French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense, Modern Line
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6
The French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense, Modern Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C07, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6. 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 23 times by this move order. White won 65%, 5% were drawn and Black won 30%. The most popular continuation is 11. c3 (48% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.21 (Stockfish, depth 51; best line 11. Bb3 Bd7 12. Re1 Be7 13. c3 O-O)
- ECO
- C07
- Moves
- 20 plies
- FEN
r1b1kb1r/1p3ppp/p2qpn2/8/2BN4/8/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w kq - 0 11- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 23 | |
| All | 23 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 11. c3 | 11 (48%) | |
| 11. Re1 | 3 (13%) | |
| 11. a4 | 2 (9%) | |
| 11. Bb3 | 2 (9%) | |
| 11. b3 | 2 (9%) | |
| 11. Be3 | 2 (9%) | |
| 11. Bg5 | 1 (4%) |
Master games
912 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 33%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2781) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2808) 0-1 · GCT Blitz Paris 2017 · 2017-06-25
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2779) – GM Alexander Morozevich (2770) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid Final · 2012-07-07
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2781) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2761) 0-1 · GCT Rapid Paris 2017 · 2017-06-22
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2773) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2737) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Speed 3m+1spm 2018 · 2018-09-06
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2772) – GM Teimour Radjabov (2713) 1/2-1/2 · Vugar Gashimov Mem 2014 · 2014-04-20
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM MassterofMayhem (2619) – shahruh94 (2646) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- FM CPPJS (2703) – FM thickgreenphlegm (2541) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Dmitry_Kornilovich (2541) – gsg_1999 (2572) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5
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.