French Defense: Classical Variation, Steinitz Variation (6… Qxe7 7. f4)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4
The French Defense: Classical Variation, Steinitz 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. f4. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 693 times by this move order. White won 55%, 6% were drawn and Black won 39%. The most popular continuation is 7… a6 (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 7… a6 8. Nf3 c5 9. Ne2 Nc6 10. c3)
- ECO
- C14
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnb1k2r/pppnqppp/4p3/3pP3/3P1P2/2N5/PPP3PP/R2QKBNR b KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 286 | |
| 2000+ | 401 | |
| All | 693 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… a6 | 368 (53%) | |
| 7… c5 | 192 (28%) | |
| 7… O-O | 84 (12%) | |
| 7… g6 | 10 (1%) | |
| 7… Qb4 | 8 (1%) | |
| 7… Nc6 | 6 (1%) | |
| 7… Qh4+ | 6 (1%) | |
| 7… f5 | 4 (1%) |
Master games
1,425 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 23%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- LCZero v0.26.3_T60.66740 (3575) – Stockfish 20201225 (3592) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2021-01-14
- Stockfish 20201225 (3592) – LCZero v0.26.3_T60.66740 (3575) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2021-01-11
- GM Nikita Vitiugov (2666) – GM Praggnanandhaa R (2761) 0-1 · 46th Olympiad 2026 · 2026-09-23
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2738) – GM Anton Korobov (2683) 1-0 · GCT Blitz Croatia 2021 · 2021-07-11
- GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre (2640) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2754) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Jan Early · 2025-01-28
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 (6. Bxe7 Qxe7) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7
Continuations
- French Defense: Classical Variation, Stahlberg Variation C14 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 O-O 8. Nf3 c5 9. Qd2 Nc6 10. O-O-O c4
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.