French Defense: Winawer Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Icelandic Defense
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 Ne7 6. f4
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Icelandic Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C17, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 Ne7 6. f4. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 10 times by this move order. White won 40%, 0% were drawn and Black won 60%. The most popular continuation is 6… O-O (40% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.36 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 6… cxd4 7. Nb5 Bc5 8. b4 a6 9. bxc5)
- ECO
- C17
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp2nppp/4p3/2ppP3/1b1P1P2/2N5/PPPB2PP/R2QKBNR b KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 Ne7 6. f4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 10 | |
| All | 10 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… O-O | 4 (40%) | |
| 6… Nbc6 | 3 (30%) | |
| 6… cxd4 | 2 (20%) | |
| 6… Nf5 | 1 (10%) |
Master games
21 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 29%, Black 38%). The strongest:
- FM Roman Dehtiarov (2319) – GM Simen Agdestein (2559) 1-0 · Titled Tue 30th Apr Early · 2024-04-30
- WIM Anna Kantane (2259) – GM Conrad Holt (2567) 0-1 · PRO League Group Stage · 2017-02-11
- CM Ezio Righi (2085) – GM Eduardas Rozentalis (2606) 0-1 · 41st Olympiad Open 2014 · 2014-08-02
- GM Throstur Thorhallsson (2441) – Yiye Wang (2226) 0-1 · Iceland-China Friendly Match · 2013-02-17
- Kristen Schmidt (2242) – IM Tobias Christensen (2344) 1/2-1/2 · 57th TCh-DEN Ex 2018-19 · 2018-10-28
Highest-rated Lichess games
- sherlock2001holmes (2354) – spdmn (2368) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- pseb (2248) – FBatde (2240) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- pseb (2199) – Kurumukuku (2245) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Bogoljubow Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2
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.