French Defense: Classical Variation, Tartakower Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Ne4
The French Defense: Classical Variation, Tartakower Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C13, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Ne4. 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 114 times by this move order. White won 46%, 7% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 6. Bxe7 (61% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.78 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Nxe4 dxe4 8. Qe2 b6)
- ECO
- C13
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp1bppp/4p3/3pP1B1/3Pn3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R2QKBNR w KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Ne4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 58 | |
| 2000+ | 50 | |
| All | 114 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Bxe7 | 70 (61%) | |
| 6. Nxe4 | 36 (32%) | |
| 6. Bd2 | 5 (4%) | |
| 6. Be3 | 1 (1%) | |
| 6. h4 | 1 (1%) | |
| 6. Nf3 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
67 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 23%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Anton Demchenko (2597) – GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2661) 1-0 · 45th Olympiad 2024 · 2024-09-20
- GM Stepan Zilka (2600) – GM Mateusz Bartel (2621) 0-1 · TCh-POL Ekstraliga 2023 · 2023-09-23
- GM Stepan Zilka (2609) – GM Adam Kozak (2578) 1-0 · TCh-AUT 2023-24 · 2023-11-24
- FM Rustam Rustamov (2323) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2782) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 6th May Late · 2025-05-06
- GM Emanuel Berg (2581) – IM Hovhanisian, M. (2470) 1-0 · 10th BPB Limburg Open · 2016-05-14
Highest-rated Lichess games
- one_last_trick (2593) – Zakharov_s_d (2443) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Griz-lee (2497) – Zakharov_s_d (2453) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- SolaceOfNight (2471) – Zakharov_s_d (2466) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Classical Variation, Normal Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 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.