French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5

The French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C07, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 773 times by this move order. White won 47%, 8% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 5. Ngf3 (72% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.08 (Stockfish, depth 43; best line 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd7 7. O-O Nc6)

ECO: C07
Moves: 8 plies
FEN: rnb1kbnr/pp3ppp/4p3/2pq4/3P4/8/PPPN1PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 5
PGN: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	13	46%54%
1500-1999	231	52%41%
2000+	529	45%46%
All	773	47%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
5. Ngf3	554 (72%)	47%45%
5. dxc5	155 (20%)	48%43%
5. Bc4	18 (2%)	39%56%
5. Bb5+	14 (2%)	14%15%71%
5. Ndf3	13 (2%)	46%23%31%
5. c4	8 (1%)	88%13%
5. Nb3	8 (1%)	25%25%50%
5. Qf3	2 (0%)	50%50%

Master games

5,303 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 31%, Black 34%). The strongest:

GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-18
GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-18
GM Viswanathan Anand (2786) – GM So, W. (2812) 1/2-1/2 · 5th Norway Blitz 2017 · 2017-06-05
GM Sergey Karjakin (2781) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2808) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Rapid Paris 2017 · 2017-06-22
GM Yi Wei (2763) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2797) 1/2-1/2 · TechM GCL 2024 · 2024-10-05

Search all games of the French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

GM Niksss2023 (2775) – Cerrh34 (2728) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
IM GraysonRorrer (2829) – PreciousOcean14 (2663) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Johnizard (2718) – GM Dragso (2750) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Open System (3. Nd2 c5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5

Continuations

French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Eliskases Variation C07 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd8
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Chistyakov Defense, Modern Line C07 · 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

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.