French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (4… c5 5. a3)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C17, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,850 times by this move order. White won 48%, 5% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 5… Bxc3+ (71% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.35 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 5… Ba5 6. b4 cxd4 7. Nb5 Bc7 8. Nxc7+)
- ECO
- C17
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/pp3ppp/4p3/2ppP3/1b1P4/P1N5/1PP2PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 44 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,004 | |
| 2000+ | 1,802 | |
| All | 2,850 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… Bxc3+ | 2,034 (71%) | |
| 5… cxd4 | 501 (18%) | |
| 5… Ba5 Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation | 295 (10%) | |
| 5… Qa5 | 16 (1%) | |
| 5… Nc6 | 2 (0%) | |
| 5… c4 | 1 (0%) | |
| 5… Qd7 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
32 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 12%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Mikulas Manik (2407) – GM Gennadi Gutman (2480) 1/2-1/2 · 28th Czech Open A 2017 · 2017-07-23
- FM Tommaso Marzocchi (2303) – GM Igor Efimov (2318) 1/2-1/2 · 57th Italian Teams Gp B · 2026-04-27
- IM David 1981 Martinez Martin (2385) – FM Mikhail Pesotskiy (2153) 1-0 · Titled Tue 13th Jun Late · 2023-06-13
- CM George Danzer (2176) – CM S. Badrinath (2202) 0-1 · Titled Tue 21st Jul 2026 · 2026-07-21
- Milo Pobor (2294) – Huso Dedeic (1992) 1-0 · TCh-MNE Premier 2021 · 2021-08-01
Search all games of the French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Freerunning (2742) – kuhmft (2842) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Cuentatorneos (2638) – Americanchampion (2865) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- tourdefra (2770) – MothToTheFlame (2670) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (4. e5 c5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation C17 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (5… Bxc3+ 6. bxc3) C18 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Maróczy-Wallis Variation C17 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3
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.