French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (3… Bb4 4. e5)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C16, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 5,423 times by this move order. White won 49%, 5% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 4… c5 (72% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.42 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4… Ne7 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Qg4)
- ECO
- C16
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3pP3/1b1P4/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 207 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,142 | |
| 2000+ | 3,074 | |
| All | 5,423 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… c5 Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (4. e5 c5) | 3,921 (72%) | |
| 4… Ne7 | 776 (14%) | |
| 4… Bxc3+ | 231 (4%) | |
| 4… Qd7 Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation | 159 (3%) | |
| 4… b6 | 135 (2%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 54 (1%) | |
| 4… f6 | 22 (0%) | |
| 4… Bd7 | 20 (0%) |
Master games
4,274 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 20%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-13
- Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-13
- Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-08
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-07
- Torch 20260128-7136070b (3716) – Integral 7.0.0-dev-453c1dc4 (3735) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-06
Search all games of the French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Tempstream (2755) – Americanchampion (2845) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Freerunning (2742) – kuhmft (2842) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Nana_jede_cevape (2865) – Ante373 (2662) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (4. e5 c5) C17 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation C16 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Qd7
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, Smyslov Variation (6… c5 7. a4) C19 · 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.