French Defense: Steinitz Variation (6. dxc5 Nc6)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. dxc5 Nc6
The French Defense: Steinitz Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C11, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. dxc5 Nc6. 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 5 times by this move order. White won 60%, 0% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 7. Nf3 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.01 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 7. Nf3 Bxc5 8. Na4 Be7 9. Be2 a6)
- ECO
- C11
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pp1n1ppp/2n1p3/2PpP3/5P2/2N5/PPP3PP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. dxc5 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 5 | |
| All | 5 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Nf3 | 3 (60%) | |
| 7. a3 | 2 (40%) |
Master games
58 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 57%, draw 7%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2796) – GM Levon Aronian (2738) 1/2-1/2 · ch-USA 2024 · 2024-10-12
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2770) – GM Francesco Sonis (2577) 0-1 · Titled Tue 28th May Early · 2024-05-28
- GM Praggnanandhaa R (2768) – GM David Gavrilescu (2542) 1-0 · 15th London Classic Open · 2025-12-02
- GM Lorenzo Lodici (2576) – GM Andrew Hong (2602) 1-0 · 4th Dole Open 2026 · 2026-07-24
- IM Qi b Chen (2476) – GM Hao Wang (2698) 1-0 · CHN League Division A Pt2 · 2025-10-02
Search all games of the French Defense: Steinitz Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GustafIII (2228) – TheChessTourist (2349) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 600 + 0s
- Cliquot (2124) – Coder_MS (2210) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- NecesitaSq (2081) – Ireniicus (2103) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Classical Variation, Steinitz Variation (3… Nf6 4. e5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5
Continuations
- French Defense: Steinitz Variation, Brodsky-Jones Variation C11 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. dxc5 Nc6 7. a3 Bxc5 8. Qg4 O-O 9. Nf3 f6
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.