French Defense: Winawer Variation, Kondratiyev Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd3 c5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bd2
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Kondratiyev Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C15, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd3 c5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bd2. 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 6 times by this move order. White won 67%, 0% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 6… Bxc3 (67% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.10 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 6… Bxc3 7. Bxc3 cxd4 8. Bxd4 e5 9. Be3)
- ECO
- C15
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnb1k1nr/pp3ppp/4p3/2pq4/1b1P4/2NB4/PPPB1PPP/R2QK1NR b KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd3 c5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bd2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 3 | |
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 6 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Bxc3 | 4 (67%) | |
| 6… Qxd4 | 1 (17%) | |
| 6… Qxg2 | 1 (17%) |
Master games
20 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 25%, draw 35%, Black 40%). The strongest:
- GM Levon Aronian (2781) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 2020 · 2020-11-11
- GM Gerhard Schebler (2451) – GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2603) 1/2-1/2 · 15th BCC Open 2015 · 2015-04-15
- IM Krishnan P. Saravana (2312) – GM Deep Sengupta (2527) 0-1 · AICF World Cup Qualifier · 2021-05-28
- IM Szabolcs Tatar Kis (2373) – IM Peter Lizak (2445) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-HUN 2016-17 · 2017-04-08
- Benjamin Defromont (2245) – GM Thorsten Michael Haub (2404) 0-1 · 34th Avoine Open 2019 · 2019-07-25
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Tilichkin (2408) – IM imdejong (2410) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- DrG2020 (2389) – TenaciousDC (2221) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
- DOKBIT (2266) – jk-2 (2153) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4
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.