French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Leningrad Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nb6
The French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Leningrad Variation 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 Nb6. 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 10 times by this move order. White won 30%, 0% were drawn and Black won 70%. The most popular continuation is 9. O-O (70% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.85 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 9. O-O Bd7 10. Nf3 Nb4 11. Bb1 Bb5)
- ECO
- C06
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pp3ppp/1nn1p3/3pP3/3P4/3B4/PP1NNPPP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 1 9- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nb6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 4 | |
| 2000+ | 6 | |
| All | 10 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. O-O | 7 (70%) | |
| 9. Nf3 | 3 (30%) |
Master games
75 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 27%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Michele Godena (2516) – GM Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder (2533) 1/2-1/2 · 40th Olympiad Open · 2012-08-31
- IM Alan Pichot (2528) – IM Cristian Dolezal (2439) 1-0 · 90th ch-ARG 2015 · 2015-10-08
- GM Maciej Klekowski (2506) – IM Anatoliy Polivanov (2452) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 5th May · 2020-05-05
- GM Vugar Rasulov (2478) – GM Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder (2456) 1-0 · Titled Arena Mar 6th 2021 · 2021-03-06
- GM Vugar Rasulov (2478) – GM Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder (2456) 1-0 · Titled Arena Mar 6th 2021 · 2021-03-06
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Leoking16 (2584) – dimonchik67 (2538) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Unknown_9086 (2514) – dimonchik67 (2536) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- A62AA (2223) – dimonchik67 (2540) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
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
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.