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
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. 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 70 times by this move order. White won 53%, 1% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 7… Qc7 (33% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.53 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 7… Qc7 8. h5 h6 9. Rb1 Nbc6 10. f4)
- ECO
- C18
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp2nppp/4p3/2ppP3/3P3P/P1P5/2P2PP1/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 5 | |
| 2000+ | 65 | |
| All | 70 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Qc7 Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4 (7. h4 Qc7) | 23 (33%) | |
| 7… Nbc6 | 16 (23%) | |
| 7… Qa5 | 14 (20%) | |
| 7… b6 | 6 (9%) | |
| 7… Bd7 | 4 (6%) | |
| 7… O-O | 3 (4%) | |
| 7… h5 | 2 (3%) | |
| 7… Nf5 | 2 (3%) |
Master games
471 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 55%, draw 17%, Black 28%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2764) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2731) 1-0 · ChessKid Cup Div 1 W · 2023-05-23
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2789) – GM Jeffery Xiong (2656) 1-0 · 3rd 3-0 Thu 10th Sep 2026 · 2026-09-10
- GM Nikita Vitiugov (2724) – GM Zhong Zhang (2619) 1-0 · Qatar Masters Open 2015 · 2015-12-24
- GM Frederik Svane (2654) – GM Daniil Yuffa (2654) 1-0 · 25th ch-EUR Indiv 2025 · 2025-03-26
- GM Aryan Chopra (2634) – GM Aleksandar Indjic (2661) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 · 2025-09-13
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ice2breaker (2735) – FM iustin104 (2668) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- FuriaEn64 (2638) – pulptimes (2547) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- chessgrandfather1975 (2663) – HarryPotter_el_mejor (2517) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 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 h4 (7. h4 Qc7) C18 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4 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.