French Defense: Queen's Knight

1. e4 e6 2. Nc3

French Defense: Queen's Knight after 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 87654321abcdefgh

The French Defense: Queen's Knight is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 44,755 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 2… d5 (59% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.29 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 2… d5 3. d4 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3)

ECO
C00
Moves
3 plies
FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/4p3/8/4P3/2N5/PPPP1PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 1 2
PGN
1. e4 e6 2. Nc3

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

Results by rating

Average ratingGamesWhite / draw / Black
0-149916,96349%47%
1500-199923,14949%47%
2000+4,64347%48%
All44,75549%47%

Most played moves

MoveGamesWhite / draw / Black
2… d526,426 (59%)47%48%
2… c53,155 (7%)49%47%
2… c62,947 (7%)49%46%
2… b62,202 (5%)51%46%
2… d62,064 (5%)50%45%
2… Nf61,291 (3%)50%46%
2… Bb41,004 (2%)52%43%
2… Nc6955 (2%)51%44%

Master games

2,419 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 15%, Black 43%). The strongest:

Search all games of the French Defense: Queen's Knight 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.