French Defense: Steinitz Variation, Gledhill Attack
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Qg4
The French Defense: Steinitz Variation, Gledhill Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO C11, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Qg4. 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 134 times by this move order. White won 49%, 3% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 5… c5 (78% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.51 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 5… c5 6. Nf3 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Nc6 8. Qf4)
- ECO
- C11
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppn1ppp/4p3/3pP3/3P2Q1/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1B1KBNR b KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Qg4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 7 | |
| 1500-1999 | 73 | |
| 2000+ | 54 | |
| All | 134 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… c5 | 104 (78%) | |
| 5… g6 | 8 (6%) | |
| 5… f5 | 6 (4%) | |
| 5… h5 | 5 (4%) | |
| 5… a6 | 4 (3%) | |
| 5… h6 | 3 (2%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 1 (1%) | |
| 5… c6 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
78 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 9%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Ivan Popov (2632) – FM Dmitry Gordievsky (2474) 1-0 · FIDE World Blitz 2013 · 2013-06-10
- GM Anton Shomoev (2574) – IM Looshnikov, N. (2480) 1-0 · 67th ch-RUS HL 2014 · 2014-06-12
- GM Ivan Ivanisevic (2606) – IM Sam Schmakel (2435) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 16th Mar · 2021-03-16
- IM Dinesh K. Sharma (2371) – GM Alexandre Danin (2575) 0-1 · Admiral Niels Juel Cup 2013 · 2013-04-21
- GM Anton Shomoev (2578) – FM Rasul Musaev (2341) 0-1 · Primorsky Debut 2015 · 2015-07-27
Search all games of the French Defense: Steinitz Variation, Gledhill Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- sotirakis (2562) – WS07 (2380) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- FM alnilam7 (2282) – Lengox (2437) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- FM alnilam7 (2315) – Fa11en_Ange1666 (2342) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: Classical Variation, Steinitz Variation (3… Nf6 4. e5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5
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.