French Defense: Steiner Variation

1. e4 e6 2. c4

French Defense: Steiner Variation after 1. e4 e6 2. c4 87654321abcdefgh

The French Defense: Steiner Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. c4. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 11,897 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 2… d5 (57% of games).

Engine evaluation: −0.13 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 2… d5 3. cxd5 exd5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Bb5+)

ECO
C00
Moves
3 plies
FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/4p3/8/2P1P3/8/PP1P1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2
PGN
1. e4 e6 2. c4

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

Results by rating

Average ratingGamesWhite / draw / Black
0-14992,07152%45%
1500-19997,44451%44%
2000+2,38249%45%
All11,89751%45%

Most played moves

MoveGamesWhite / draw / Black
2… d56,786 (57%)51%44%
2… c51,317 (11%)47%48%
2… c61,224 (10%)50%46%
2… b6572 (5%)49%46%
2… d6452 (4%)56%41%
2… Nf6281 (2%)58%41%
2… Nc6194 (2%)56%42%
2… Bc5190 (2%)56%41%

Master games

901 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 16%, Black 41%). The strongest:

Search all games of the French Defense: Steiner 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.