French Defense: Winawer Variation, Maróczy-Wallis Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Maróczy-Wallis Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C17, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 407 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 7. bxc3 (68% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.95 (Stockfish, depth 53; best line 7. Qg4 cxb2 8. Bxb2 Qe7 9. Bd3 f5)
- ECO
- C17
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/pp3ppp/4p3/3pP3/1P6/2p5/1PP2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 219 | |
| 2000+ | 184 | |
| All | 407 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. bxc3 | 277 (68%) | |
| 7. Qg4 | 76 (19%) | |
| 7. Nf3 Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (6… dxc3 7. Nf3) | 30 (7%) | |
| 7. f4 | 7 (2%) | |
| 7. Bd3 | 6 (1%) | |
| 7. b5 | 4 (1%) | |
| 7. b3 | 3 (1%) | |
| 7. Ra3 | 2 (0%) |
Master games
94 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 68%, draw 11%, Black 21%). The strongest:
- GM Jaime Alexander Cuartas (2523) – FM Rolando Alarcon Casellas (2417) 0-1 · 20th Montcada Open · 2012-06-30
- IM Max Warmerdam (2450) – FM Felix Meissner (2378) 1-0 · 11th dMP Batavia GM 2019 · 2019-03-01
- IM Tao Pang (2485) – IM Ibrahim Sultan (2222) 1-0 · Asian Individual Blitz · 2025-05-10
- IM Rout Padmini (2390) – IM Ilja Biriukov (2311) 1-0 · Titled Tue 6th Sep Early · 2022-09-06
- GM Luis Engel (2567) – Elmar Kaiser (2116) 1-0 · 28th OIBM 2025 · 2025-11-01
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GiveUpAllForChess (2553) – I_Hate_Chess_2026 (2424) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 600 + 0s
- obilv (2478) – alexsander-fish (2460) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- Portomas (2476) – alexsander-fish (2455) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (4… c5 5. a3) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (6… dxc3 7. Nf3) C17 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3 7. Nf3
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.