French Defense: Winawer Variation, Delayed Exchange Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Delayed Exchange Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C15, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5. 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 1,935 times by this move order. White won 47%, 6% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 4… exd5 (77% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.16 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 4… exd5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nf6 7. Bd3)
- ECO
- C15
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3P4/1b1P4/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 196 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,079 | |
| 2000+ | 660 | |
| All | 1,935 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… exd5 | 1,497 (77%) | |
| 4… Qxd5 | 228 (12%) | |
| 4… Bxc3+ | 195 (10%) | |
| 4… Nf6 | 7 (0%) | |
| 4… c5 | 3 (0%) | |
| 4… e5 | 1 (0%) | |
| 4… Qd6 | 1 (0%) | |
| 4… Bf8 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
3,208 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 26%, Black 35%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) – Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-08-05
- Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) – LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) 1-0 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-08-05
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) 1/2-1/2 · Carlsen Inv Prelim · 2020-04-19
- GM Levon Aronian (2767) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2822) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017 · 2018-07-24
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2788) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) 1-0 · chess.com QF Blitz 3m+2spm 2016 · 2016-05-10
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM Hripach007 (2723) – FM Squoznyak (2862) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Haunting_Games (2655) – Americanchampion (2845) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- BoneCrusher2020 (2736) – chaaa116 (2717) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Exchange Variation, Canal Attack C15 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bd3 Ne7 6. Qh5
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.