French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, Smyslov Variation (7. a4 Qc7)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. a4 Qc7
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, Smyslov Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C19, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. a4 Qc7. 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 4 times by this move order. White won 25%, 0% were drawn and Black won 75%. The most popular continuation is 8. Nf3 (75% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.44 (Stockfish, depth 28; best line 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Bd3 h6 10. O-O b6)
- ECO
- C19
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
rnb1k2r/ppq1nppp/4p3/2ppP3/P2P4/2P5/2P2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 1 8- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. a4 Qc7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 4 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Nf3 | 3 (75%) | |
| 8. Ba3 | 1 (25%) |
Master games
37 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 27%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- GM Maksim Chigaev (2588) – GM Jeffery Xiong (2709) 1/2-1/2 · PNWCC Masters 2020 · 2020-05-25
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2729) – IM Matvey Galchenko (2435) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Dec 2025 · 2025-12-23
- GM Samuel Sevian (2696) – IM Matvey Galchenko (2435) 1-0 · Titled Tue 5th May 2026 · 2026-05-05
- GM Haik M. Martirosyan (2622) – GM Monika Socko (2421) 1-0 · Euro Online Blitz Quali · 2020-12-18
- GM Friso Nijboer (2566) – IM Matthew Tan (2445) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-BEL 2015-16 · 2016-04-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- decf (2265) – Le-Cheval-de-Troie (2439) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 300 + 0s
- FM JACarmona (2296) – Inbotnito (2219) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Stefan234 (2124) – Vitmed (2135) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, Smyslov Variation (6… c5 7. a4) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. a4
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.