French Defense: Exchange Variation (3… exd5 4. Nf3)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3
The French Defense: Exchange Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C01, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3. 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 26,185 times by this move order. White won 48%, 6% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 4… Nf6 (51% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.10 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 4… Nc6 5. Nc3)
- ECO
- C01
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/3p4/3P4/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4,435 | |
| 1500-1999 | 17,252 | |
| 2000+ | 4,498 | |
| All | 26,185 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Nf6 | 13,471 (51%) | |
| 4… Bd6 | 3,898 (15%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 2,134 (8%) | |
| 4… Bg4 | 1,673 (6%) | |
| 4… c5 | 1,529 (6%) | |
| 4… c6 | 1,311 (5%) | |
| 4… Be6 | 621 (2%) | |
| 4… h6 | 433 (2%) |
Master games
9,396 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 28%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2804) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2837) 0-1 · Titled Tue 13th May Late · 2025-05-13
- GM Levon Aronian (2781) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 1-0 · Goldmoney Asian Rapid KO · 2021-07-02
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2766) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-13
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2789) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 23rd Apr Early · 2024-04-23
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2747) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2853) 1-0 · Titled Tue 20th Jun Early · 2023-06-20
Search all games of the French Defense: Exchange Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Sunrise34 (2863) – GM cutemouse83 (2964) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Sunrise34 (2862) – FM Guary1 (2889) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- vistagusta (2833) – GM cutemouse83 (2917) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Exchange Variation (2… d5 3. exd5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5
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.