French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Guimard Defense, Main Line
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Nf6
The French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Guimard Defense, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C04, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Nf6. 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 416 times by this move order. White won 45%, 7% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 5. e5 (90% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.61 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 5. e5 Nd7 6. Nb3 Be7 7. c3 a5)
- ECO
- C04
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/ppp2ppp/2n1pn2/3p4/3PP3/5N2/PPPN1PPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 4 5- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Nf6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 2 | |
| 1500-1999 | 80 | |
| 2000+ | 334 | |
| All | 416 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. e5 | 376 (90%) | |
| 5. Bd3 | 20 (5%) | |
| 5. exd5 | 13 (3%) | |
| 5. Bb5 | 4 (1%) | |
| 5. Qe2 | 2 (0%) | |
| 5. c3 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
3,034 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 20%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- Stockfishdev-20240413-c55ae376 (3657) – KomodoDragon3.3 (3592) 1-0 · TCEC 26 Premier 2024 · 2024-04-26
- KomodoDragon3.3 (3592) – Stockfishdev-20240413-c55ae376 (3657) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Premier 2024 · 2024-04-24
- Stockfish dev-20241122-b7f17346 (3677) – Ethereal 14.40 (3545) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-13
- Ethereal 14.40 (3545) – Stockfish dev-20241122-b7f17346 (3677) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-11
- Obsidian 14.06 (3555) – KomodoDragon 3.3 (3583) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-11-29
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Meatloaf927 (2699) – Kingkennytv (2653) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- TregubenkoKolya_2010 (2624) – Kingkennytv (2655) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Barry_Lindon (2605) – Kingkennytv (2669) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Guimard Defense 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6
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.