French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine-Maróczy Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine-Maróczy Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C15, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2. 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 773 times by this move order. White won 56%, 3% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 4… dxe4 (51% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.12 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4… dxe4 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Nxc3 Nc6 7. Bb5)
- ECO
- C15
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3p4/1b1PP3/2N5/PPP1NPPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 3 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 38 | |
| 1500-1999 | 214 | |
| 2000+ | 521 | |
| All | 773 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… dxe4 | 393 (51%) | |
| 4… Nf6 | 141 (18%) | |
| 4… c5 | 94 (12%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 62 (8%) | |
| 4… Ne7 | 58 (8%) | |
| 4… Bxc3+ | 11 (1%) | |
| 4… c6 | 5 (1%) | |
| 4… b6 | 5 (1%) |
Master games
1,941 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 24%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.30-dag-a9b25c2b-BT2-3 (3598) – Stockfish dev-20230409-b36d39d (3639) 1-0 · TCEC 24 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-04-16
- Stockfish dev-20230409-b36d39d (3639) – LCZero 0.30-dag-a9b25c2b-BT2-3 (3598) 1-0 · TCEC 24 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-04-16
- KomodoDragon 2894.00 (3600) – Stockfish dev15_20220401 (3617) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-04-06
- Stockfish dev15_20220401 (3617) – KomodoDragon 2894.00 (3600) 1-0 · TCEC 22 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-04-06
- LCZero 0.31-dag-5107404-T2-5230000 (3633) – SlowChess Blitz 2.9 avx2 (3418) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Premier 2023 · 2023-09-06
Highest-rated Lichess games
- atsaynm (2657) – Caminero85 (2718) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- TheorySpeedrun (2698) – FM iustin104 (2675) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- TheorySpeedrun (2696) – IM Oganian_Miran (2664) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4
Continuations
- French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Wolf Gambit C15 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 Nf6 5. Bg5
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine Gambit Accepted C15 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Bxc3+
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine Gambit, Alatortsev Variation C15 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Be7 6. Nxe4 Nf6 7. N2g3 O-O 8. Be2 Nc6
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.