French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (6. bxc3 Ne7)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C18, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move. 8 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 879 times by this move order. White won 46%, 6% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 7. Qg4 (56% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.47 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 7. Qg4 Nf5 8. Bd3 h5 9. Qf4 Qh4)
- ECO
- C18
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp2nppp/4p3/2ppP3/3P4/P1P5/2P2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 8 | |
| 1500-1999 | 198 | |
| 2000+ | 673 | |
| All | 879 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Qg4 | 495 (56%) | |
| 7. Nf3 Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (6… Ne7 7. Nf3) | 152 (17%) | |
| 7. h4 Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4 (6… Ne7 7. h4) | 70 (8%) | |
| 7. f4 | 60 (7%) | |
| 7. Bd3 Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with Bd3 (6… Ne7 7. Bd3) | 46 (5%) | |
| 7. a4 | 26 (3%) | |
| 7. Bb5+ | 10 (1%) | |
| 7. Bg5 | 7 (1%) |
Master games
710 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 20%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-11
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-10
- Stockfish dev-20241208-cf10644 (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-f7fb268-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-12-18
- LCZero 0.31-dag-f7fb268-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20241208-cf10644 (3683) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-12-17
- LCZero 0.31-dag-e429eeb-BT3-2790000 (3642) – Stockfish dev-20231010-00263636 (3673) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-10-12
Search all games of the French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ice2breaker (2735) – FM iustin104 (2668) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Zemial27 (2601) – GM BartoszSocko (2768) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- RoryMcCann (2697) – FM iustin104 (2647) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (5… Bxc3+ 6. bxc3) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with Bd3 (6… Ne7 7. Bd3) C18 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Bd3
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4 (6… Ne7 7. h4) C18 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (6… Ne7 7. Nf3) C19 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Eingorn Variation C18 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 Kf8
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation (7. Qg4 Qc7) C18 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 Qc7
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Warsaw Variation C18 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 O-O
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation (7… cxd4 8. Qxg7) C18 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 cxd4 8. Qxg7
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (7. a4 Nbc6 8. Nf3) C19 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. a4 Nbc6 8. Nf3
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.