French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with Bd3 (6… Ne7 7. Bd3)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Bd3
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with Bd3 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 7. Bd3. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 46 times by this move order. White won 41%, 5% were drawn and Black won 54%. The most popular continuation is 7… c4 (22% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 7… Nbc6 8. Nh3 cxd4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. O-O)
- ECO
- C18
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp2nppp/4p3/2ppP3/3P4/P1PB4/2P2PPP/R1BQK1NR b KQkq - 2 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Bd3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 14 | |
| 2000+ | 32 | |
| All | 46 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… c4 | 10 (22%) | |
| 7… Nbc6 | 9 (20%) | |
| 7… Qa5 | 8 (17%) | |
| 7… b6 | 7 (15%) | |
| 7… Qc7 Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with Bd3 (7. Bd3 Qc7) | 6 (13%) | |
| 7… Bd7 | 2 (4%) | |
| 7… O-O | 2 (4%) | |
| 7… Qb6 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
31 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 13%, Black 45%). The strongest:
- IM Nderim Saraci (2468) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2716) 0-1 · World Rapid 2022 · 2022-12-26
- GM Murali Karthikeyan (2612) – IM Krishna C R G (2444) 1/2-1/2 · 26th Abu Dhabi Masters · 2019-08-03
- IM Bryce Tiglon (2392) – GM Conrad Holt (2592) 1/2-1/2 · Berkeley Summer GM Norm · 2018-08-20
- GM Eric Hansen (2609) – FM Yurii N. Khodko (2302) 1-0 · 1st 3-0 Thu 1st Jan 2026 · 2026-01-01
- FM Sumiya Chinguun (2319) – GM Leon Livaic (2553) 1-0 · Titled Tue 31st Oct Early · 2023-10-31
Highest-rated Lichess games
- XIAOHUOLONG_1234567 (2441) – Minionek14 (2443) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- blagig (2388) – stockfish1064POPCNT (2443) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- Sasap64 (2375) – scorpio2022 (2393) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
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
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with Bd3 (7. Bd3 Qc7) C18 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Bd3 Qc7
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (7. Bd3 Nbc6 8. Nf3) C19 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Bd3 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.