French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (6… dxc3 7. Nf3)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3 7. Nf3
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 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3 7. Nf3. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 30 times by this move order. White won 67%, 0% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 7… Qc7 (47% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.52 (Stockfish, depth 30; best line 7… Ne7 8. Qd4 cxb2 9. Bxb2 Nbc6 10. Qg4)
- ECO
- C17
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/pp3ppp/4p3/3pP3/1P6/2p2N2/1PP2PPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3 7. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 9 | |
| 2000+ | 21 | |
| All | 30 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Qc7 | 14 (47%) | |
| 7… cxb2 | 11 (37%) | |
| 7… Ne7 | 4 (13%) | |
| 7… a6 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
21 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 71%, draw 10%, Black 19%). The strongest:
- IM Boris Onoprijchuk (2385) – IM Ilja Biriukov (2311) 1-0 · Titled Tue 16th Jan Early · 2024-01-16
- GM Lothar Vogt (2402) – Michael Schmid (2218) 1-0 · TCh-SUI 2013 · 2013-10-12
- IM Sophie Milliet (2391) – M Paul Townsend (2216) 1-0 · 4NCL 2017-18 · 2018-05-05
- IM Dejan Stojanovski (2442) – Kire Nikoloski (2141) 1/2-1/2 · 24th TCh-MKD 2015 · 2015-07-22
- GM Namig Guliyev (2538) – Virginie Ludwiczak (1882) 1-0 · Europe-Echecs Blitz Open · 2020-11-08
Search all games of the French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Zhendosik1 (2352) – continental_rus (2412) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- lanceh9 (2183) – Lutherus (2282) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- DeepBleu (2191) – Grey_Hunter (2194) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Maróczy-Wallis Variation 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.