French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation (9. Qxh7 Nbc6)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 cxd4 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Nbc6
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C18, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 cxd4 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Nbc6. 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 2 times by this move order. White won 50%, 0% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 10. Nf3 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.96 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 10. Rb1 Qc7 11. f4 b6 12. Nf3 dxc3)
- ECO
- C18
- Moves
- 18 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1r1/pp2np1Q/2n1p3/3pP3/3p4/P1P5/2P2PPP/R1B1KBNR w KQq - 1 10- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 cxd4 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Nbc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 10. Nf3 | 1 (50%) | |
| 10. f4 | 1 (50%) |
Master games
8 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 12%, Black 38%). The strongest:
- GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2676) – FM Mike Ivanov (2195) 1-0 · PNWCC Master Artist Point · 2020-09-05
- FM Pavel-Alexandru Nastore (2329) – FM Mike Ivanov (2360) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 21st Dec · 2021-12-21
- WGM Nastassia Ziaziulkina (2321) – WFM Oksana Golubeva (2149) 1/2-1/2 · 14th ch-EUR Ind w · 2013-07-26
- WGM Irina Zakurdjaeva (2291) – WFM Oksana Golubeva (2149) 1-0 · 14th ch-EUR Ind w · 2013-07-28
- FM Pavel Y. Politov (2190) – WFM Oksana Golubeva (2179) 0-1 · Titled Tue 12th Apr Early · 2022-04-12
Highest-rated Lichess games
- OlegHackevich (2414) – yurich33 (2339) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 0s
- Hamdani_MC (2210) – yurich33 (2327) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation (7… cxd4 8. Qxg7) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 cxd4 8. Qxg7
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.