French Defense: Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Qd7
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C16, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Qd7. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 159 times by this move order. White won 47%, 7% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 5. a3 (47% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.95 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 5. h4 b6 6. h5 Ba6 7. Rh3 h6)
- ECO
- C16
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnb1k1nr/pppq1ppp/4p3/3pP3/1b1P4/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Qd7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 27 | |
| 2000+ | 132 | |
| All | 159 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. a3 | 75 (47%) | |
| 5. Qg4 | 22 (14%) | |
| 5. Bd2 | 20 (13%) | |
| 5. Nf3 | 12 (8%) | |
| 5. f4 | 10 (6%) | |
| 5. h4 | 7 (4%) | |
| 5. Bd3 | 5 (3%) | |
| 5. Ne2 | 2 (1%) |
Master games
803 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 22%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- Stockfish dev-20230903-b25d68f6 (3666) – KomodoDragon 3.2 (3587) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Premier P/O 2023 · 2023-10-04
- KomodoDragon 3.2 (3587) – Stockfish dev-20230903-b25d68f6 (3666) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Premier P/O 2023 · 2023-10-04
- Stockfish2021061923 (3632) – LCZero0.28.0-rc1_69146 (3614) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Premier 2021 · 2021-06-25
- LCZero0.28.0-rc1_69146 (3614) – Stockfish2021061923 (3632) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Premier 2021 · 2021-06-22
- Berserk 20241119 (3589) – LCZero 0.31-dag-4167c1e-BT4-6147500-it332 (3648) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-14
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Eren0429 (2627) – FethiyeSatranc (2435) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- IM www68 (2547) – BennyAroeta (2476) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- FM Chessbasse16 (2522) – BennyAroeta (2478) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (3… Bb4 4. e5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5
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.