French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine Gambit, Kan Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Nxc3 Nc6
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine Gambit, Kan Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C15, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Nxc3 Nc6. 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 99 times by this move order. White won 53%, 4% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 7. Bb5 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.19 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 7. Bb5 Ne7 8. Be3 O-O 9. Qd2 e5)
- ECO
- C15
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/ppp2ppp/2n1p3/8/3Pp3/P1N5/1PP2PPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Nxc3 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 6 | |
| 2000+ | 93 | |
| All | 99 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Bb5 | 38 (38%) | |
| 7. Bf4 | 24 (24%) | |
| 7. Be3 | 21 (21%) | |
| 7. d5 | 15 (15%) | |
| 7. Nxe4 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
703 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 27%, Black 28%). The strongest:
- GM Jules Moussard (2600) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2798) 1/2-1/2 · Julius Baer Gen Cup D3 W · 2024-09-30
- GM Jules Moussard (2644) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2731) 1/2-1/2 · ChessKid Cup Div 1 W · 2023-05-22
- GM Elham Amar (2577) – GM So, W. (2774) 1/2-1/2 · 46th Olympiad 2026 · 2026-09-21
- GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2629) – GM Nikolas Theodorou (2627) 1-0 · Chessable Masters Play-In · 2024-01-31
- GM Alan Pichot (2581) – GM A.R. Saleh Salem (2640) 1/2-1/2 · Fujairah Global Superstar · 2025-08-26
Highest-rated Lichess games
- TheorySpeedrun (2640) – Ante373 (2662) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- metan0ia (2660) – tarczynski (2637) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
- atsaynm (2634) – chess646464 (2574) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine Gambit Accepted 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Bxc3+
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.