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
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. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 21 times by this move order. White won 38%, 10% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 7… Nbc6 (57% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.24 (Stockfish, depth 53; best line 7… Nbc6 8. Nf3 Qa5 9. Bd2 Bd7 10. Be2)
- ECO
- C19
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp2nppp/4p3/2ppP3/P2P4/2P5/2P2PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. a4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 5 | |
| 2000+ | 15 | |
| All | 21 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Nbc6 | 12 (57%) | |
| 7… Qc7 Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, Smyslov Variation (7. a4 Qc7) | 4 (19%) | |
| 7… Qa5 | 4 (19%) | |
| 7… b6 | 1 (5%) |
Master games
76 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 17%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Hao Wang (2709) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2707) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-CHN 2017 · 2017-12-04
- GM Grigoriy Oparin (2660) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2623) 1-0 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 · 2025-09-12
- GM Milos Perunovic (2622) – GM Bartosz Socko (2657) 0-1 · ch-European Blitz 2013 · 2013-12-13
- GM Gad Rechlis (2521) – GM Pentala Harikrishna (2725) 1-0 · World Blitz 2018 · 2018-12-29
- GM Pavel V. Tregubov (2588) – GM Boris Grachev (2626) 1/2-1/2 · 72nd Moscow Blitz · 2018-09-08
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM Angelicanmade (2534) – chess646464 (2554) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- joobree (2500) – FM Lector118 (2553) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- OlegKas222 (2444) – Callsol (2367) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (3… Bb4 4. e5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, Smyslov Variation (7. a4 Qc7) C19 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. a4 Qc7
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.