French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation, Main Line
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4
The French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C06, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 536 times by this move order. White won 46%, 7% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 8… f6 (65% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.37 (Stockfish, depth 39; best line 8… f6 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. O-O Bd6 11. Nf3)
- ECO
- C06
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pp1n1ppp/2n1p3/3pP3/3P4/3B4/PP1NNPPP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 0 8- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 160 | |
| 2000+ | 370 | |
| All | 536 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… f6 | 347 (65%) | |
| 8… Qb6 | 96 (18%) | |
| 8… Be7 | 30 (6%) | |
| 8… Bb4 | 28 (5%) | |
| 8… Nb4 | 12 (2%) | |
| 8… Nb6 Tarrasch Variation, Leningrad Variation | 10 (2%) | |
| 8… a5 | 4 (1%) | |
| 8… a6 | 3 (1%) |
Master games
4,110 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 24%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 4th Oct Early · 2022-10-04
- GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2705) – GM Matthias Bluebaum (2689) 1-0 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 27th Aug 2026 · 2026-08-27
- GM Rauf Mamedov (2651) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2727) 0-1 · World Blitz 2023 · 2023-12-29
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2656) – GM Matthias Bluebaum (2679) 0-1 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 8th Jan 2026 · 2026-01-08
- GM Murali Karthikeyan (2628) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2702) 0-1 · AimChess Rapid Play-In · 2023-06-12
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Meatloaf927 (2681) – FM master05 (2585) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- IM MassterofMayhem (2660) – MIGV (2595) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- IM MassterofMayhem (2653) – BishopAndSons (2599) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
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
Continuations
- French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Leningrad Variation C06 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nb6
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.