French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4 (7. h4 Qc7)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4 Qc7
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4 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. h4 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 23 times by this move order. White won 57%, 0% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 8. h5 (48% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.33 (Stockfish, depth 47; best line 8. Rh3 Nbc6 9. h5 h6 10. Nf3 Qa5)
- ECO
- C18
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
rnb1k2r/ppq1nppp/4p3/2ppP3/3P3P/P1P5/2P2PP1/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 1 8- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4 Qc7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 3 | |
| 2000+ | 20 | |
| All | 23 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. h5 | 11 (48%) | |
| 8. Rh3 | 6 (26%) | |
| 8. Nf3 | 3 (13%) | |
| 8. Rb1 | 1 (4%) | |
| 8. Bd2 | 1 (4%) | |
| 8. dxc5 | 1 (4%) |
Master games
435 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 24%, Black 28%). The strongest:
- Obsidian dev-16.15 (3714) – Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-17
- Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) – Obsidian dev-16.15 (3714) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-14
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2817) – GM So, W. (2822) 0-1 · PRO League KO Stage 2017 · 2017-03-25
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) 1/2-1/2 · Carlsen Inv Prelim · 2020-04-19
- GM Levon Aronian (2781) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 2020 · 2020-11-11
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ice2breaker (2735) – FM iustin104 (2668) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- chessgrandfather1975 (2663) – HarryPotter_el_mejor (2517) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- CM chess23time (2657) – HarryPotter_el_mejor (2475) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4 (6… Ne7 7. h4) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4
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.