 0-1 · GCT Blitz Paris 2021 · 2021-06-22
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2747) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2736) 1-0 · Titled Tue 20th Jun Early · 2023-06-20
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2738) – GM David Navara (2737) 1-0 · Cez Trophy 2017 · 2017-06-16
- GM Eric Hansen (2606) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2864) 0-1 · Chessable Masters Prelim · 2022-05-22
Highest-rated Lichess games
- TheorySpeedrun (2675) – Alisherkaaaa (2719) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- TheorySpeedrun (2673) – Alisherkaaaa (2680) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- MightActuallyTry (2672) – GoldenFirebird (2655) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Classical Variation (5. Nxe4 Be7) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7
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.