French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Capablanca Line
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Ne5
The French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Capablanca Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C10, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Ne5. 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 24 times by this move order. White won 46%, 0% were drawn and Black won 54%. The most popular continuation is 7… Be7 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 7… Bd6 8. Bg5 O-O 9. Bd3 c5 10. Ng4)
- ECO
- C10
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/4N3/3P4/8/PPP2PPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Ne5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 3 | |
| 2000+ | 21 | |
| All | 24 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Be7 | 9 (38%) | |
| 7… c5 | 6 (25%) | |
| 7… Bd6 | 6 (25%) | |
| 7… a6 | 2 (8%) | |
| 7… Qd5 | 1 (4%) |
Master games
70 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 61%, draw 29%, Black 10%). The strongest:
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2770) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2769) 0-1 · chess.com SpeedChess 2024 · 2024-07-26
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2770) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2769) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2024 · 2024-07-26
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2783) – GM Georg Meier (2630) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017 · 2017-05-24
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2757) – GM Georg Meier (2628) 1-0 · 46th GM 2018 · 2018-07-22
- GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2739) – GM Georg Meier (2628) 1-0 · chess.com Speed Inv Qualifier · 2018-06-26
Search all games of the French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Capablanca Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- PragmaticShark (2374) – Sleites (2335) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Hannomann (2358) – Colaryu (2304) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- Merawyn (2293) – YuryIsaev (2349) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Blackburne Defense 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7
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.