French Defense: Hecht-Reefschläger Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nc6
The French Defense: Hecht-Reefschläger Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C10, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nc6. 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 767 times by this move order. White won 53%, 6% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nf3 (42% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.67 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 4. e5 f6 5. Nf3 fxe5 6. Nxe5 Nxe5)
- ECO
- C10
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/ppp2ppp/2n1p3/3p4/3PP3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 2 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 260 | |
| 1500-1999 | 213 | |
| 2000+ | 294 | |
| All | 767 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nf3 | 322 (42%) | |
| 4. e5 | 183 (24%) | |
| 4. exd5 | 104 (14%) | |
| 4. Bb5 | 93 (12%) | |
| 4. Be3 | 27 (4%) | |
| 4. Bf4 | 9 (1%) | |
| 4. a3 | 7 (1%) | |
| 4. Bd3 | 6 (1%) |
Master games
1,611 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 20%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) – LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) 1-0 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-07-31
- LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) – Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-07-30
- LCZero 0.30-dag-9a9c42d_784968 (3599) – Stockfish dev16_20221027 (3625) 1-0 · TCEC 23 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-11-10
- Stockfish dev16_20221027 (3625) – LCZero 0.30-dag-9a9c42d_784968 (3599) 1-0 · TCEC 23 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-11-10
- KomodoDragon 2970.00 (3568) – Stockfish dev16_202209170930 (3611) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 23 Premier 2022 · 2022-09-30
Search all games of the French Defense: Hecht-Reefschläger Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- nuitet868688 (2836) – TheorySpeedrun (2687) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- GM Niksss2023 (2834) – kasparik_garik (2657) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- nuitet868688 (2772) – TheorySpeedrun (2695) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Paulsen Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
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.