French Defense: Knight Variation

1. e4 e6 2. Nf3

French Defense: Knight Variation after 1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 87654321abcdefgh

The French Defense: Knight Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. Nf3. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 207,396 times by this move order. White won 48%, 4% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 2… d5 (61% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.11 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 2… d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Nc3)

ECO
C00
Moves
3 plies
FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/4p3/8/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 2
PGN
1. e4 e6 2. Nf3

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average ratingGamesWhite / draw / Black
0-149988,35848%48%
1500-1999104,94847%48%
2000+14,09048%46%
All207,39648%48%

Most played moves

MoveGamesWhite / draw / Black
2… d5125,654 (61%)47%49%
2… c515,266 (7%)48%48%
2… c611,193 (5%)48%48%
2… b611,021 (5%)49%47%
2… d610,587 (5%)49%47%
2… Nf65,858 (3%)51%45%
2… Nc65,357 (3%)51%45%
2… Ne73,177 (2%)49%47%

Master games

3,348 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 14%, Black 51%). The strongest:

Search all games of the French Defense: Knight Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Comes from

French Defense (1. e4 e6) 1. e4 e6

Continuations

More French Defense lines (all)

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.