French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation (6. c3 Nc6)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6
The French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C05, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 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 2,161 times by this move order. White won 52%, 5% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 7. Ne2 (78% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 7. Ngf3 cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 9. exf6 Nxf6)
- ECO
- C05
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pp1n1ppp/2n1p3/2ppP3/3P4/2PB4/PP1N1PPP/R1BQK1NR w KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 19 | |
| 1500-1999 | 852 | |
| 2000+ | 1,290 | |
| All | 2,161 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Ne2 | 1,693 (78%) | |
| 7. Ngf3 | 355 (16%) | |
| 7. Ndf3 | 88 (4%) | |
| 7. Qg4 | 17 (1%) | |
| 7. f4 | 5 (0%) | |
| 7. h4 | 1 (0%) | |
| 7. Bc2 | 1 (0%) | |
| 7. dxc5 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
2,403 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 52%, draw 17%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-e429eeb-BT3-2790000 (3642) – Stockfish dev-20231010-00263636 (3673) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-10-12
- Stockfish dev-20231010-00263636 (3673) – LCZero 0.31-dag-e429eeb-BT3-2790000 (3642) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-10-12
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2788) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com QF Blitz 3m+2spm 2016 · 2016-05-10
- GM Praggnanandhaa R (2747) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2762) 0-1 · Superbet POL Blitz 2024 · 2024-05-11
- GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2732) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2710) 1-0 · IMSA Blitz 2016 · 2016-02-28
Search all games of the French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- emandr (2588) – FM Guary1 (2857) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- IM liczner (2720) – IM Burjugul_7 (2555) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Meatloaf927 (2681) – FM master05 (2585) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation (3. Nd2 Nf6) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6
Continuations
- French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation, Main Line C06 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4
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.