French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Fort Knox Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6
The French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Fort Knox Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C10, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6. 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 736 times by this move order. White won 46%, 10% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 6. Bd3 (82% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.45 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8. Nc3 a6)
- ECO
- C10
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/ppp2ppp/2b1p3/8/3PN3/5N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 3 6- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 40 | |
| 1500-1999 | 279 | |
| 2000+ | 417 | |
| All | 736 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Bd3 | 604 (82%) | |
| 6. Ng3 | 51 (7%) | |
| 6. Neg5 | 31 (4%) | |
| 6. Nc3 | 27 (4%) | |
| 6. Ned2 | 5 (1%) | |
| 6. Qd3 | 5 (1%) | |
| 6. Qe2 | 4 (1%) | |
| 6. Bg5 | 4 (1%) |
Master games
2,083 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 27%, Black 28%). The strongest:
- Ethereal14.40 (3618) – KomodoDragon3.3 (3620) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-23
- KomodoDragon3.3 (3620) – Ethereal14.40 (3618) 1-0 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-23
- GM So, W. (2815) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017 · 2017-11-18
- GM Levon Aronian (2767) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2757) 0-1 · 8th Norway Armageddon · 2020-10-13
- GM Viswanathan Anand (2751) – GM Richard Rapport (2763) 1/2-1/2 · 7th Gashimov Mem Blitz · 2021-12-23
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Kruciatos (2730) – GM athena-pallada (2880) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Tempstream (2738) – suyijia2004 (2765) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- GM Niksss2023 (2828) – kasparik_garik (2664) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Rubinstein Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4
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.