French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Blackburne Defense
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7
The French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Blackburne Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C10, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3,193 times by this move order. White won 47%, 7% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 5. Nf3 (70% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5. c3 Be7 6. Nf3 Ngf6 7. Nxf6+ Nxf6)
- ECO
- C10
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppn1ppp/4p3/8/3PN3/8/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 131 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,473 | |
| 2000+ | 1,589 | |
| All | 3,193 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Nf3 | 2,248 (70%) | |
| 5. Bd3 | 342 (11%) | |
| 5. c3 | 108 (3%) | |
| 5. Bc4 | 63 (2%) | |
| 5. Bb5 | 63 (2%) | |
| 5. Be3 | 59 (2%) | |
| 5. Bg5 | 59 (2%) | |
| 5. c4 | 50 (2%) |
Master games
3,625 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 27%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) – Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-01
- Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) – LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-01
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2792) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2757) 1/2-1/2 · Esports World Cup 2026 · 2026-08-15
- GM So, W. (2753) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) 1-0 · American Cup Champ · 2026-03-08
- GM Levon Aronian (2764) – GM So, W. (2778) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Rapid Paris 2018 · 2018-06-21
Highest-rated Lichess games
- tsunami10 (2807) – GM cutemouse83 (2970) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- BoneCrusher2020 (2729) – GM cutemouse83 (2957) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- IM khubushka2007 (2792) – BEagles1903 (2717) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Rubinstein Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4
Continuations
- French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Capablanca Line C10 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Ne5
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.