French Defense: Winawer Variation, Bogoljubow Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Bogoljubow Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C17, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2. 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 370 times by this move order. White won 51%, 9% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 5… cxd4 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5… Ne7 6. a3 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Nbc6 8. Nf3)
- ECO
- C17
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/pp3ppp/4p3/2ppP3/1b1P4/2N5/PPPB1PPP/R2QKBNR b KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 102 | |
| 2000+ | 262 | |
| All | 370 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… cxd4 | 163 (44%) | |
| 5… Ne7 | 103 (28%) | |
| 5… Nc6 | 36 (10%) | |
| 5… Bxc3 | 25 (7%) | |
| 5… a6 | 18 (5%) | |
| 5… Nh6 | 17 (5%) | |
| 5… c4 | 2 (1%) | |
| 5… b6 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
1,676 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 22%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Levon Aronian (2782) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2738) 1/2-1/2 · Aimchess US Rapid Prelim · 2021-08-30
- GM Vincent Keymer (2731) – GM Praggnanandhaa R (2741) 0-1 · 7th Prague Masters 2025 · 2025-03-01
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2724) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 25th Jan · 2022-01-25
- GM Andrey Esipenko (2698) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) 0-1 · Titled Tue 24th Mar 2026 · 2026-03-24
- GM Dimitrios Mastrovasilis (2627) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2782) 0-1 · World Rapid 2021 · 2021-12-26
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Tempstream (2755) – Americanchampion (2845) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Nana_jede_cevape (2865) – Ante373 (2662) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Juan_Delasala (2712) – FM iustin104 (2687) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (4. e5 c5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Icelandic Defense C17 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 Ne7 6. f4
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.